I follow just a few active K-12 educators on Twitter. One, Jennifer Maze (@JenGrayScience) went to a Google for Education Global Summit in Colorado and tweeted about EDPuzzle with the comment "Mind blown." Yes, I agree.
This free tool allows educators to add interactive quizzes, audio or text comments and even crop videos to just the valuable part. I enhanced one of my own videos in just 15 minutes using all of those tools below.
If I wanted to track student responses you (aka "the students") would need to long-in. But for you to just see what can be done, I'm using "guest mode."
Suggestion: Esri, please consider adding some of these enhancements to your videos in the Location Advantage MOOC!
Universities using Snapchat's Geofencing to Attract Students
Today reports on how universities are using geofencing (Snapchat calls it geofilters) to get information out to potential students. Best I understand it, you can follow public snaps based on geofences. Via: Jeff Harrison (@jeffharrison)
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If you are a hardcore GIS educator and you need the mix of competitive information about what other programs are doing and you can't miss a link to a new resource, consider subscribing. You'll get each GIS Education News Weekly via e-mail on Thursday.
If subscribing is not for you, you are most welcome to visit the blog each Thursday for the latest issue. You'll get notified when it's posted if you follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn or G+.
Discover Spatial Offers New Plans for Online Educators
Discover Spatial, a company that offers a platform to host online GIS related courses, has new plans for course providers. They range from free to $999 per month. Each one has a different split of fees between the company and provider. The FAQ may be a good place to start for those new to the company.
Where are AP Courses Taught?
Today reports on how universities are using geofencing (Snapchat calls it geofilters) to get information out to potential students. Best I understand it, you can follow public snaps based on geofences. Via: Jeff Harrison (@jeffharrison)
Subscribe (or Not)
If you are a hardcore GIS educator and you need the mix of competitive information about what other programs are doing and you can't miss a link to a new resource, consider subscribing. You'll get each GIS Education News Weekly via e-mail on Thursday.
If subscribing is not for you, you are most welcome to visit the blog each Thursday for the latest issue. You'll get notified when it's posted if you follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn or G+.
Discover Spatial Offers New Plans for Online Educators
Discover Spatial, a company that offers a platform to host online GIS related courses, has new plans for course providers. They range from free to $999 per month. Each one has a different split of fees between the company and provider. The FAQ may be a good place to start for those new to the company.
Where are AP Courses Taught?
A Redditer posted that question last week. Interesting responses included discussions of the Ivy League's lack of geography programs. I am pleased that so many people were happy with their experience at a wide variety of schools.
Two Internships for one Student at UW-Oshkosh
Senior geography major Dylan King is taking full advantage of internship opportunities at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Through a faculty/student collaborative research grant funded by the Oshkosh Student Scholarly and Creative Activities Program (OSSCAP), King spent two weeks in Kansas with Mark Bowen, UWO assistant professor of geography, studying playas. It turns out, based on the pairs' work, that Kansas has more playas than originally thought. Back on campus King tapped into a Student Titan Employment Program (STEP) internship working as a tutor for Geography 221 and assisting with various GIS projects. No doubt having both of these on his resume will be helpful whether King does more academic work or heads into the working world.
Wesleyan's Project-based Intro GIS Course
Six introductory project-based courses are being taught this fall as part of Wesleyan University's Academy for Project-Based Teaching and Learning. Among them is Introduction to GIS, taught by Assistant Professor of the Practice, Earth and Environmental Sciences Kim Diver. She describes the differences between courses that are a part of the Academy and other more traditional courses.
FIU GIS Center's Toro Profiled
The school website profiles Matthew Toro, Florida International University's Maps & Imagery User Services (MIUS) coordinator at its Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Center. In his spare time Toro runs Miami Geographic, a site that uses open data to reveal patterns in the city.
Alaskan High Schoolers Learn GIS in Two Days
Seniors Learn About GIS
Via Lyzi Diamond (@lyzidiamond) and others at NACIS 2015 (#nacis2015):
Two Internships for one Student at UW-Oshkosh
Senior geography major Dylan King is taking full advantage of internship opportunities at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Through a faculty/student collaborative research grant funded by the Oshkosh Student Scholarly and Creative Activities Program (OSSCAP), King spent two weeks in Kansas with Mark Bowen, UWO assistant professor of geography, studying playas. It turns out, based on the pairs' work, that Kansas has more playas than originally thought. Back on campus King tapped into a Student Titan Employment Program (STEP) internship working as a tutor for Geography 221 and assisting with various GIS projects. No doubt having both of these on his resume will be helpful whether King does more academic work or heads into the working world.
Wesleyan's Project-based Intro GIS Course
Six introductory project-based courses are being taught this fall as part of Wesleyan University's Academy for Project-Based Teaching and Learning. Among them is Introduction to GIS, taught by Assistant Professor of the Practice, Earth and Environmental Sciences Kim Diver. She describes the differences between courses that are a part of the Academy and other more traditional courses.
The Academy for Project-Based Teaching and Learning cultivates an in-depth exploration of issues and skill development for a given focal area as compared to many traditional-format courses. The program augments semester-long experiential learning opportunities that students already have access to, such as senior capstone courses, certain arts studio courses, and thematic-based study abroad programs. Although some departments include a senior capstone experience, the Academy provides courses with a similar experience before the final year of college.She goes on:
Immersing the students in a semester-long project allows the students to more fully explore certain complexities within a discipline. Students who take the project-based version of the introductory GIS course have a more holistic view of spatial concepts and applications and can more readily apply the course content to future courses and research projects…. So providing students with this opportunity not only allows them to connect in meaningful ways with the course, but to also understand the complexities of real-world project scenarios. Hands-on project-based learning, in my opinion, is also a more enjoyable learning format.I'm pleased to see more GIS 101 courses going project based. It's hard for instructors and students, I'm sure, but I believe its far more rewarding and empowering, too.
FIU GIS Center's Toro Profiled
The school website profiles Matthew Toro, Florida International University's Maps & Imagery User Services (MIUS) coordinator at its Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Center. In his spare time Toro runs Miami Geographic, a site that uses open data to reveal patterns in the city.
Alaskan High Schoolers Learn GIS in Two Days
Soldotna Prep geography teacher Nathan Erfurth opened his doors on Sept. 24 and Sept. 25, to four professionals from the Kenai Peninsula GIS User Group for a crash course in the virtually limitless applications of spatial analysis....
The user group utilized pre-designed courses produced by the GIS company Esri, which has weeks’ worth of work for kindergarten through twelfth-grade classrooms.At least one lesson was from Mapping Our World and used ArcGIS Online and perhaps ConnectED. Only Esri was mentioned in the article.
Seniors Learn About GIS
Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Cal State Fullerton learned how to integrate maps and social data in order to help the elderly find services they need.
Dennis Kao, an assistant professor of social work at CSUF, spoke in a free class hosted by OLLI on Tuesday about his expertise in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).He spoke about using GIS to make sense of where seniors live and where the services they need are located. The reporter concluded there was interest from the attendees.
At the presentation, OLLI members were visibly thrilled to learn about what map data tracking offers for the future.Basic GIS Class at MIT
Via Lyzi Diamond (@lyzidiamond) and others at NACIS 2015 (#nacis2015):
7 weeks: html/css, bootstrap, basic web map, javascript, styling, postgis/cartodb, data collection. @mjfoster83's basics class!His slides are here. This is not your father's GIS course!
Tufts Updates its Lab (and You're Invited to the Party)
Patrick Florence at Tufts University posted this invitation to Esri Higher Ed list.
Please join us to celebrate the renovation of the GIS Center, now the Data Lab.University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Geography and GIS: New Website
Data Lab Opening Reception
October 19th, 2015
4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Tisch Library 203, formerly the GIS Center in the Map Room
Food and refreshments will be provided.
Formerly the GIS Center, the Data Lab is a new teaching and research computing lab designed to foster collaboration and innovation across all campuses and departments. The Data Lab provides methodological and technological service and support for data reference, analysis, and visualization for both geospatial and non-geospatial applications. The service is provided through collaboration between TTS, Tisch Library, and Ginn Library.
Per a tweet, "Same URL, new look: https://www.geog.illinois.edu/ http://fb.me/45LEDDex8"
If you were not aware, and I was not, "Academic Analytics data (from 2013) rank us [UIUC] #1 among Geography Ph.D.-granting departments in the U.S.*!"
Esri News
Student Assistantships for 2016 Esri Federal GIS Conference (Feb 2016)
Esri has opened applications for student assistants (college seniors and grad students only) at the 2016 Federal GIS Conference (February 23-26, 2016). Students can make connections with industry experts and learn more about Esri technology. There's no pay, but students receive full registration to the conference, hotel accommodations, and per diem for meals. Applications are due by December 18. This announcement on Esri Highered-L was from an "Esri Senior Marketing and Employer Branding Specialist."
Another MOOC from Esri in 2016
Per Linda Peters, the "host" of Esri's Location Advantage MOOC, Esri has two new MOOCs on the schedule for 2016: "One on apps and another on Imagery [sic] applications at work." I think this is the first I've heard of this fourth MOOC on imagery. Via LinkedIn group.
Long Beach, California Holds Middle School Hackathon
There were 36 students at the Long Beach Public Library’s first private crash-course on the basics of web programming with the help of web professionals as part of the city’s Innovation Week. The students were from one of the city's under-resourced schools.
Esri's Micheale Gould (@0mgould) shared a photo and the caption:
Recent post(s) from Ignite Education
Esri has opened applications for student assistants (college seniors and grad students only) at the 2016 Federal GIS Conference (February 23-26, 2016). Students can make connections with industry experts and learn more about Esri technology. There's no pay, but students receive full registration to the conference, hotel accommodations, and per diem for meals. Applications are due by December 18. This announcement on Esri Highered-L was from an "Esri Senior Marketing and Employer Branding Specialist."
Another MOOC from Esri in 2016
Per Linda Peters, the "host" of Esri's Location Advantage MOOC, Esri has two new MOOCs on the schedule for 2016: "One on apps and another on Imagery [sic] applications at work." I think this is the first I've heard of this fourth MOOC on imagery. Via LinkedIn group.
Long Beach, California Holds Middle School Hackathon
There were 36 students at the Long Beach Public Library’s first private crash-course on the basics of web programming with the help of web professionals as part of the city’s Innovation Week. The students were from one of the city's under-resourced schools.
The event featured Shirin Laor-Raz Salemnia — founder of WhizGirls Academy, a science, technology, engineering and math-focused workshop aimed in inspiring teenagers to enjoy coding with a secret agent theme — and Julia Guard, a software analyst from Esri, a company specializing in geographic information.And, yes there was mapping. This quote disturbed me. Next time I hope the school brings its "least bright" students.
“These are the brightest students at our school,” said Kevin Jeon, a science teacher who instructs the robotics elective course at Washington. “When the city offered it to us, I knew my class would love it.”EsriEUC Student Presenters
Esri's Micheale Gould (@0mgould) shared a photo and the caption:
Salzburg students presenting YouthMap5020 crowdmapping project @ #esriEUCJack Dangermond later told the students that “Girls in Geography rock!” The project, which is tough to decipher since most of the resources and the app are in German, came out of the University of Salzburg. I believe the project started in 2013 with three college interns and researchers guiding high school students in building an app "for youth by youth." A team of high school students presented the work in English at EsriEUC this past week.
Recent post(s) from Ignite Education