RIT: RIT graduate Peter Yeung found perfect fit within university’s deaf community - Yeung has three RIT degrees and works at NGA.
Rowan University: Air Force veteran aims high, graduates with 2nd Rowan degree and honors - Kristina Wallace completed her first degree in 2008, joined the Air Force and came back for "her second degree, a Bachelor of Science in Geographic Information Science with a minor in Community and Environmental Planning. She’s graduating with a 3.9 GPA."
Bham Now (sponsored content): From ice climbing geographer to Fortune 500 project manager - "Spence Henderson took action that upleveled his career from a GIS analyst to his current role in a multinational Fortune 500 company. Hint: an award-winning online MBA from University of North Alabama was key to the equation. Keep reading for Henderson’s personal story."
Bham Now (sponsored content): From ice climbing geographer to Fortune 500 project manager - "Spence Henderson took action that upleveled his career from a GIS analyst to his current role in a multinational Fortune 500 company. Hint: an award-winning online MBA from University of North Alabama was key to the equation. Keep reading for Henderson’s personal story."
Money
American Geographical Society: The American Geographical Society Selected to Lead Global Dialogue Surrounding Harnessing the Ethical Use of Mobile Location Technology for Governance & Society - The grant, $140,470 per the Henry Luce Foundation, requires completion of the study in 90 days. I know of the foundation since it supports American Public Media's "On Being" project.
Resources for Teaching and Learning
Powerful Geography: The NCGRE effort is, best I can tell, wrapping up this year. The lesson plans are expected tot be available in summer 2020. For now there are a few articles, testimonials and videos. I noted this effort in 2019, but do not believe I've heard anything since then. Via @theaag.
Library of Congress: "We are happy to share that post-1900 public domain Sanborn maps for 25 more states are now online! Check it out this weekend! See them in our digital collection here: https://go.usa.gov/xvGfM Or in our Sanborn index here: https://go.usa.gov/xvGfz" Via @LOCmaps.
NAEP Sample Geography Questions: You or your students can take a look at these grade eight questions along with answers and rubrics. Via @theAAG.
The Conversation US: How the Lyme disease epidemic is spreading and why ticks are so hard to stop - Durland Fish, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases), Yale University covers another disease.
Activities
ArcGIS Blog: Connect-the-Dots: Contour Mapping for All Ages - This is the seventh in a series of map activities for kids. I was a "connect the dots" kid, so this is the one I'd have done first. Via @John_M_Nelson.
Chicago Atlas Summer Experience - Juliana McMillan-Wilhoit is offering an unpaid experience for students who can volunteer for 10-15 hours/week for eight weeks this summer. The goal is developing a Chicago Cultural Atlas using QGIS. Via LinkedIn.
Chicago Atlas Summer Experience - Juliana McMillan-Wilhoit is offering an unpaid experience for students who can volunteer for 10-15 hours/week for eight weeks this summer. The goal is developing a Chicago Cultural Atlas using QGIS. Via LinkedIn.
On and Off Campus
University of Delaware: Forecasting Urbanism - "[Jing] Gao, an assistant professor of geography and spatial sciences in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, and collaborator Brian O’Neill, a UD alumnus and professor from the University of Denver, have created a new global simulation model to predict how urban land will change over the next 100 years under different social and economic conditions."
Maritalk: New Research Maps Wide Gulf Between GEOINT AI Potential - "Although stakeholders acknowledge the transformative value of AI to GEOINT, the workforce is largely unprepared to capitalize on the technology." The survey of 150 stakeholders was completed with USGIF. Per the founder of MeriTalk, Steve O'Keeffe, “If you're not hip to AI, you’re DOA in GEOINT.” The report is here and there's a webinar on it on May 27.
Programs and Courses
Certified GEOINT Professional - GIS & Analysis Tools Boot Camp - The "online course is designed to ensure professionals understand key concepts found in the GIS and Analysis Tools Competency within the USGIF GEOINT Essential Body of Knowledge." "The course is a 'refresher' and WILL NOT provide the instruction to pass a certification exam." "The course is a vehicle for reviewing testable topics of the USGIF EBK on which the Certified GEOINT Professional - GIS & Analysis Tools (CGP-G™) assessment has been built." The course is $350 for members and $450 for non-members and those completing it will receive a Certificate of Completion and 2.4 CEUs (or 24 contact hours/24 PDUs).
American Association of Geographers: The 2020 Guide to Geography Programs (online map, 360 page pdf) is accepting submissions via e-mail until June 12. Via @theAAG.
HyFlex
These two posts on HyFlex crossed my feeds this week:
- Phil on EdTech: COVID-19 Planning for Fall 2020: A Closer Look at Hybrid-Flexible Course Design
- Inside HigherEd: Fall Scenario #13: A HyFlex Model
After reading them I had a chat with a college professor waiting to hear the plan for fall courses at his small liberal arts college. He's unsure how to prepare his coursework since it's unclear if students will be on campus, off campus or both, and if the administration will require synchronous or asynchronous course delivery.
HyFlex delivery addresses all possible conditions since offer each student, for each "meeting of the class," the choice of:
- live face to face
- live streaming
- on-demand recordings
From the student perspective this gives the ultimate in flexibility! Further, this flexibility may make "Maslow over Bloom" (another popular meme in my feed these past few weeks) even more possible. That in turn may lead to more and better teaching and learning during these challenging times.
My concern regarding a HyFlex solutions is sustainability. Writing and supporting a face to face course is hard. Writing and supporting an online course is hard. I've never written and delivered a hybrid course, but I'm thinking it's equally hard. Writing and supporting a course that will have an unknown number of students participating in each delivery method on any given day sounds exponentially more difficult!
COVID-19 Mapping
Forbes (Contributor): University Of Pennsylvania Researchers Map COVID-19 Hotspots Through Tweets - "In perhaps the most targeted use of Twitter against the spread of COVID-19" Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health's Dr. Sharath, Ph.D. and Dr. Raina Merchant, look "to pinpoint the next potential hotspots for infection by monitoring, tracking and analyzing tweets in the United States."
Chaffee County Times: Colorado Mountain College student develops BV business map - "To aid BV residents in figuring out which businesses are and aren’t open, Chandler Morehardt created a map compiling whatever announcements he can find into a map as part of a GIS class he is taking at Colorado Mountain College." The Guided Field Studies student projects for this term focused on supporting local communities. Morehardt's ArcGIS StoryMap includes a variety of maps and documents to assist those in Buena Vista.
MSU Today: Mapping a Virus: Visualizing COVID-19 in Michigan - Jonnell Sanciangco, a Michigan State University doctoral candidate specializing in spatial methodologies in the Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences, built the state's dashboard.
SDSU Newscenter: Tracking COVID-19 with Big Data, GIS and Social Media - "Ming-Hsiang Tsou, director of The Center for Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age (HDMA) at San Diego State University, and his team developed the hub to serve as a single source of information given the large amount of COVID-19-related data available." The "hub" is hosted on GitHub, but the maps are in ArcGIS. Also, there's lots of "Zip Code" (sic) mapping.
Wesleyan Connection (blog): Traveler's Lab Creates Map of COVID-19 Cases in the NYC - "Wesleyan’s Traveler’s Lab released a time-enabled regional map of COVID-19 cases in the tri-state area surrounding New York City."
Keene State College: Students Awarded Innovation Grants for Virtual College Projects - The Virtual KSC Innovation Grant Selection Committee funded Bryanna Weigel and Will Schoefmann to create the Keene Geographic Information System (GIS) Co-op to create maps and dashboards to support the region during the pandemic. Geography Professor Chris Brehme is supporting the effort.