GIS Ed Weekly: Response to UCSB Open Letter

COVID-19 Mapping and Education

NBC: Map: State-by-state breakdown of coronavirus travel restrictions - This is an interesting map to use to explore the use of color, among other things.

West Virginia: COVID-19 UPDATE: Gov. Justice unveils interactive map of 1,000+ Kids Connect WiFi locations; announces WV has 6th-lowest rate of virus spread in U.S. - "Gov. Justice announced Kids Connect – a joint effort between the Governor’s Office of Technology, the WVDE, and the Higher Education Policy Commission to establish over 1,000 free wireless internet access points statewide by Sept. 8 – during his previous COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday, as part of his multifaceted plan to reopen all pre-kindergarten through 12th grade schools in West Virginia." Here's the map.

Forbes: How Geography Helped New Zealand Beat Coronavirus - Marshall Shephard explains how New Zealand's unique physical geography helped the country control coronavirus.  

Dayton Daily News: Full Ohio map shows which schools are going back in-person, online - "A preliminary Ohio Department of Education map shows how the state’s 600-plus public school districts plan to start the school year in the coming weeks — many fully in-person five days a week, some on a hybrid model, and a smaller number near big cities fully online."

Vox: Covid-19 in America, explained in 18 maps and charts - I think all the choropleths are normalized.

Penn Today: Maps, Pandemics and Reckoning History - "Geospatial data has long been an important tool for scientists and scholars, but now, as society grapples with both coronavirus and a history of systemic racism, can maps help chart a path toward a brighter future?"

Penn State: COVID-19 presents a real-time educational opportunity - "The development of an online course for Pennsylvania middle and high school students addresses two needs in STEM education. First, it gives students experience in understanding how new science knowledge is created by having them participate in some of the practices used by experts working on COVID-19. Most of the content taught in science classes has been settled for at least 50 years, but the practices used in research and the application of the content are both very applicable to this situation. Second, it responds to a need for high quality learning activities that can be taught and completed online. "

Resources for Teaching and Learning

UCGIS: Instructional Resources - "This collection emphasizes Open Educational Resources for the teaching and learning - about and with - GIScience, GIS, and related geospatial and mapping technologies." Via Michael Gould and Riley Peake.

BBC: Letter from Africa: 'How I helped put Gambians on Google Maps' - A discussion of a pilot to set addresses in the Gambia using Google plus codes.

Transactions in GIS: The administration of academic GIS certificates: A survey of program coordinators - "This article explores GIS certificates offered at U.S. institutions of higher education through an inventory of 385 certificate programs supplemented by in‐depth interviews of program faculty at 46 colleges or universities." Via Diana Sinton, one of the authors. Subscription or fee required for access.

How Can We Assess Geography Education in a Future Without Assessments? - "While the geography-adjacent job market is keeping pace with other industries, US students’ understanding of geography is flatlining." Michelle Kinzer of the AAG explores the latest NAEP results.

Opportunities

HOT 10 Year Anniversary Global Mapathon Event - August 2020 marks Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team's (HOT) 10 year anniversary. On 20 August, HOT will host a series of mapathons.

Meanwhile in Education

Nice White Parents -  This new season from Serial is from Chana Jaffee Walt and looks at the role well-meaning parents play is creating serious inequities in a New York City public school.

Pandemic Pods - One of my favorite education podcasts, Have you Heard?, looks at the current interest in grouping students and the serious inequities it will encourage in public schools.

Slate:  Lesson Plan Platforms for Teachers Have a Racism Problem - These sites are profiting from the sale of harmful, racist, materials. Via Audrey Watters.

Skills

Open Access Government: The importance of soft skills in a tech-focused world - Results of a CIO survey revealed the top skills needed for Digital Transformation​ were strategy building (40%), project management (32%), and business relationship management (25%). Oh, and it's cool to call them essential skills now instead of soft skills. Via Adam Carnow.

People

USTA Today: Two UTSA professors recognized among top teachers across UT System - UTSA’s Nazgol Bagheri among the recipients of the 2020 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards. Bagheri is an associate professor of political science and geography and graduate program coordinator for the geography and environmental sustainability program and runs the GIS Lab. She teaches introductory and advanced courses in geographic information systems and courses in urban sustainability, urban geography, feminist geography and world geography. 

On and Off Campus

Towson: TU partners with National Park Service to map the women's suffrage movement - A new project from the National Park Service (NPS), built in collaboration with Towson University and its Center for GIS,  sheds light on the people and places at the heart of the U.S. suffrage movement. It's part of a project that will launch on Aug. 18—the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

Patch: New Map Highlights Women's Suffrage Story In Lower Manhattan - The Greenwich Village Society For Historic Preservation recently created an interactive 19th Amendment Centennial StoryMap.  

Daily Nexus: Response to “An Open Letter to the UCSB Department of Geography” - The response is from another group of current and former graduates of the department. 

Esri

GeoNet:A GIS Crossword! - Joseph Kerski offers a GIS crossword.  

Press release: Historical redlining data now in ArcGIS Living Atlas - "A redlining layer of 143 cities is now available in ArcGIS Living Atlas. This ready-to-use layer can provide important context for your work."

ArcNews: In Quick Move to Virtual Classes, Professor Enlisted ArcGIS Insights - When his outdoor environmental geology class moved online in March 2020  Steven Goldsmith, associate professor at Villanova University’s Department of Geography and the Environment tapped ArcGIS Insights, analysis software that fuses location analytics with open data science and business intelligence workflows. 

ArcNews: Student-Led Mapping Locates Areas in Los Angeles in Need of Shade Equity - The results of a 2018,National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded to California State University, Los Angeles, funding a three-year collaboration with the City of LA to train students in big data and help nonprofits use geographic data.