Resources for Teaching and Learning
How to Geek: Did You Know? The GPS Triangle Cursor Comes From Atari’s Asteroids - Track the history back to Etak and Atari.
University of Richmond: The Spatial Analysis lab hosts a StoryMap Gallery, part of its ArcGIS Online hub site. Via @ur_sal.
The Secret, Essential Geography of the Office -
"A workplace has its own informal cardinal directions: elevatorward,
kitchenward, bathroomward. It's a map we share." Paul Ford looks at the
human geography of the office, referencing Yi-Fu Tuan, and challenges readers to map their home and non-home offices.
The geography of working from home and the implications for the service industry - Four researchers, using data from the UK, find "that there is large heterogeneity in the impact of working from home on these [service] businesses. While city centres suffered a significant drop in demand for services, suburban neighbourhoods experienced an increase in demand."
Axios: Shoppers still sparse at Twin Cities' Mall of America - "Despite an increase since reopening in June, average activity levels are 45% below the February 2020 baseline, according to cell phone data analyzed by the geospatial analytics company Orbital Insights and provided to Axios."
On and Off Campus
ASE Chicago: Equitable development: General Iron’s impact on environmentally overburdened on Chicago’s Southeast side - "These maps [were] made by @DePaulGeography students in Heather Smith's GEO 200 Sustainable Urban Development!" Via @WinCurran.
NUS: NUS researchers develop new urban planning GIS tool to improve urban climate resilience - "To help Singapore stay cool and improve urban climate resilience, Presidential Young Professor Dr Yuan Chao from the Department of Architecture at the NUS School of Design and Environment led a team to examine the heat balance in the street canyon – where the street is flanked by buildings on both sides – and developed a user-friendly Geographic Information System (GIS) tool to estimate the impact of urban planning on anthropogenic heat dispersion."
WIU: GIS Center Helps Locate Water System Damage - A water line break in early January, which impacted more than 1,000 local rural water customers, was located with the assistance of mapping services provided by Western Illinois University's Geographic Information System (GIS) Center.
UCLA: Study: Look beyond geography to identify smaller at-risk groups for pandemic relief - "UCLA research suggests officials should use other metrics to allocate COVID-19 support, other resources."
Meanwhile in Education
The Guardian: Geography, not race, explains the disparity in England's educational outcomes - Alex Mistlin argues that public investment is the key to the solution.
U.S. News: Discover 14 Current Online Learning Trends - These sound about right to me. For those who don't want to click:
- Colleges will add new online programs.
- More colleges will turn to open educational resources.
- Virtual reality will enhance the ability to offer hands-on programs online.
- Online learning will be increasingly data-driven.
- Blended learning is here to stay.
- Better course design and technological advances will diminish the digital divide.
- Virtual student spaces and programming will expand.
- Certificates, badges and microcredentials will continue to grow.
- Massive open online courses are on the rise.
- Stackable online credentials are likely to become more popular.
- Competency-based education will see slow but steady growth.
- Public-private partnerships will bolster boot camps.
- More online options will require students to do their due diligence.
- More students will make online learning their first choice.
Brookings Blog: Rethinking the geography of student-teaching placements in a post-COVID-19 world - "Could a change in how teacher training programs place their student teachers reduce the hiring challenges experienced by far-flung districts?"
Programs and Courses
USGIF: USGIF Accredits New University GEOINT Programs - The new addition is the University of North Georgia.
U Tennessee: Qiusheng Wu,@giswqs, released the videos for the two
courses he is teaching this semester: Geographic Software Design
and
Spatial Data Management. New videos will be released
weekly.
Careers
FNN: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency takes workforce diversity in a new direction - An interview with the Deputy Director for Strategic Transformation in the NGA’s analysis and tradecraft technology shop, Michael Hales, about its neurodiversity pilot I noted two weeks ago.
Opportunities and Events
GISCI: 2021 GIS Certification Institute Map Contest
- Maps, in PDF format, are due April 30. There are two categories:
student and professional. There are cash and GISCI related prizes.
NEARC: The Role of Geography and Mapping in Segregation, A Discussion - The event is Wednesday, February 24th from 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm Via NEARC-L.
SFU: SFU Vancouver Lunch ‘n’ Learn: Mapping Neighbourhood Vulnerability to COVID-19 - The event is Feb 24: "We will be joined by SFU Geography Professor, Dr. Valorie Crooks, who will discuss her research on COVID-19 risks in neighbourhoods throughout BC."