GIS Education Weekly: Chicago Universities Do Spatial!

Resources

A Spatial Data Science Overview video from Luc Anselin of the University of Chicago popped up this week. I'm enjoying seeing
"spatial" and "University of Chicago" in the same sentence.

The Western Illinois University Department of Geography will host its annual photography contest, with entries accepted through Monday, Nov. 7. This is an idea another organization might want to borrow!

The Geosystems Research Institute (GRI) at Mississippi State University released a web application, “GeoDawg,” a mapmaking tool for state data. It's built on ArcGIS and GeoCortex.

GIS Education Weekly: What's Happening at Maine and Kentucky's Online Masters Programs

Programs, Degrees and Courses

Hopkins

I found this question and answer from the Master of Applied Science in Spatial Analysis for Public Health webpage at Johns Hopkins interesting. How do you see the relationship between spatial analysis and GIS this way?

WHAT IS SPATIAL ANALYSIS AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT THAN GIS?

There are many definitions of spatial analysis; broadly, it is any use or interpretation of geographic information. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a component of spatial analysis, but it is more primarily focused on the mapping software as a tool for integrating, manipulating, and displaying spatial data. This program in Spatial Analysis covers a more encompassing set of skills, introducing and reinforcing the spatial science paradigm – a unifying comprehensive approach that includes components of spatial data, Geographic Information Systems and spatial statistics.

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University of Maine

I noted the University of Maine online Masters last week and wanted to share the answers to a few questions I posed. Harlan Onsrud from the School of Computing and Information Science responded. (1) I asked about a reference in the press release to the program being "STEM certified." That, I've learned, is a designation of degrees (pdf) by the Department of Homeland Security. International students who attend those programs can receive special benefits, including staying in the U.S. to do follow up study/work. This designation can also be important to international online students since it can be used to secure funding. (2) I asked "How exactly does the university distinguish [the program] from all the other online Master of GIS Programs? What is unique?"

GIS Education Weekly: TED Prize, Geographer to be Minister of Science, NEARC Educators Day

Satellite Using Archaeologist Sarah Parcak Wins $1M TED Prize

Sarah Parcak (Image via UAB News)

What'll the University of Alabama at Birmingham associate professor of Anthropology and director of the Laboratory for Global Observation do with it?

Our 2016 TED Prize winner, Sarah Parcak will reveal a big idea to take her work to the next level on February 16, 2016 at the annual TED Conference. In a session that will be broadcast for free to the world, she'll reveal a wish to allow curious minds everywhere to play a part in preserving our global heritage. It's a wish about the wonders of archaeological discovery and our connection to the past.

I note this because it sounds like a crowdsourcing opportunity that might be interesting for students of all ages. You might have heard of Parcak before because she was a National Geographic Explorer.

Matt Rosenburg Retires from About.com Geography Site; MapLab Team Leaves Wired

Matt T. Rosenberg ‏(@mrgeog) is no longer operating the geography site at About.com. He'd been there for 18 years. Per a Facebook post, he plans to pursue other interests. I'm not clear who will take over the position but can confirm he did a great job and will be missed.

In other leaving news, the MapLab team from Wired is moving on per a tweet. Via: Anthony Robinson (@A_C_Robinson)

A Geography Resource from Cheapo Air?

The link from Cheapo Air was shared by the Girl Scouts (@girlscouts). Then it was retweeted by CanGeo Education (@CanGeoEdu) and AAG GeoMentors (@aaggeomentors).

The resources seem ok, and the links I tried are all live. I wonder who put the list together? I wonder why the list is on a cheap travel site? I wonder when it was published? Is this authoritative content? Would you retweet it?

NEARC GIS Educators Day 2014: Throw out the Book!

NEARC GIS Educators Day, held this past Sunday, included about 60 educators from New England and beyond. Pennsylvania and Virginia were represented, too! We met up in Groton, CT before the official New England Arc User Group meeting.

The theme of the day, for me, was “Throw out the book!” Peggy Minnis who teaches a desktop GIS MOOC (based on ArcGIS desktop) noted that while her students can purchase “the book,” most do not. It’s not clear if cost or simply not liking books is the reason, but most choose to learn GIS via her videos. She built her course exercises on Census data, so those are not from any book, either!

Stace Maples (@mapninja) is the GIS guy at Yale. He spoke about the value of familiarity with programming. His point, and his challenge to us (and our students) is to learn enough about GIS and programming to hack things together to use GIS. When it comes to learning how to program, he cautioned, don’t run through a full programming course/book staring with “Hello World.” Instead, go directly to examples of code “like” what you hope to do and start messing around with them. With just a “familiarity” with programming general, you can do quite a lot. The coolest thing he showed us was hacked together; Photogrammer, is a map uniting images from the “largest photography project ever sponsored by the federal government.”

Peter August, at the University of Rhode Island, doesn’t use a book for his GIS lab. His students watch his short videos as homework, have a quiz on them when they come to class, and then spend class time working on GIS exercises. He flipped his class before he even knew that’s what it’s called! He noted the challenge of making and remaking the videos either because of slip ups or changing software versions. Over time, it seems, he’s found a method that works; he doesn’t even edit his videos (yet). I asked if he’d ever use anyone else’s videos for his course. The answer: no. Why? His course is his version of GIS, with examples and exercises specific to Rhode Island.

I also, perhaps inadvertently, suggested educators throw out the book. I offered some “tips” on finding and using GIS education resources. None of them involved books, but nearly all involved authentic learning and having the educator “make the content their own.” 

I’m encouraged to hear so many educators are creating and using their own content. But, to be fair, the ones at this event are the go getters and risk takers. And, most have some years invested in GIS and GIS education. They are selecting datasets and crafting exercises that appeal to their students, the style of learning (for example, inquiry-based at Essex Tech), and what they feel are the key ideas and skills to be mastered. 

Educators new to GIS (and there were a few in attendance) can’t do that. They are the market for books, courses, exercises, and videos that others produce. The real trick, I think, is getting these beginners up to speed quickly, so they too can “throw out the book.”

Five Tips to Find Great GIS Education Resources

These are the notes from my presentation at NEARC Educators Day 2014 (Oct 5, 2014). The rest of the presentations and documents are stored in Edmodo.

1. Look Beyond Education GIS Resources

Be on the lookout for stories, datasets and activities that are not labeled GIS Education Resources!

Example: Digital Rangers

2. Use Education GIS Resources “Off Label”

When you find an actual labelled “GIS education resource,” consider using it “off label.” That is, don’t follow the directions. Tweak, mold, mesh and morph the resource so it fits your educational objectives/learning outcomes.

Example: Mapping Canadian Confederation 

3. Ignore Age/Experience Metadata

Use K-12 in college and vice versa.

Example: Introduction to Map Design (19 page Esri PDF, 1996) 

4. Tap What’s interesting to You

Topics, content and exercises should be interesting to you! Keep a list of “cool content” to see when and where it might fit into lesson planning.

Example: Fitness Trackers Show How Many People Woke Up During the Bay Area Quake

5. Learn About Teaching and Learning

I hear from too many educators that “official” professional development is not effective as it might be. Do it yourself.

Examples: American Radioworks, Edutopia, EdCamp 

NEARC Educators Day 2012: Successes but Challenges Ahead

Tora Johnson, speaking, and Lyn Malone
open the conference.

The fifth annual NEARC GIS Educators Day was held in conjunction with the fifth annual Conference of GIS Educators from Maine on Sunday, November 11. The venue was the Camden Opera House.

I spoke first in an early paper session and addressed the use of authentic learning to better engage students. I introduced four teachable moments (AFL Players Map, Satellite Sentinel/Enough project images from Khartoum bombing in Oct, bad geocoding, Apple’s use of OpenStreetMap) and had the attendees brainstorm about which standards/learning objectives, skills might be taught from this story, situation or event. (Resources mentioned in that talk)

Robb Freeman, Eastern Maine Community College shared his first foray into service learning. His school serves mostly working students and after a first class in GIS prompted interest from a group of excited students, he looked for a second course. As luck would have it, a state grant, The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, (EPSCoR) aimed at service learning related to sustainability fell into his lap. He first looked for a local partner. The three organizations he approached with his student labor all said yes! He decided to work with the Frenchman Bay Partnership and focus on their eel grass loss issue. Eel grass is important ... He started his four students off with six weeks or so of lab work in preparation for their work on data collection and mapping of the current state of eelgrass and the development of a detailed atlas of the Bay.

There were some successes:

• student fun/learning 
• learned of a 66% net loss of eelgrass between 1996-2008
• build a new eelgrass data layer for 2011 
• developed a few atlas maps
• students offered a poster for last years conference (and won the competition!)

The biggest disappointment for Freeman was that the students did make as much progress as he would have hoped. In the end, students from the College of the Atlantic joined the class in their project. Among the things Freeman would change in a future implementation:

• set more realistic expectations
• make clear promises to the client
• use less class time and get students into the field sooner
• give students freedom to learn “how to” - but not too much
• let the client determine the project goals
• lead by example - by illustrating how service learning (doing real work) can be fun and rewarding

Spatial Thinking Panel

A panel on spatial thinking was far reaching and involved as many people from the audience as panelists. While we didn’t define spatial thinking, we did agree that students entering college are not prepared in term of spatial thinking and basic geography (lat/long, etc.) We touched on critical thinking skills, problem definition skills, and the possibility of teaching spatial thinking without GIS. We addressed questions from a faculty member at Fitchburg State (MA) about getting students interested in GIS. We also tried to address the challenge of students who want to learn to push buttons vs. really understand the underlying process/logic.

Matthew Bampton of the University of Southern Maine took a swerving path from FloatingSheep.org maps, to Waldo Tobler, to Wicked Problems (see the definition) to get to his work taking undergraduates into the field to see what they could do. He spoke of two projects, one covering many years to explore the islands off the main coast to better understand the underlying geological processes, and a second looking at the impact of historical climate change in the Shetland Islands. The projects all sounded very involved and included carrying and using a variety of surveying tools including total stations and terrestrial LiDAR. Bamptons response to a question regarding challenges lead him to address “what works.” Among his observations:

• mix of men and women on field teams
• students physically well-trained for the environment are likely to be especially successful in problem solving/creative thinking in the field
• formal old school rules (no drinking, no smoking, no foul language, be polite, etc.)
• selection of students just by grades did not work; better to see a full skill set
• better to build skilled teams
• students from small liberal arts schools tend to fair well in the field

A panel addressed the New Hampshire Esri K-12 site license (I wrote about it in August), which was fully funded and running this fall. The four players behind it were New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, New Hampshire Fish and Game, the University of New Hampshire Dept of Education and the state Geographic Alliance.

The final panel of the day was titled What Do Employers Want? The 21st Century Geospatial Workforce. It featured actual hiring managers from real Maine GIS using companies and organizations.

Judy Colby-George founded Spatial Alternatives, a small consulting company in Yarmouth, with a special interest in participatory GIS. She made these comments about potential hires:

• she’s looking for a person who can ask the right question at the right time
• she worries less about GIS skills, because employees follow the company workflow
• she’s looking for students who understand the principles of GIS and who are willing to do whatever is needed (from sweeping floors to digitizing to analysis)

On the future of hiring she noted that what happens in local town budget impacts how she’ll hire. She fears future budgets may force smaller firms to close.

She shared this advice for students:

• do group projects (that’s what real life is like)
• best class she took had groups do same project using different software and highlight what the package did well/poorly
• get around human resource by tracking down hiring manager

She had this advice for instructors:

Consider having students get their own project data (or give them ugly data), since again, that’s the real world.

Patrick Cunningham, is the CEO of Blue Marble Geographics based in Gardiner, ME. The software development shop has about 25 people and recently acquired World Mapper.

On hiring he noted:

• we want to hire folks from Maine
• people who show a skill for learning
• GIS degree not required
• however, a college degree is
• applicants should have some experience (at least internship or volunteer work)
• software developers need lots of math and heavy programming

In the near term he expects to hire a marketing person (the company has never had one before) and a sales support staffer.

His advice to applicants: Write clearly on resume and cover/intro letter. It matters!

Nate Kane works at the Maine Department of Transportation, the state’s transportation agency.

His agency is looking for:

• people who can innovate, think for themselves
• not necessarily specific software for a specific time but rather those who get the “how”
• someone who can persevere and try something new
• those who work well with others (something you can’t teach)

In the future staffers will be more involved with gaining access to and using contributed (geoaware) data. That means means collaboration and fusing of data. He also sees more roles for staffer to present what has been done or learned to a variety of agency clients.

Kane recalled the most valuable course he took (from Mathew Bampton): urban physical geography. It involved a team project, finding resources and communicating results. He reminded students that state service applications may seems intimidating - but it’s worth filling out all the forms and not leaving anything out.

Stu Rich of PenBay Solutions based in Brunswick described the company as a software development shop focusing on Web based presentation of facilities data. They have two kinds of staffers:

• CAD/GIS analysts - who manage, enhance, correct QA/QC the data people
• software developers - who build the software (human interaction) with stable data 

The former need data experience (data manipulation, QA/QC, etc.), AutoCAD and ArcGIS knowledge, but no need for open source experience. He explained how his clients use proprietary software exclusively: Esri, Autodesk, Oracle, etc.

The latter need not have specific experience with a language or development environment.

Rich described the move from the desktop to the Cloud, but reminds educators and applicants that apps like ArcGIS Online are young. Still, he argues, this is the direction in which the industry is going.

Enhancing Engagement in Geospatial Topics through Authentic Learning

Below are the key links from my presentation from NEARC Educators Day 2012 (Nov 11) titled: Enhancing Engagement in Geospatial Topics through Authentic Learning.

Notes from my Talk

Below are the notes from my session, taken by one of the attendees (thank you!). These are the standards/skills/learning objective the attendees felt could be addressed based on the "teachable moments" we discussed.

AFL Indigenous Players Map 2012

cartography
symbolization
culture
language distribution
relation of climate to cultural groups/language
relationship of native and non-native Australians
why create such a map?
connect to real world: have students document how to make the map better and share them with the AFL Players Association.

Khartoum Bomb Attack

change detection
estimate size of craters
image collection/limitations of satellite collection/timing of collection
connect to real world: confirm analysis, compare to other events to explore what kind of munition was used, share what was learned in school or local paper

Failed GPS Story

geocoding
precision/accuracy - when is it important
health skepticism/tech literacy
comparison of geocoding on different platforms
how is data collected/created
connect to real world: learn how to and actual correct/submit corrections to map or data providers

Apple Uses OpenStreetMap

licensing
attribution
crowdsourcing
legal action
metadata
connect to real world: explore under which license data used in class is offered, work with non-profit or local government in finding an appropriate license

Links Mentioned

Infographic: The Flipped Classroom

Last week I gave the opening remarks at the NEARC Educators Day event. All I did was ask a lot of questions. The first one was: "What is the flipped classroom?" The first answer I received was frankly wrong. Some of the educators at that event had not run into the hubbub about the Khan Academy and other flipped efforts.

So, for those educators and other others who are still a bit shaky on the idea, I offer this easy to follow infographic from Knewton. I feel strongly the flipped classroom concept is interesting and valuable and worth considering but agree it is not THE solution to all education challenges we currently face.

I am very interested in how this idea is/could be used in geography/GIS education.


Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

NEARC Educators Day 2011: A Day of Questions

This year marked the fourth GIS Educators Day in the northeast. As usual, it was held the Sunday before the New England Arc Users (NEARC) Group Conference. This year we met at the Saratoga Springs, NY Hilton.

Kicking Off

I heard we had 55 educators registered, with a nice mix of K-12, community college and university representatives. I even saw a 4-H student and a 4-H leader in their now well-known blue polo shirts. I had the privilege of giving the opening remarks where I basically pondered a series of questions but provided no answers (pdf of my presentation slides)! I asked:

• How might the flipped classroom be applied to geography/GIS eduction?
• How can we teach geographic intuition so GPS-following 17-year olds don't crash their cars into trees?
• What are the options for students not spending money on geography/GIS textbooks?
• How should organizations like the federal government, National Geographic and Oracle best spend their dollars on geography/GIS education?
• How might we apply gamification to geography/GIS education?

I had a great time and was pleased with the energy in the room. I was also pleased to note that about half of the attendees confirmed they had "Spoken Up for Geography." I was very disappointed that only about five knew of Mission Explore, perhaps the best Geography Awareness Week activity set ever produced (Kudos to the folks behind it: The Workshop from the UK).

Morning Sessions

Panel on "Indispensable Geospatial Professionals"

The opening panel I attended had a great title: "Educating Indispensable Geospatial Professionals for the 21st Century." The three person panel focused on different methods to create those professionals. Lara Bryant, Keene State College, described her course which serves both GIS majors and education majors. Eaach student's final project is a GIS lesson for a real client (a teacher/school). 

Tora Johnson, University of Maine at Machias explained how the number of traditional geography/GIS/cartography majors is way down at her school, but participation in the school's certificate and associate programs is way up. The certificate/associate programs are serving "incumbent" populations, people who already have jobs (typically older people). The most important asset her students take into the GIS working world is problem solving. She actually teaches it in her class (and did a paper on it at the AAG). When her students find themselves in a typical Maine GIS job, that is, as the only tech person in a rural setting, they are tapped to, and apparently can, solve all kinds of problems. 

Tao Tang, Buffalo State College summarized some of his students final projects which typically relate to their current employment and are essentially service learning. 

The list of things that can make a student "indispensable" in the workforce that I jotted down during the discussion include:

• problem solving skills
• service learning/internships
• a portfolio (for example a GIS lesson produced as a pre-service teacher)
• networking 
• basic GIS skills
• ability to teach oneself

I felt that these ideas matched up well to those I identified on a recent article/podcast on the topic. The one skill that employers in Maine need that is not yet met by GIS students, per Tora Johnson: data management, data processing and data stewardship. I suspect the demand for such skills reaches far beyond Maine.

John Van Hoesen, Green Mountain College

I moderated a session that began with many questions from John Van Hoesen, Green Mountain College. He asked, "Does FOSS GIS Offer More Opportunities for Developing Strong Foundational GIS Skills?" He also pondered if the goals of a course or the acquisition of specific skills was driving the teaching and learning of GIS. He was quick to point out that there was no need to toss out ArcInfo, but wanted to explore how teaching was different with FOSS. He based his exploration on The GIS 20: Essential Skills book and highlighted the differences in practicing those skills in ArcGIS and open source packages.

I'd summarize his findings as indicating the skills were "easier" and "quicker" to learn and do in ArcGIS. In one case, creating a general reference map, it took him four times as long to make it in QGIS (with which he is very familiar) than in ArcInfo. In part, I'd suggest, based on his discussion, that's because ArcInfo "does more" for you. For example, it assumes the next dataset you add is in the same projection as the last one. QGIS does not. Which leads to the question: Does convenience imply higher quality maps? Higher quality learning? Like me, he didn't have specific answers, but I think these are important questions. (If you missed Kurt Menke's article in Directions Magazine on teaching with open source, it also sheds light on teaching with open source GIS.)

In the same session, Wendy Stout, NASA Virginia Space Grant told the success story of teaching teachers about GIS via hands-on workshops. Educator awareness about GIS was definitely raised and several new courses and programs are launching across the state. The real question (and it's too soon to know the answer) is how these efforts will fare in five or ten years.

In the final session before lunch, Sharron Macklin, Williams College argued that introducing "spatial literacy" in a gentle fashion to her liberal arts college faculty is far more likely to succeed that trying to teach scary "GIS." She's developed a matrix of short to longer lesson visions for bringing that spatial literacy to the different disciplines. The sessions range from five minutes (locate areas of interest on a Web map) to hours (more in depth work with desktop GIS doing analysis).  

Afternoon Sessions

Glenn Hazelton, Northeastern University, offered a panel titled "Teaching GIS: It's More than Buttonology." The panelists (Jeffrey Dunn, U Conn Northeastern University, me, Keith Ratner, Salem State) struggled to find a path that acknowledged that some "recipe following" was required in the early GIS courses, while independent thinking and problem solving was also required. We came to no conclusion, but there was a strong sentiment that educators want students leaving GIS classes or graduating with GIS degrees, to know more than how to push buttons.

I organized a panel that aimed to show how three educators teach. Instead of talking about how we teach, the vision was to actually do a mini-lesson for the attendees. I kicked off with one of my favorite lessons on user interface design. After a very quick rundown of the principles, the attendees helped critique three different Web maps in the context of those principles. I was very pleased how well they did with only a three-minute introduction! (pdf of my slides) Alex Chaucer, Skidmore College, focused on broad ideas of finding ways to teach. Among his suggestions: taking students outside, using virtual tours or photographs to explore the landscape while indoors, and changing the mode (group work, lecture, hands-on, etc.) Jon Caris, Smith College walked the attendees through what could be a very stressful, but rewarding lesson. First groups use pen, paper, maps, acetates and a list of requirements to determine where to look for ancient artifacts. Then after some sweating and pain, they work through the analysis using mostly pre-built models in ArcGIS. Smith does not have "GIS courses" but instead tries to inject GIS into its existing courses. Caris might visit a class for a two hours and this is the type of activity he might do. I found it very appealing because it used different modes (groups, hands on, computer), was very interactive, was very focused on the problem solving process, and was less focused on pushing buttons. 

The last session of the day for me included discussion of the Cooperative Extension program and how educators in Connecticut are using Web Maps for student engagement. The name Shane Brandt, NH Extension, is a well-known in New England and I was pleased to hear from him about his mandate to serve the people of the state with geotechnology. Who takes advantage of that offer? Policemen, teachers, farmers, businessmen... To serve them (and sometimes to serve those from other states, like Massachusetts) he (NH page) and his colleagues in Rhode Island and Connecticut (national page) teach courses and share all kinds of materials. The Connecticut team addressed Google Earth, Fusion Tables and ArcGIS Online along with more focused apps (such as Historypin) that help engage students.  

Other Sessions

There were a whole set of sessions I could not attend since three full tracks were running simultaneously. A room was set aside for hands-on workshops throughout the day. Esri's Charlie Fitzpatrick was busy in there introducing educational opportunities with browser-based solutions like ArcGIS Online and presentation tools like ArcGIS Explorer. There were also workshops on ArcGIS Desktop and LiDAR aimed at educators. There was a well-plugged presentation on Aligning Your Geospatial Curriculum with the GTCM presented by the GeoTech Center.

Conclusion

I certainly left the event with more questions than answers, but I think that reflects the state of GIS and geography education. All of the educators in attendance, and their administrators back home, need to ponder how to best serve their students, their local community and their local businesses/employers. It's a good time to ask a lot of questions.

Special thanks to Lyn Malone, World View and Alex Chaucer, Skidmore College for making this outstanding event come together.