New Website and Possible New Campus for Unmanned Vehicle University

I've written about Unmanned Vehicle University several times in recent years (1, 2, 3). I realized I'd not received an e-mail from them in some months, since January 2013. I'd been getting an e-mail roughly monthly before that with an invitation to start a degree or an announcement about a book or a new publishing program.

When I visited the university website I was surprised to find it was redone. The old slow, frankly archaic version was replaced by a slick modern one. And, clearly, the team that put it together did their homework. They removed all links to my coverage in the media area, some if it not quite so positive, I confess. They de-emphasized the school's licensing (noted here) and accreditation (no mention I could find) and simplified the process of admission to four steps: download catalog, fill out form, fax or e-mail application (no, you can't apply online), pay money. There are even testimonials from students, though some are not as positive as others.

So what else is new at UVU since January?

There are a number of new offerings, mostly videos on DVD, on topics such as UAVs and firefighting, UAVs for police work, driverless car design , a DIY drone kit, starting a UAV business, among others.

The university is hiring a COO, instructors and international directors.

There's a list of current job openings (some of which had expired).

The university has partnered (not clear how) with an unmanned vehicle industry headhunter.

UVU was selected for a training contract with an unidentified overseas customer for $435,000.

A press release (from the above contract announcement) from April offers these stats about the university. UVU graduated 150 students from courses (not necessarily degrees or certificates) in 2012, and anticipate 300 students enrolling in 2013. Other PRs about the new courses, the granting of a trademark, etc. are listed on a press release site, not the university's own website.

The university notes financial aid is available from two private employers via tuition assistance (US Airways and URS) and the State of Arizona. It also points students to a federal program for workers who lost jobs because of foreign trade.

The university started a crowdfunding campaign to raise $10 million to build a campus.

Currently, all of our courses are online and our students are all over the world. We need your help to fund a brick and mortar campus. The funds will be used to build classrooms, administrative offices and student housing and provide scholarships. All donors will have their name and level included in the UVU donors book. Gold level donors will have their personal or business name engraved on bricks that pave Unmanned Leaders Plaza which will host statues of unmanned air, ground, sea and space vehicles.

To date, there has not been a single donation. The "pitch video" on the crowdfunding page is an introduction to the university's three day course.

The Story Behind Elmhurst College's Online AP Human Geography Certificate Program

Dr. Rich Schultz, Ph.D., C.P.G., OTC is an Associate Professor in Geography & Geosciences, Director, Elmhurst College Online GIS Certificate Program and Director, Online AP Human Geography (APHG) Graduate Certificate Program at Elmhurst College in Illinois. I contacted him in that last capacity to learn more about the APHG program. I wrote about it last week and Dr. Schultz left a detailed comment. In the interview below, he answers a few specific questions about the history and impetus for this new certificate.

Ignite Education (IE): What was the spark for the development of this certificate program? How did evolve from that point to the current rollout?

Dr. Rich Schultz (RS): AP Human Geography (APHG) teachers' demands are the impetus. They need professional development because many are asked to teach APHG on a whim to keep up with the rising demand for offering AP courses at high schools. They are provided with little notice (almost none in some cases) to develop and teach APHG in future terms. Many of these teachers have never taken geography classes in their educational past, so they are left scrambling. Our idea is to educate the teachers so they can properly educate their students. If the teachers develop a real interest in geography and spatial concepts, their passion will be contagious and we are hopeful their students will become excited about geography as well, especially in terms of a future career.

IE: I see that National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) members receive a special discount when pursuing the certificate; that’s great. How was NCGE involved with the development of the program? Will it be in the future? Do you have/are you looking for other partners? 

RS: NCGE declined to be involved in the initial stages of development, and rightly so because they felt they could not give adequate attention to it with the likes of the Geography Standards, 2nd ed., rolling out and the RoadMap Project under their auspices. So, Dr. Joseph Kerski (then NCGE President and the real impetus for this initiative) and I took the ball and ran with it. NCGE has partnered with us most recently to provide their support and we are thankful for their involvement. We are seeking other partnerships as the APHG teachers need all the support they can get. We aim to bring these teachers the best possible experience in learning how to teach APHG and to infuse spatial concepts into their teaching.

IE: How are AP Human Geography instructors typically (currently) trained? 

RS: If they have a traditional background from taking geography courses in college/universities, that is their "training". Many are social studies teachers or history teachers and their knowledge in geography comes from that. However, some APHG teachers have never taken a geography course before, which is where we, as a professional development program, step in.

IE: What indicators convinced Elmhurst there would be demand for such a certificate in the short and long term? For example, is demand for the AP Geography exam rising? Are more schools planning to offer APHG? 

RS: Some of our Advisory Board and faculty members in the program are heavily involved with the College Board and noticed that the trend was very clear that APHG was increasing in demand and more and more schools nationally are offering it, at least over the last eleven years (2001-2012). However, our real encouragement came from the APHG teachers themselves. They really want to learn how to properly teach APHG. They are a passionate group!

Early Feedback on Geo-MOOC

On Feb 21 Penn State announced it would be working with Coursera to offer Massive Open Online Classes (MOOCs). Among the first five courses is what I and others believe is the first planned geography/mapping related MOOC, Maps and the Geospatial Revolution. As is typical of the whole MOOC movement, there was a lot of excitement and response, even though the course is barely outlined and won't be live for its five week run until July of this year.

Here are some of the responses, all from industry insiders, that gave me pause.

‏@RIGEA1 wrote:

Want to learn #GIS but not sure where to start? This free MOOC "Maps & the Geospatial Revolution" is for you!

The course webpage uses the term geographic information system just once; it certainly does not promise that students will learn GIS. It does say they will make maps.

@SkipCody wrote:

I am excited to attend! ...

Both the intro video and webpage text make clear this course is not for geogeeks. The webpage includes: "If you're already a Geospatial Guru, then you might find this work a bit basic, in which case I hope you'll consider taking the online courses that we offer at Penn State." The tweet author is a "Product Manager for a SaaS GIS Company."

Some MOOCs have been overrun by "experts," making me wonder about the experience of the real newbies. See for example stats shared here in section titled "students" describing a machine language MOOC at Stanford.

Among 14,045 students in the Machine Learning course who responded to a demographic survey, half were professionals who currently held jobs in the tech industry. The largest chunk, 41 percent, said they were professionals currently working in the software industry; another 9 percent said they were professionals working in non-software areas of the computing and information technology industries.

Of course, when a course is free, it's hard to dissuade interest, and I'm not sure any company, educational institution or instructor would want to do so. Hopefully this sort of interest by experts will die down as the MOOC concept is more familiar to all.

@jodygarnett wrote:

... better cover open source?

While I'm sure it's possible to run a five week course that uses, or covers, open source GIS, I don't believe that's the goal for this very first Geo-MOOC.

@SS_Rebelious wrote:

finally a GIS course! But unfortunately ESRI's software will be used(((

The course will use ArcGIS Online. Could it use something else? Sure. Will it really matter what software the students use for a five week course if the goal is exploring mapping and geospatial technology and making a map? As an educator, I think not. Equally importantly, I think think Penn State pushing ArcGIS Online in this way is a good thing.

All of these comments are from people inside the geospatial industry. What will be far more interesting will be the comments from students outside geography and GIS after they take the course.

Valuable Resources from Sinton and Boyes

Last week an event titled Spatial Thinking across the College Curriculum was held in Santa Barbara. I didn't attend. In fact, I didn't even know about it, until I saw on Twitter that Esri's David DiBiase spoke (and posted his slides, err presi). Then, after watching the latest Penn State Geography Dept Coffee Hour (description, video), I learned my advisor, Roger Downs, gave the keynote. I want to point readers to this short write-up of the event from Diana Sinton. I have three point to make about this event/recap/topic:

1. Read the recap. It's worth your time, especially if you are planning to attend or organize a gathering on this topic.
2. I have observed how few of the geography/GIS education events get any write up at all. I see tweets (mostly of who is on stage next or that someone will be speaking at 10 am) and agendas, but little in the way of "this is what happened/was of interest/sparked discussion." I am hopeful organizers (even those with limited funds) can find someone (blogger, student, vendor, etc.) to document what happens.
3. Perhaps it's time to take just a single issue or question on this topic and tackle it in a single day un-conference. I'm thinking of a variant of a code sprint. It sounds to me like the Santa Barbara meeting had many of the challenges we faced at Bucknell: too broad a topic to get much done.

Also worthy of note this week was the University of Toronto's Don Boyes' announcement via a blog post that he was sharing his online course course content for his introductory GIS courses including his lectures, videos and resource listings. Several people have already remarked on their quality via Twitter.

I watched the intro video and some of the technical lectures (How to do a query). The bite sized lectures, presented via Adobe Presenter, are essentially Boyes speaking to PowerPoint slides. The videos are demos of how, for example, to do a query in ArcGIS. The videos seem to be provided as a complement the PowerPoint "chalk talk" on the same subject. Boyes noted how much effort was required to create these lectures and videos.  I can only imagine!

As I watched I was reminded of something I heard on the Hack Education podcast this week. It was about if teachers should use "generic" (Khan Academy or other educators') videos in the flipped classroom, or make their own. The anecdotal response highlighted the value of teachers making their own videos. A high school student noted that she got math for the first time using videos her teacher makes, while another class, an economics one that used other people's videos, was considered one of the worst on campus, and students were switching out.

I for one am still pondering how best to use "home made" video in online teaching and in flipped face to face classrooms. In very process focused subjects like math, I can see how having the instructor use a consistent vocabulary and create videos that match the current state of the class as a huge plus. Is that also true in a "learning about a technology" and "learning software" type environment, too? Or does something more generic, like Esri's virtual campus courses combined with educator-created lectures work as well?

I hope Boyes and other geography/GIS educators will share their results as they try different combinations in the coming months and years.

NCLB In, Field Trips Out

Cinncinatti.com mourns the loss of the field trip. The K-12 staple took students to zoos and museums, historic sites and state capitals. Today, in an educational environment based on testing, those perks, I mean learning experiences, are no longer available in many areas. Instead, there are virtual field trips using Google Earth and museum websites. As a geographer, both the lack of travel to these places and the solution of visiting them via computer, sadden me.

Talk to graduates from my home town public schools from the 1970s and 1980s and I bet you'll hear the same stories I can tell about our field trips.

So far as I know every kindergartner/first grader went to Drumlin Farm, an Audubon site in Lincoln, MA. I vaguely remember mud and animals and maybe, just maybe, I realized that within a few miles of my house, there was an actual farm.

And, I think it was in 3rd or 4th grade, we went to visit a Senator. He was one of my classmates grandfather's, a Senator from Rhode Island. I'm pretty sure we met him at the Massachusetts State House in Boston. Senator Pastore gave each of us a booklet containing the Constitution. I kept that through college. It had "From the office of Senator John Pastore" stamped on it.

The big trip in elementary school was in fifth grade: We spent a full week at an environmental camp (Camp Wingate) on Cape Cod. My mom was a chaperon. To this day I remember riding bikes to the recycling plant, doing a night walk in the woods and creating a huge web of life with yarn on the floor of the "Leoj," the main building named after, I think, the founder, Joel. (Get it? It's Joel backwards!) I remember making mobiles from broken colored glass. My classmate Eric gave his to my Mom; she stayed up with him all night when he had a tummy ache.

The junior high trip was unforgettable. Sadly, only the top science students got to go. We drove to Clarksville, NY (leaving at 6 am) and crawled around in a cave for hours. We used acetylene lamps, looked at rock formations, and examined bat guano. I remember how it felt and smelled to this day. On the way home we ate a McDonalds. In the bricks were imprints of fossils.

I can't recall a high school trip, just band trips, which were pretty educational. My host in Westchester, NY ate Rice Krispies with Pepsi instead of milk. I didn't know you could do that!

I suppose some of the learning completed on these trips could have occurred online. I wonder if I'd remember them as well as I do these experiences?

The New Face of GIS Training

The new paradigm of GIS training (and perhaps education, too) is upon us. It's epitomized by shorter, more focused and less expensive classes, if not full courses. These classes are being created and taught not by only by traditional academics (with current or paste employment at a K-12 school, college or university), but by our peers, GIS practitioners.

Last week two such offerings crossed my browser. These individuals are among the pioneers in this sort of training.

Gretchen Peterson is offering a four hour workshop at Colorado State University.

Geospatial Workshop: Introduction to Cartography

Join the Geospatial Centroid on Friday, October 26, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m., for a workshop with renowned cartographer, Gretchen N. Peterson (see: http://www.gretchenpeterson.com/blog). The workshop will introduce you to general concepts of cartography, design principles, and introductory skills for adding clarity to your maps. The cost for the workshop is $60 and is payable either by CSU Account number or by check at the workshop. Please register by October 19! Spaces are limited.

Rolling Hills Consulting is offering a course on LiDAR and ArcGIS.

Course Title: How to download LiDAR files and process them in ArcGIS to make a high resolution bare earth Digital Elevation Model (DEM).
Software Required: ArcGIS 10.0 and 3D Analyst extension
Course Cost: $25.00 (if you are interested please click the PayPal Add to Cart button and send us an e-mail).
Course Description: Iowa has acquired LiDAR data statewide. The Iowa Geological and Water Survey have available to download already processed DEMs from the raw LiDAR data at a 3-Meter resolution. One may want to process their own DEMs at other resolutions to bring out subtle elevation changes. This course shows the student how to download LiDAR files and process them in ArcGIS 3D Analyst to create their own DEMs and also how to view those DEMs as 3-dimensional surfaces in ArcScene.

I'm very excited about the potential of these short term, focussed offerings. After reading these short descriptions, I didn't get all the information I needed about the classes. The good news is that when queried, Chad Goings, President of Rolling Hills Consulting and Gretchen Peterson of Peterson GIS provided the details I requested. Goings agreed that adding the information he provided me would be valuable in his marketing. Peterson put up a blog post addressing my questions.

Here are the things I wanted to know as I ponder whether I'd like to attend a single class (or a whole course) from a person/organization (beyond the title, when, where and how much it costs):

• Who wrote/is giving the class? What kind of GIS and/or teaching experience do they have?
• Is the course face-to-face, online (synchronous or asychronous), a tutorial that I do on my own  or something else? 
• Are there any pre-requisites or knowledge that will make the course more valuable?
• Will the course be all lecture or will there be discussion, projects, etc.?
• What are the learning objectives (at the end of the course, what will I be able to do)?
• What materials do I need for the class (pen and paper, hardware, software, OS requirement, headset mike, etc.)?
• What materials will I receive (PowerPoints, PDFs, access to online content, printed materials, software, DVDs, etc.)?
• Will there be evaluations of what I've learned (exercises, quiz, discussion, formal paper, etc.)?
• Will I receive a credential at the end to confirm I've completed the class (badge, certificate, letter of completion, etc.)?
• Do any bodies recognize the course for points or credit (GISCI GISP point, CEUs, etc.)?

This is same information a school faculty member or corporate trainer would share about an upcoming course. These short form courses are aiming to do the same kinds of training, just at a different scale.

A Look at American Sentinel University’s New Geospatial Information Systems Graduate Certificate and Masters Degree

During the last week in September American Sentinel University announced two new online graduate offerings: a five course Geospatial Information Systems Graduate Certificate and a 12 course Master of Geospatial Information Systems. The school has offered a B.S. and A.S. in Geographic Information Systems since 2006.  Do note that the undergraduate degrees are in Geographic Information Systems and the graduate credentials are in Geospatial Information Systems. I asked the school about the difference and heard back from the GIS Program Chair, Dr. Stephen McElroy:

Although GIS is the principal geospatial technology, it is only one of the broader sets of tools available. Other geospatial technologies include GPS, airborne and satellite remote sensing, terrestrial lidar, close-range photogrammetry, virtual visualization, statistical-based analysis and modeling. We chose the term “geospatial” to represent our programs because it embraces this broader set of tools and techniques.

Geospatial Information Systems Graduate Certificate 

The graduate certificate, like most offered by other schools, is aimed at individuals who have a bachelors degree and are looking for a structured basic program in GIS. The school notes the program can be completed in between six and 12 months. Each of the five courses takes eight weeks. The tuition (no fees, books, etc.) totals $6,300.

I was pleased to see that the school details the learning objectives. Graduates of the graduate certificate will be able to:

• Develop an understanding of geospatial principles and practices.
• Develop a working knowledge of ArcGIS and other GIS related tools used in developing and implementing geospatial strategies.
• Collect, store, access and use geospatial data across multiple disciplines.
• Develop an enterprise-level geospatial strategy.
• Understand the ethical and legal issues associated with the use of geospatial data.
• Understand similarities and differences in geospatial strategies between specific disciplines. 
• Present geospatial information in a clear and professional manner.
• Present their ePortfolio as evidence of academic achievement.

Also noteworthy is the school’s statement of its unique approach:

Unlike many GIS certificates, American Sentinel’s graduate certificate does not focus solely on the technology and software behind GIS. Our cross-disciplinary program is ideal for individuals who seek the analytical skills needed to incorporate geospatial tools and strategies into the modern-day working environment and enhance critical decision making and problem solving.

Master of Geospatial Information Systems

The masters degree requires a bachelors degree and the core 12 courses run $15,120 (tuition only). The program has two paths to completion. One, the course track, is more course focused, while the other, the project track, centers around a workplace project.Those who select the course track will take “electives that provide experience across the major geospatial industry categories as defined by Esri.”  Those are listed elsewhere as health care, business, government, defense and public safety, and environment and natural resources. Esri's list of industries is far longer.

Those who select the project option must follow the Esri Professional Services Framework (detailed on the Esri professional service page):

• Strategy and planning 
• Requirements analysis
• Design Development Deployment Operations and maintenance.

The school lists four items in its program that are unique:

• Project track (described above)
• Application across industries (described above)
• ArcGIS (site license) 
• Geospatial Learning Lab – “provides access to a geospatial community, Esri educational materials, tutorials, online GIS resources and more. Students completing activities with the Geospatial Learning Lab can receive competency-based badges to add to their ePortfolio.”

I requested more information about the Learning Lab. Dr. Stephen McElroy responded:

The online learning lab is similar to a learning commons. It is an area that brings together resources and materials in a way that facilitates the development of an active learning community. This resources will be deployed for internal use by American Sentinel students. The competency-based badges will be developed by our Academics team.

The learning objectives for the masters degree are the same as for the certificate expect that

• Understand similarities and differences in geospatial strategies between specific disciplines.

is replaced with:

• Design, develop and complete a GIS project. Depending on the program track chosen (course or project), this project may be in-depth or more limited in scope, based on the student’s project design and objectives.

Which Comes First in EdTech: Ed or Tech?

Don Boyes, who teaches GIS at the University of Toronto, wrote a thoughtful post last week about his current work preparing to move one of his face to face GIS classes to an online format. He addresses the key areas he needs to explore: content, pedagogy and technology. It's the last one that interests me. Boyes writes:

Technology
Teaching GIS in general, and certainly online, requires more than a passing familiarity with a host of technologies.  I have been thinking about the software I use, or might use for my online course.  Just off the top of my head, the list includes: PowerPoint; Adobe Photoshop, Captivate, Presenter, Premiere, and Connect; Blackboard; and Citrix XenApp.  I also have to understand issues concerning bandwidth, mobile devices, podcasting, open learning, etc.  As a technophile/early adopter, I love learning about all these things, but it takes a lot of time.  For every technologic tool or solution, I have to be mindful of the actual benefits for improving communication, teaching, and learning and judge whether the invested time will be worth it.

I am pleased Boyes has such a long list of tech tools in mind. And, I'm pleased he's aware that it's possible to get swept up in the tech and perhaps lose site of the goal, that is, learning.

That brings me to the question in the title: In the development of a course (residential or online), which should come first: the full syllabus with course and lesson objectives or the tech that will enable to objectives?

In an ideal world, educators would have the luxury of paid time to consider the content and pedagogy and develop a course. Then and only then, they'd have the resources (skilled instructional designers, hardware, funds, time to test implementations, etc.) to weave in the appropriate technology. I'm sure I'm not the first to notice it rarely works quite that way.

Still, I think it's valuable to try to work that way, especially now when education technology tools are exploding. Why?

• While the tool you may want may not be available when you begin to develop the course, it might be in beta by the time you start to select technology. And, if technology literacy goals are among of the course, why not consider new or beta offerings? Students can learn a lot from how software is tested and input collected. Moreover, you can often use such products for free as part of a beta program or the like.
• You can't possibly keep up with both educational technologies and your discipline. Don't try; rely on others to help identify and select appropriate technology. 
• It's so easy to get swept away by new sexy software and hardware. Just consider the big rush to the iPad when most of the research on its impact on learning is still anecdotal. Hold tight to your educational objectives; don't be swayed by flashiness. 

Education technology is supposed to enhance learning. Thus, by definition, an educator must know what is to be taught and learned before such tools are selected. Be sure Ed comes first when considered EdTech.