GIS Education Weekly: Free and Discounted Resources for Teaching and Learning

Resources

The GI Learner program, funded by the Erasmus+ program and the European Union, offers two reports of note:

• Spatial Thinking Review (pdf) - literature review of research about spatial thinking
• GI-Learner competencies (pdf) - spatial competencies for K-12 learners

There's an update to Learning QGIS and a deal to encourage purchases: 100 copies of the book are available at 30% off for print and 50% off for eBook.

ArcPy exercises, including course data and a 200 page PDF, are free to download from Esri. These are the course materials for Paul A. Zandbergen's ArcPy (Python) 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