UCLA
1. "Coursework is grounded in the structure of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Geospatial Technology Competency model, which is required for most GIS and geospatial technology industry employees." How is the program related to the GTCM?
...our program was designed with the GTCM in mind, and ... we are continually making a concerted effort to ensure that our courses train students in the core geospatial abilities and knowledge specified in the GTCM and other relevant standards documents.He shared a table showing which of the courses are most closely related to core competencies outlined in the GIS Body of Knowledge.
2. Does the program uses both proprietary and open source software?
...we emphasize training in ArcGIS given that it is the industry standard commercial desktop GIS platform, though we do (particularly beginning in our Intermediate GIS course) introduce QGIS and encourage students to develop experience with ArcGIS as well as free and open source alternatives like QGIS.3. What makes the UCLA Extension GIS certificate program different from other online programs? What is unique?
Several key characteristics distinguish UCLA Extension's online GIS certificate program from other online programs: (1) our program is primarily designed to serve students with little to no prior GIS experience, and (2) our instructional design deviates from the standard step-by-step ArcGIS tutorial-based training model that is so common in university-level GIS education. The weekly practical exercises in all five of our courses provide students with scaffolded learning experiences wherein students are given the responsibility of thinking critically about process and outcomes. This form of instructional design encourages development of true mastery of GIS techniques as students are thinking less about which buttons need to be pushed and more about the broader sequence of steps necessary to meet a given objective. While we are relatively young as a professional certificate program, our certificate program courses are built upon the established GIS curriculum that we use here in the Department of Geography at UCLA.