GIS training vs. education at university
Many undergraduate university students take GIS courses with the expectation that these courses will increase their chances of finding gainful employment upon graduation. While I believe that the GIS...
View ArticleShould programming be part of a university GIS curriculum?
In my last post, on GIS training vs. education at university, I referred to a paper by Fagin and Wikle (2011) who had conducted a survey of GIS instructors in the U.S. regarding perceptions of the...
View ArticleHow do we reach and teach casual GIS users?
Simultaneously published at V1 Magazine with thanks to Matt Ball, co-founder and editor, Vector1 Media. There are many people who don’t consider themselves geospatial professionals, but instead are...
View ArticleTaking an inventory of my teaching material
I have tried many times, in many ways, to create a well-organized and complete inventory of all my teaching material, and so far it has always eluded me. I want to have one document where I can track...
View ArticleMy GIS curriculum review: what to leave in, what to leave out
I have now completed a systematic inventory of my teaching material as part of my GIS curriculum review and renewal process. It has been a challenging and enlightening exercise, as I forced myself to...
View ArticleEngaging new GIS students with web mapping
Simultaneously published at V1 Magazine with thanks to Matt Ball, co-founder and editor, Vector1 Media. Not that long ago, I considered “web mapping” an advanced topic, best left to be taught in a...
View ArticleCourse evaluations: valuable, unvarnished feedback
I just read through the course evaluation forms that students filled out for the courses I taught last winter. There is always a delay before instructors are allowed to see them, both to prevent any...
View ArticleGeoDesign as a teaching concept
I recently had the good fortune to attend a GeoDesign workshop presented by Bill Miller, who is the Director of GeoDesign Services at Esri, and one of the people credited with coining the term. It was...
View ArticleTips on getting started with teaching GIS online
I was recently contacted by someone asking for advice about developing and teaching an online GIS course. What follows is based on what I wrote in my e-mail response. I’m pretty new to this myself,...
View ArticleMy annual GIS curriculum review
Every summer, I perform a self-imposed curriculum review of the five GIS courses I teach each year. I think about the topics included and their sequence, and which course they belong in. I make notes...
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