GISHE '96
Plenary session, Saturday afternoon
On Saturday afternoon, large focus groups were formed to itemize the critical issues which had arisen during the session discussions. K-12 and Community College educators formed special focus groups to address issues of particular relevance to them. The following is a summary of these discussions.
- Detailed lesson plans, cookbook GIS -- with CD, "GIS for Dummies", all
inclusive, easy to get it up and running
- Training -- hands on workshops
- Data -- in GIS ready formats, i.e. ArcView, Idrisi; it is difficult to
find data and put it in the proper format
- Partnerships -- schools/universities/business, business involvement is important
- Network/communications, GIS list, web site, central place -- K-12 GIS center
- transferability -- standards, certification, technical courses,
introductory GIS course; GIS across the curriculum
- job outlook -- study, needs assessment, define job levels
- territoriality -- 2 year <--> 4 year; 2 year <--> 2 year;
partnership, interdepartment, equipment, hardware/software, lab support, sharing data; training in GIS/using GIS to teach other content/GIS education (partnerships)
- professional development (regional, local); outreach --
K-12/industry/community colleges should be support for K-12; network of community college GIS programs
- develop community college GIS network
- set standards for "introductory GIS course" that can be transferable
- needs assessment that can be shared
- continuation and expansion of professional development "GIS 21st century" (CCTP?)
- outreach to K-12
- vertical articulation of GIS education (K-12, 2 year, 4 year); geographic information science vs. use of GIS for teaching spatial knowledge and skills;
integration of learning models and GIS; professional programs
- Use of the Web -- sharing GIS knowledge, distributed model of educations, coordinating data access & sharing; sharing practical advice & information
- International sharing & building capacity globally
- Multidisciplinary use. Geography? (other disciplines use geography/GIS classes because it isn't offered in their department)
- What are the key concepts?
- Effective use of resources
- Training vs. education (geography vs. technology)
- Define level and content of courses
- Push for more diversity at our conferences
- Continua in education
- K-12 <--> community college <--> university
- students <--> employers
- Communication between science, geography, systems,
applications/disciplines (survey, planning, etc)
- Didactics of (GIS) "labs"
- onsite <---> distance learning
- research outcomes of programs, job descriptions, advertisements
- exchange information on courses, programs, flexible, WWW/discussion list
- collection on didactics, new media
- What is the GI-animal?