On Sunday morning, following a summary statement by
Duane Marble, five focus group themes were identified. These groups
met to discuss issues in these areas and to lay out plans for action.
The following are brief summaries of their conclusions.
Requested that a letter be sent by conference
organizers to institution heads of participants to encourage continued
support GIS educators' special concerns
Outline a basic curricula for spatial
studies (for both teachers and for students).
Create a forum for a) resources and b)
feedback
Create a "decision tree" or
matrix which can be used by institutions planning programs. The matrix
would allow institutions to match their program structures (eg. short course,
training workshops, academic course) and course levels to suggested contents.
Develop a list of available internships
and opportunities for community involvement.
Industry, Vendors, and Jobs
Identify a representative who
will go to the Open GIS Consortium
outline interoperability needs
for education and academic communities (e.g. common data formats for educational
materials so they can be used in different programs)
discuss vendor roles in support
of education activities
get support for this lobbying
from UCGIS, AAG, APA, ACSP, ASPRS, letter from European DG’s (13)
Create a Directory or Resources
Guide on-line of education materials available from vendors
Suggestions for the next GIS
Education symposium
Bring in "non-educators" to
the next 1998 symposium
Incorporate the work of the
Association of Research Libraries and Special Libraries Association into
1998 Syposium.
Bring in employers to 1998 Symposium,
including government agencies. Use contacts in associations such
as AM/FM, URISA to find representatives.
Bring in recent grads (in job
for 1+ yrs); provide sponsorship for their attendance.
Use a rotating venue for the
GIS Education Symposium to coordinate w/ GIS/LIS and/or AAG, etc…
Future Conferences
and GISHE-like meetings
next GISxE?
drop "Higher" education focus
possibly hold in Michigan, October
1998, in association with existing ATE project (see presentation by Raymond,
Brown and Xie)
possibly hold with NCGE 1998
Elements to add or replace to
the conference:
Inlucde session and discussion
on "Teaching with GIS"
Offer main conference every
other year, use GISE to plan and stimulate regional conferences in the
off year.
Have a strategic planning element.
Have a strong K-12 track.
Include session(s) on community-based
GIS education.
Invite librarians
European version of GISHE will
be held in The Netherlands in September 1998.
GIS Educators should attend K-12 meetings
to spread the word [NSTA,NANT,NCGE]
GIS Training and Concepts
in Multidisciplinary Education, K-12+ programs
Customize various different
course pathways, including:
Industry driven
Professional retraining
K-12, community college, 4 year
basic skills
spatial awareness
visual content
Teaching GIS vs. Using GIS
Use visualization to teach GIS
spatially
Consider whether cartographic
and spatial concepts should be included or prerequisite to courses
Consider the Multidisciplinary
Approach
What are the basic requirements
for learning GIS?
What should be taught to non-majors?
for example, course contents
may be:
K-12
Basic Awareness
Spatial Concepts
Intro to Geodesy
Community College
technical skills
building and reinforcing basic concepts
University
professional themes
narrowing topics to disciplines
International
Contacts and Issues
Create channels for communication
eg. Listserver, Index-Database of Educators
action taken - ITC offered to develop
and maintain the international database, email addresses collected from
international participants
Ensure international issues are included
in The GIS Educator
eg. Columns on international issues should
be submitted
Ensure that The GIS Educator includes
links to web sites
Develop a registry of local/regional contacts
so that new educators can get linked into the international network
In distance education programs, consideration
needs to be made of languages other than English
Create an index of international opportunities
for continuing education
