24.11.2012 Views

Space Grant Consortium - University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

Space Grant Consortium - University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

Space Grant Consortium - University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

studies/civics a nd on e f or a n a dult e ducation p rogram n eeds assessment. T he uni ts pr ovide<br />

interactive lessons focusing on t he questions <strong>of</strong> what is GIS data, how one uses GIS s<strong>of</strong>tware,<br />

and how one infers need from GIS data. The unit also discusses issues <strong>of</strong> ethics and GIS data,<br />

and is matched with state standards.<br />

Jennifer Johanson has expanded her GIS by attending UWM for graduate work in a combined<br />

GIS and environmental geology field. T his work is being fully funded by Alverno to support<br />

expansion <strong>of</strong> the GIS efforts at Alverno.<br />

Curricular changes. Our initial goal was to design and implement 2-4 new or redesigned<br />

courses that integrate discipline-specific content with GIS related content, and to add from there.<br />

In the first two year grant period we implemented the new GIS skills course, discussed above,<br />

redesigned an environmental geology co urse t o i nclude exercises in G IS t hat r elate t o<br />

environmental s cience t opics, a nd a dded G IS e xercises a nd c oncepts t o t he geography course.<br />

These course teach GIS in a d iscipline specific setting, using exercises specifically designed for<br />

geology and geography, respectively.<br />

In addition t o t hese t hree i nitially p lanned cu rricular ch anges, ad ditional co urses h ave b een<br />

modified by the instructors trained in GIS technology to integrate GIS-supported demonstration<br />

projects and/or research projects to expose students to the power <strong>of</strong> the tool and to some <strong>of</strong> the<br />

possible us es <strong>of</strong> t his t echnology i n t heir ow n f ields. T hese c ourses i nclude e ducation c ourses,<br />

global effective citizenship courses, graduate nursing courses, and database course. One or more<br />

<strong>of</strong> t he f ollowing G IS r elated pr ocesses ha ve be en a dded t o t hese a nd ot her c ourses: da tabase<br />

design, relational database use, computer mapping production techniques, cartographic design,<br />

communication pr operties <strong>of</strong> t hematic m aps, da ta s election a nd qua lity, a nd t he pr oblems <strong>of</strong><br />

graphic display in print and electronic formats. Here are examples <strong>of</strong> what has been done:<br />

• A d atabase co urse h as i ncluded a research c omponent w ith G IS i ssues a s one <strong>of</strong> t he<br />

possible topics. Student groups in the class researched G IS applications, and pr esented<br />

their f indings to th e entire c lass a s p art o f th eir f inal a ssessment. T he students w ere<br />

amazed at the extensive range and applications <strong>of</strong> GIS into so many disciplines.<br />

• An education class project involves solving a problem based on a scenario with specific<br />

criteria. S tudents w ere t o ch oose an ar ea t o es tablish a n ew d ay c are t hat s ervices t he<br />

needs <strong>of</strong> Hispanic, women homeowners with an average income below $30,000 t hat is<br />

within f ive bl ocks o f an e lementary s chool a nd is on a bus l ine. T he s tudents us ed an<br />

existing on-line GIS (Milwaukee COMPASS) to analyze data and solve this problem.<br />

• The g raduate nur sing s tudents us ed G IS i n a p roject w here t hey co llected d ata o n<br />

occurrences <strong>of</strong> slips and falls. These data were then tied in to a floor plan <strong>of</strong> the nursing<br />

home to see if there area patterns <strong>of</strong> areas that have many occurrences <strong>of</strong> falls.<br />

• Mini GIS lessons that are potentially applicable in a number <strong>of</strong> different courses have<br />

been prepared, focusing on the use <strong>of</strong> demographic data and physical geography to<br />

evaluate similarities and differences between countries. This lesson was piloted in fall<br />

2007 in GEC 302, one <strong>of</strong> a series <strong>of</strong> general education courses required <strong>of</strong> all students for<br />

validation in the abilities <strong>of</strong> effective citizenship and developing a global perspective.<br />

This lesson will be modified and presented to the GEC instructors for potential inclusion<br />

into the entire series. This would expose all Alverno students to GIS, as this course is<br />

required <strong>of</strong> all students. This course is generally taken in a student’s junior year.<br />

27

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!