EVOLVING TECHNOLOGY, SHIFTING EXPECTATIONS

Cultivating pedagogy for a rapidly changing GIS landscape

Jim Thatcher & Britta Ricker
University of Washington - Tacoma

#nacis2015

Transcript

1. EVOLVING TECHNOLOGY, SHIFTING EXPECTATIONS Cultivating pedagogy for a rapidly changing GIS landscape Jim Thatcher & Britta Ricker University of Washington - Tacoma
2. Talk Outline •  The circumstances •  Master’s in Geospatial Technologies; CyberGIS Fellowship •  The problem •  What GIS education has been •  What it’s becoming •  Our solution (one amongst many) •  A CyberGIS informed pedagogical framework
3. UWT Master’s of Science • Geospatial Technologies •  Not GIS •  A wider purview, but also a less defined • Specifically South Sound Serving •  Urban Serving
4. What the heck is CyberGIS? •  CyberGIS is the application of GIS to CyberInfrastructure •  Cyberinfrastructure: •  Computational power •  Data storage and repositories •  Instruments and tools of analysis •  CyberGIS integrates: •  Spatial analysis and modelling •  GISystems •  GIScientific approaches •  CyberInfrastructure (Wang & Armstrong, 2009; Wang et al., 2013)
5. CYBER CYBER CYBER CYBER! •  CyberGIS is the CyberApplication of CyberGIS to CyberInfrastructure •  Cyberinfrastructure: •  CyberComputational Cyberpower •  CyberData storage and Cyberrepositories •  CyberInstruments and tools of CyberAnalysis •  CyberGIS integrates: •  CyberSpatial analysis and CyberModelling •  CyberGISystems •  GIScientific CyberApproaches •  CyberInfrastructure Words matter Skilled in steering or governing
6. GIS Education
7. GIS Education • GIS is something one does • A purported gateway to a secure, middle- income lifestyle • Learn GIS, work for the city, become an analyst, etc.
8. GIS Education – what it’s becoming…
9. GIS Education – what it’s becoming… •  Technologies constantly evolving •  Job space changing •  Constant pressure on teaching tools vs. concepts •  What concepts for what tools? •  What tools for what concepts? •  Teaching GISystems vs. teaching about GIScience
10. GIS Education – at UWT •  These changes play out unevenly across space •  Opportunities available in some areas, not the case in others •  Constant tension between: Where the job market will be in 5 to 10 years vs. The need for a job now •  “Open-source is great and all, but I need to know ArcServer.”
11. GIS Education – at UWT From this: And this:
12. GIS Education – at UWT To this: A cyclical, Interdependent Relationship Local/ Topic Expert Front End Back End Data Analyst
13. The Merry-go-round of GIS •  Constructivist approach to pedagogy •  Built on existing (GIS) skills •  Attentive to existing (spatial) interests •  Highly interactive •  Able to ‘jump on’ at any point •  Build from existing technologies •  To emergent ones •  Through core concepts
14. The Merry-go-round of GIS •  Reflective of student goals: •  Position inside the academy = concepts and research •  Position in traditional GIS = traditional tools •  Position in wider geospatial industry = open-source, open-data •  CyberGIS framework helps bridge these divides
15. Our Curriculum by numbers… • GIS Concepts •  Formal training required for every student • Tool training •  Formal training varies by student goals •  Informal training occurs through professional development, etc.
16. Our Curriculum by numbers… • One year, cohort based • 13% core concepts • 13% desktop skills •  80% ESRI tools •  20% Open-Source • 60% CyberGIS/Web •  60% ESRI tools •  40% Open-Source • 14% Research project
17. Research focus on student goals
18. So… what does it all mean? •  GIS is changing, but you already knew that. •  GIS education must change as well, but you knew that too. •  Different students will have different goals and different opportunities •  The uneven development of spatial data and spatial analysis matters •  A precarious balance amongst GIScience, GIS as job, and what spatial jobs will and are becoming •  CyberGIS can help •  On the one hand, CYBER! as questionable framing •  On the other, focus on high-end, distributing computing recognized by national agencies •  Constructivist pedagogy and the Merry-Go-Round of GIS