getting the most out of digimap for colleges

Digimap for Colleges

An online mapping service for the FE sector


Session outline

»Why another Digimap?»Service design»Support materials»Service features»What people are saying»Use within Sixth Form

Colleges

2/03/2016


Extending the product line to bridge the gap…

2/03/2016

OS and historic online mapping for schools and Key Stage 1 - 4 curriculum materials

OS, Historic, Geology, Marine, Environment online mapping and data download for use in GIS/CAD requiring individual user registrationOS online mapping for colleges and GCSE and A level curriculum and vocational course materials available campus wide


Result – an online mapping service designed for the sector

Click to icon to add image

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Key features

»Online mapping service»Ordnance Survey digital map products for all of GB»Variety of zoom levels inc. OS MasterMap, building

footprints»Annotate maps with text, markers, areas, photos,

graphs»Measure distances, areas, buffer points and lines»Save annotations»Create maps as pdf and jpg for printing and insert»Variety of help materials2/03/2016 Digimap for Colleges

Key features

»Whole of college resource – vocational and cross curricular

»Not just for Geographers! Starting point for presentation of many types of information and use of ICT in learning

»Browser based, no software installation, no data management

»Most popular current browsers Chrome, IE, Safari, Firefox

»Smartboards, desktop pcs, laptops»Touch enabled – Safari on iPads»Easy campus IP access, click Start and you’re off!2/03/2016 Digimap for Colleges


Learning resources

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How to videos

2/03/2016 Digimap for Colleges

Annotating to present their own information


Example annotations


Students using maps to present information


And even for your college use too


What people are saying

“We added a direct link (and banner) to Digimap on the Public Services Course in our VLE. In addition we promoted the resource to all relevant teaching staff and offered training as required (we haven’t had to do any training as Digimap is very intuitive). They appear to be delighted with the service. I believe they are using the maps for outdoor expedition/orienteering related activities.”

Graeme Hodge, eLearning resource managerNorth East Surrey College of Technology

Happy users …..


What people are saying

“I know that our public services staff have been using it, I think they were making maps for expeditions with their students. Our Geography staff also use it, we even have a childcare assessor who has used it with her students to check amenities close to their placements.”Melanie Cook, Gower College Swansea, 20 February 2015

Happy users …..


How the service is being used

Senior curriculum manager -GeographyThe Sixth Form College, Farnborough

Hannah RoweHead of learning centres and financial supportKirklees College, Huddersfield

David Scott


Hannah RoweSenior curriculum manager – Geography The Sixth Form College Farnborough

Using Digimap for Colleges in the Geography Department at The Sixth Form College, Farnborough»Context - college of 3600+ students»Geography department – 430 students»Current use of Digimap is largely class focused

(22 A-level groups) and evolving»Currently no A-level coursework – will be reintroduced

in 2016 when the A-levels return to a linear format. Therefore there is huge scope to expand our use of Digimap at this time



Accessing Digimap for Colleges

2/03/2016

Accessing Digimap for Colleges

Click to icon to add image


A selection of departmental activities that have benefited from Digimap for Colleges.

An amazing tool to build students sense of place:»Local river investigation – The River Blackwater,

Aldershot»Investigating inner city Canning Town»Researching the impacts of urban change on the UK’s

settlements – e.g. the gentrification of Notting Hill and the impacts of counter-urbanisation on Fleet, Hampshire



An example of the use of Digimap for Colleges:

Why use Digimap for this?»It is a local case study that we use to help students

build their understanding of processes in a familiar environment to them

»As such all case study resources must be generated ourselves

»Allows the use of both overview base maps and detailed analysis of the area

Investigating the impacts of counter-urbanisation on Fleet, Hampshire

2/03/2016


Selecting the map area »Firstly a base map is selected for students to annotate

(using map interpretation only) why Fleet might be destination for counter-urbanisation

»Digimap allows me to select the exact area that I want my students to focus on

»Not only does it develop their urban understanding, but it also promotes geographical skill competency

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Digimap for Colleges2/03/2016

Selecting areas for further investigation


The next stage

»We could just use local OS maps – but the ability of selectable areas and printable maps facilitates much easier teaching

»Plus! All the other features that are then able to be used as a teaching tool



David ScottHead of learning centres and financial supportKirklees College

2/03/2016

Kirklees College

»20,000 students»13 curriculum areas»Vocational no A’ level’s»10% of courses include on-line (FELTAG) module



Promoting Digimap

2/03/2016

Examples of usage

When students are doing a project we teach them about the impact of the construction work on surrounding areas for instance: »We can get them to upload a 'suitable' site for their

proposed development and we can get them to consider things like site constraints, access, services in the road to be avoided, planning traffic routes while the work is in progress, information to be supplied to the Planning Authority (Block plans, Location plans etc.)

»Students can also see the orientation of buildings relative to North South - so important these days when allowing for solar gain

The construction department have been early adopters of Digimaps



Examples of usage

»By looking at maps they can also consider whether the area has been well planned in their view or if they can deduce compelling reasons why the layouts are as they are

»They can also try and think why certain plots have been left vacant (access, geology, mining, heavily wooded)

»They can also be used to explain the use of grid references aspart of surveying

The construction department have been early adopters of Digimaps

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Benefits to students and the future

»Digital literacy»Relevant to course work»Take the resource back in to industry and the work

place »Interesting content for on-line learning encouraging

student take up of blended sessions with regard to FELTAG

Benefits

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Benefits to students and the future

»Targeted promotion to other curriculum areas (e.g. land based and travel and tourism)

»Use cross-college as an example of best practice re: FELTAG and blended learning

The future

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Summary

»Targeted promotion»Excellent resource»Well received and used in Construction»Links to FELTAG»Digitally literate students»Potential in other areas



Improving the spatial literacy of tomorrow’s workforce

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Digimap for Colleges2/03/2016

Nescot College

BTEC Public Services


»Digimap for Colleges is proving a valuable resource for students on both Level 2 and Level 3, BTEC Public Services at Nescot College

2/03/2016


»The Level 3 students have recently used DfC to help them plan an expedition for Unit 9: Outdoor and adventurous expeditions. In this unit students are expected to cover the following navigation skills› Orientation of map› Direction finding› Interpretation› Grid references› Scale and distance› Use of key

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»Students on the Level 2 Public Service course at Nescot undertake a unit entitled ‘Land Navigation by Map and Compass’. Skills required for assessment in this unit include:› Describe how conventional signs, contours and grid

references are used to read different types of maps› Describe how to read a map using map reading skills› Produce a detailed map for a specified area, selecting

a relevant type of map to meet defined objectives with an accurate key or legend

› Compare the advantages and disadvantages of different types of maps and their features2/03/2016


› Produce a detailed map to scale for a specified area, selecting a relevant type of map to meet defined objectives with an accurate key or legend

› Evaluate the features on a produced map to support accurate use of the map

“Digimap is an excellent resource to support students working towards this unit.”Graeme Hodge, Nescott College

2/03/2016


Demonstration

2/03/2016

jisc.ac.uk

Contact

Peter O’ HareTechnical and Support officer, [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/

getting the most out of digimap for colleges

Education