Think Globally, Instruct Locally

Doug R. Oetter

Dept. of History, Geography, and Philosophy

Georgia College & State University

Georgia College & State University is Georgia’s Public Liberal Arts University

• COPLAC- Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges• Student Outcomes

– Strong communication skills (oral and written)– Critical and analytical thinking skills– A broad understanding of global issues– An appreciation for diversity– An ability to integrate information across disciplines– Application of knowledge– A foundation for making moral and ethical decisions– Civic responsibility

Undergraduate Education• The purpose of an undergraduate degree is to prepare

students for citizenship and to teach them a way of thinking through problems.

• In Geography, outcomes often include:– Explain the major processes that shape the physical

environment, and relate them to spatial patterns of weather, climate, landforms, and ecosystems.

– Compare and contrast the major processes that influence spatial patterns of human population, culture, geopolitics, economics, and urbanization.

– Assess and appraise the interactions between humans and their physical environment.

– Demonstrate the use of geographic knowledge and techniques to interpret causes and synthesize solutions to past, present, and future issues.

Global Knowledge

• Attention in Undergraduate Coursework is frequently concentrated on important and far-reaching Global Issues:– Climate Change– Terrorism– Globalization– World History– Cultural Studies

What Happens Later On?• After they graduate, students take their skills out into the

real world• They need real-world training for real-world jobs• The tasks that many of them will be doing may relate

more to local problems– Contaminant Remediation– Economic Development Assessment– Historic Site Interpretation– Wetland Delineation– K-12 Education

IDEA: Teach Geography from a Global Perspective, but apply those ideas to a Local Scale to fully explain geographic patterns and processes

Someone Already Had the Idea…

Application of GIS to Local Organizations• Client-Life Cycle GIS Project Learning

– Indiana University of Pennsylvania• Students in an upper level GIS course work with local

organizations, faculty from other university departments, and governmental entities – Work with real clients– Make the connection between data development, analysis, and

applications development– Provide expertise and needed data to local organizations– See the utility and impact of their work

Benhart, John, Jr. 2000. An Approach to Teaching Applied GIS: Implementation for Local Organizations. Journal of Geography 99(6):245-52.

University Consortium for Geographic Information Science White Paper “Learning with GIS”• Active and Authentic Learning Environments

– Students learn by studying issues in their local community

– Local issues are real in students' minds, and the realism makes it easy to vest an interest in learning

– Students are gaining active and authentic understanding about local urban dynamics concurrent with enhancing problem-solving and spatial reasoning skills

http://www.ucgis.org/priorities/education/educationpriorities.htm

Geography at Georgia College• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote

sensing are important tools for working to understand pattern recognition

Teaching Objectives

• Pattern Recognition– Students are challenged to learn how to ‘think like a

geographer’ by observing basic patterns in human and physical geography

• Process Discovery– Students are challenged to discover the natural and

anthropogenic processes that create those patterns

• Problem Solving – Students are asked to study, observe, measure, and

comprehend a local study area, and to research and solve an environmental or social problem

Problem Based Learning

• Instructional strategy in which students confront contextualized, ill-structured problems and strive to find meaningful solutions.

• Guided-design pedogogical style • Assumes that students are motivated to solve

real-world problems• And will actively work to acquire the knowledge

needed to solve them

Application of PBL in GEOG 4100- Advanced Geographic Information

Expected Student Learning Outcomes– Define the geographic approach to data collection and analysis – Explain the nature of geographic information and its applications – Identify, acquire, and employ a variety of types of geographic

data – Demonstrate basic geographic field methods – Utilize basic image analysis and remote sensing methods – Develop a working Geographic Information System – Employ the tools of spatial analysis and modeling, including

geostatistics – Produce mapping products that effectively display geographic

information – Generate collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects &

presentations

A Course Project using PBL meets all these goals!!

Of Course, It’s Already Been Published!

• Sarah Bednarz– Texas

A&M University

Twice!!

• David Kelley– 2004 ESRI

User Conference

Geographic Resources at GCSU

• These are the tools needed to use this teaching method:– Computer Hardware & Software– Field Equipment– Spatial Data– Local Applications and Contacts

From Four Years Ago…

• Shared student lab with 24 Dell Dimension desktops

• Flatbed scanner• Magellan ProMark GPS

unit• And that’s about it!

Things are Better Now!!

• 22 IMacs running dual processors to support Windows XP operating system. 

• This installation supports the following GISc software:– ESRI ArcView 3.3 – ESRI ArcGIS 9.2 – Leica ERDAS Imagine 9.1 – TopoZone Pro – Fragstats 3.0

Things are Better Now!!• Geoscope mirror stereoscopes • Sokkia stereoscope • CST/Berger 200B Transit Level• Sokkia Set-600 Total Station • Magellan PROMARK X GPS receiver • Garmin GPS Map 76Cx receivers • Garmin Etrek GPS receivers • Trimble GeoXM receiver and data logger • EMTAC Bluetooth GPS receiver • Calcomp Drawing Board III • Epson GT-15000 large format scanner • Canon Powershot SD600 digital camera • Dell Inspiron 9300 portable computer • Dell server for IMS• HP DesignJet 1055cm Plus plotter

Spatial Data

• Georgia GIS Clearinghouse

• Local GIS Coordinators• NARSAL• Global Land Cover Facility

Local Resources

• Using a variety of instrumentation, field data, remote sensing, and GIS, students learn a method to solve existing problems– Andalusia Historic Farm– Bartram Educational Forest– Central Georgia Rails-to-Trails Association– Central Georgia Rivers Partnership– Ducks Unlimited M.A.R.S.H. Project– Georgia Forestry Commission– Glen Mary Plantation– Lockerly Arboretum– Milledgeville Convention and Visitors Bureau– Oconee River Greenway Authority

Case Studies

In applying their studies to a local problem, students learn:• Recognizing problems in the community• Working with clients to identify concerns• Acquiring spatial and attribute data• Using field methods to generate data• Academic research• Designing project goals• GIS creation, analysis, and modelling• Recommendation of solution strategies• Presentation of results to a wide audience

Mobile Homes in the Line of Flight

• There are around 3000 Parcels that contain Mobile Homes in Baldwin County

• This includes Individual Homes and Parks

• Spread out over the entire county

Information

Oconee River Greenway

Water Quality in Lake Sinclair• This was done by

Plant Branch.• There are very little

homes near by so most of bacteria comes from plant septic system.

• The warmer waters here cause year round problem.

• The bacteria will grow here year round instead of once or twice a year.

Glen Mary Plantation: Aerial Photograph in 1942 and 1973

Glen Mary Plantation: Aerial Photograph in 1993 and 1999

Worley Property

Construction Between 1999-2006

• This map depicts the new construction that has happened in Milledgeville from 1999 to 2006.

Connecting the Dots

Existing Coverage File

NWI Areas Impacted

Dry ForestWet Forest

Meadow

Scrub

Dragonfly Impact

Our Best Client?

Georgia College & State University!– Identification of several

spatial problems– Quick access to clients

and information– Civic pride of helping out

Attributes of Campus Map

In the attribute table of my campus map, I create three columns called Name, Purpose, and Area. The Name gives the building name, Purpose gives what the building is used for, and Area gives the footprint area of each building. The buildings are colored by what their purpose is, whether its dorms, classrooms, student area, health and fitness, offices, or a museum. There are 51 buildings on the campus. Main Campus Buildings

The Bobcat Ramble Road Race

• The Bobcat Ramble is a 5K road race that takes place annually, in the month of April. It is a fairly easy course that travels through the heart of Milledgeville’s downtown and GCSU campus. But, you don’t have to wait ‘til April to run this energizing course.

Clarke St.

Hancock St.

This map displays the potential for photovoltaic cells on the central parking lines of West Campus at GCSU. The potentials were determined by surrounding vegetation, orientation, security, and possibility for damage.

Student Enjoyment

• The students enjoy the opportunity to learn and contribute to knowledge generation in a local setting where they can appreciate the results of their work.– “Theory without practice means nothing!”– “Learning is easier when you are allowed to fail and learn from

mistakes”– “Benefits would be job. Employers are looking for problem

solvers to lift the burden off themselves”– “You actually learn what you are doing because you’re working

through a problem”– “It’s similar to a mock trial. If you practice questioning and

answering, you become better.”– “It reinforced ideas and techniques learned in class that I can

use for any problem in the future.”

Conclusions

• Local applications of GIS help teach the methods of geographic pattern recognition and problem solving

• Students respond well to applying their research to an actual field problem with local contacts and local data

• Working to get all the data up on an ARC/IMS Server