Open Source Software Education in Texas PHILLIP DAVIS / RICHARD SMITH GEOACADEMY
The Challenge for Open Source Adoption OPEN SOURCE Less the 5% of US colleges and universities offer training in Free and Open Source Geospatial Software (FOSS4G) Commercial FOSS4G training is far and few between and predominantly place-based F2F Lack of recognized Open Source industry certification PROPRIETARY One proprietary GIS vendor reports their software is used by 7,000 colleges and universities globally Commercial vendors have well-established training programs and certification pathways
The GeoAcademy Project Experiment Loose confederation of US-based GIS educators at colleges and universities. Curriculum development effort spanning 3 years resulting in an integrated collection of five introductory GIS courses featuring FOSS4G solutions for the lab component. Pedagogically based on the US Department of Labor s Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM). Developed using funds from US National Science Foundation and Department of Labor grants. Materials offered for free reuse under the Creative Commons BY 3.0 license.
GeoAcademy Project Goals Expand the use of Open Source GIS software (FOSS4G) in college and universities to prepare our future geospatial technology industry workers with the broadest possible technical skills. Provide educators and trainers with foundational Open Education Resource (OER) materials to kick-start adoption of FOSS4G in schools, colleges and universities in the US and beyond. Expand the OSGeo/ICA/ISPRS Geo for All initiative and increase the number of colleges and universities in the research collaborative (http://geoforall.org). Demonstrate the successful use of GeoAcademy materials for online learning to provide widespread training opportunities to rural, remote and underserved populations around the globe. Build a self-sustaining community of practice among educators and trainers to build, curate, share and build a FOSS4G OER repository of curriculum materials, licensed under CC BY license on stable Github platform.
GeoAcademy Curriculum Consist of 5 Core Courses: GST 101 Introduction GIS GST 102 Spatial Analysis GST 103 Data Management GST 104 Cartography GST 105 Remote Sensing
GST 101 Introduction to Geospatial Technology Using QGIS Fundamental overview of GIS theory and practice Geospatial data models and file formats (vector, raster, etc.) Data editing Georeferencing Fundamentals of cartography Introduction to remote sensing Basic spatial analysis
Cartography
Georeferencing
Basic Analysis
GST 102 Spatial Analysis using QGIS Prepare data for use in analysis Problem solving using geospatial tools and methods Automating workflows Present the results of a using terminology and visualizations
Vector Overlay Techniques
Automating Workflows
Heat Maps
Network Analysis GRASS Plugin
Terrain Analysis
GST 103 Data Acquisition and Management using QGIS Setting up a project databases Vector data structures Raster data structures Spatial data quality Data sources
Setting up a Project Database using SpatiaLite
Topology
Spatial Data Quality & Metadata
GST 104 Introduction to Cartography using QGIS and Inkscape Categorize and describe different types of maps (thematic, reference, etc.) Describe the components of a map (map elements) Employ an appropriate geographic referencing system (datum, projection, coordinate system) Select and apply ethical and appropriate data model, map scale, map elements, symbolization and color Design professional quality maps employing cartographic principles Critique maps for appropriate use of cartographic design principles
Working with Coordinate Systems
Cartography
Cartography
GST 105 - Introduction to Remote Sensing using QGIS and GRASS GIS Basic concepts of remote sensing (i.e. Electromagnetic Spectrum, etc.) Select appropriate data set for remote sensing application based on spectral, temporal, radiometric and spatial resolution Describe characteristics of passive and active remote sensing systems (such as multispectral, LiDAR and Radar) Perform basic remote sensing workflows to solve problems (such as acquiring data, feature extraction, change detection, preand post-processing, create composite images and image classification) Interpret, analyze and summarize results of a remote sensing workflow
Band Combinations
NDVI
Supervised & Unsupervised Classification
The Results All five courses are published for reuse on our Github: https://github.com/foss4gacademy and at http://spatialquerylab.com/foss4g-academy-curriculum/ More than 7,500 individuals have enrolled in one of our free course offering since June 2014. A dozen colleges have adopted the curriculum materials for use in their GIS programs for 2015. Our website has had more than 50,000 visits (http://foss4geo.wordpress.com). Partner colleges are now members of the GeoForAll initiative (http://geoforall.org). We have impacted educators, trainers, professionals, students and retirees in every continent on the globe including 3 rd world nations in Asia, Africa and South America.
GeoAcademy website activity since August 2014
GeoMOOC on Canvas Networks
Canvas GeoMOOC course offering March 2015
GeoMOOC Landing page (1 of 2)
GeoMOOC landing page (2 of 2)
GeoMOOC reaches 4500 enrollment
GeoMOOC Student Testimonials At Present I am living in Bangladesh. I am working in a International development organization as a Senior Monitoring officer-m&e. As a Monitoring personal this course will help me to mapping location with population. This Course also help me to conduct baseline survey along with different study. It would be helped me to reach my GIS skill and my future career. My name is Jacob, and I am located in Tennessee in the United States. I am taking this course because I am an archaeologist by trade, and GIS has become an integral part of our modern methodology, and, as such, I am always looking for more training and knowledge in the field. I already have some experience with ArcGIS, but I am a proponent of open source technology so I jumped at the chance to become more familiar with QGIS. I am currently assessing whether QGIS is suitable for teaching some of the introduction courses to GIS and remote sensing at my faculty. Besides that I am about to finish my MSc in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observations at University of Twente (The Netherlands).
4,500 total enrolled (March 8 2015) 1,100 completed first written assignment 500 completed first mapping exercise GeoMOOC Results Engagement and completion rate matches that of the recent Penn State / Esri / Coursera GeoINT MOOC (21,000 enrolled with 1,100 completers) Demonstrates the potential for online offerings of FOSS4G technical training and education
GeoAcademy: The Future Working with several vendors to semi-commercialize the GeoAcademy content in order to reach much broader audience and sustain the development of new and expanded materials. Pushing to gain further adoption of the QGIS curriculum through Open Education Resources organizations. Working with the GeoForAll initiative to push for much greater participation in Open Source software adoption by more colleges and universities worldwide, but especially in the US which lags well behind the EU and other regions. Wish to incorporate QGIS Project provided vendor certification into the curriculum to professionalize the material and provide income resource for QGIS Project efforts.
Contacts Phillip Davis pdavis@delmar.edu Access to free Canvas courses: http://foss4geo.wordpress.com Richard Smith richard.smith@tamucc.edu @CartoSmith Access to Curriculum Materials: http://spatialquerylab.com/projects /open-source-gis/