Geospatial Science and Technology Model Courses and Certificate: Guidelines and Tools to Align Curriculum to Workforce Needs Ann Johnson Associate Director gisajohnson@delmar.edu Funded by National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education program [DUE #0801893]. Author s opinions are not necessarily shared by NSF Empowering Colleges: Expanding the Geospatial Workforce
Geospatial Technology Data From: GPS Sensors Cell phones Remote Sensing Crowd sourcing Enterprise databases Web Used by: Landuse Planners Environmental First Responders Earth Scientists Government analysts
What Geospatial Technology skills and competencies are needed by the workforce? How can curriculum be created to meet those needs? What existed to help?
Many past efforts to define skills & competencies of a Geospatial Industry
Skill Areas Specific Geospatial Interpersonal Domain Knowledge Business & Computer
GIS&T: Body of Knowledge Knowledge Areas (10) Analytical Methods (AM) Conceptual Foundations (CF) Cartography and Visualization (CV) Design Aspects (DA) Data Modeling (DM) Data Manipulation (DM) Geocomputation (GC) Geospatial Data (GD) GIS & T and Society (GS) Organizational and Institutional Aspects (OI) 1,660 Educational Objectives
U.S. Dept of Labor Competency Models Industry defined competencies Building Block Tiers: Personal Academic Workplace Industry Wide Industry Each block links to full description http://www.careeronestop.org
Building Block Details can also be download as a PDF
http://www.onetonline.org/ then search on geospatial
GIS Technician Occupation
Tier 6 & 7 Occupation Specific Competencies DOL & DACUM Geospatial Technician or Technologist
DACUM Job Analysis Panels of expert workers are used to precisely describe & define job tasks + knowledge, skills, behaviors, tools, equipment 8 to 12 GIS Technicians, over two - 8 hour days DACUM: Developing A CurriculUM used regionally for competency based education & training by industry, government & education
Duties Tasks
Meta-DACUM Methodology By consolidating validated results from multiple DACUM analyses for a single occupation taken at various USA locations, we can identify a comprehensive list of competencies.
DACUM Validation
Original Eight Duty Categories Manage Data Generate Data Process Data Analyze Data Manage Software Manage Projects Generate Products Professional Development
Methodology How to Go From Lists to Curriculum? Start with GTCM structure: 5 Tiers compiled by experts from Industry, vetted by workforce across nation and approved by Dept of Labor Compile a MetaDACUM: Long lists of skills & competencies from expert workers Compile Model Course Outlines: Expert Geospatial Educator Panels: Take long lists of competencies and determined courses, descriptions and Student Learning Outcomes Parse list of competencies by depth into model courses Choose the courses that should be included in a Model Certificate program
Prototype Assessment Worksheet
Educator Panels - A New Content Tool Created A new Excel Workbook with 4 worksheets tabs was created including: An Assessment Worksheet tab with the 320 competencies sorted into 8 categories A column was added for each of the courses where educators could enter a value of 0 to 4 for each competency
Value Level of inclusion in course Bloom s Key Word Examples from 6 Levels* 0 do not include 1 Awareness recognize, communicate 2 Comprehension grasp meaning, interprets, comprehends 3 Application /Analysis 4 Synthesis Mastery apply, calculate, demonstrate, employ, illustrate, interpret, relate, use Compare, construct, contrast, design, develop, Representative type of Presentation and/or Activity included as part of a lecture or demo included as part of a lecture and as part of an activity included as part of a major topic of a Module and applied in an activity included in depth as major topic of a Module with a significant activity to apply the skill or competency independently
Model Courses Outlines Geo 100 Awareness Stand alone Model Course Model Courses & Certificate GST 101 Introduction to Geospatial Technology GST 102 Spatial Analysis GST 103 Data Acquisition and Management GST 104 Cartographic Design and Visualization GST 105 Introduction to Remote Sensing GST 106 Introduction to Geospatial Programming GST 107 Geospatial Web Application and Development GST 108 Capstone GST 109 Internship
320 Competencies
May Curriculum Review Expert educators met to review models Each course was reviewed and recommendations included: changes in title, description, SLOs and competencies. Recommendations were reviewed for each course by a GeoTech Team member Updated Models were posted on the GeoTech Moodle server for each course
Model Certificate Content Tool
12 Competency Clusters Cross Cutting Conceptual Foundations Cartography and Visualization Generate Data Manage Data Programming and Application Design Project Management Professionalism Remote Sensing Spatial Analysis and Modeling Surveying Server and Web
Knowledge Map Geospatial Technology Conceptual Foundations Generate Data Cross-Cutting Professionalism Project Management Surveying Remote Sensing Spatial Analysis & Modeling Manage Data Programming & Application Design Cartography & Visualization Server & Web
Cross-Cutting Details (Draft) Cross-Cutting Topology Scale Spatial References Future Trends Adjacency Connectivity Validation Spatial Temporal Spectral Coordinate Systems Projections Datum Data Format Software Hardware Applications DD UTM SP TR
Cross-Cutting Details (Draft) Cross-Cutting Topology Scale Spatial References Adjacency Connectivity Validation Spatial Temporal Spectral Coordinate Systems Proje
Model Course Outline and Pack Contents Example syllabus Description & Student Learning Outcomes Course Learning Units & other resources Course outline Aligned with course syllabus teaching units/slos Resource List Evaluation Rubrics Model Course Spreadsheet Curriculum for some courses
http://geotechcenter.org
Geotechcenter.org GTCM Resources http://moodle.delmar.edu
Potential Benefits of National Guidelines - Models Alignment of local curriculum with nationally recognized standard Foster articulation between education silos Pre-, Post- or Self-test for students, industry Help identify gaps or weaknesses or strength of a geospatial program Be the basis for future certification efforts, such as the GISP or Badges = Micro- Credentials
California Model Certificate Core Courses: (13-15 units total) 101 Introduction to Geospatial Technology: (3 units) 102 Spatial Analysis and Modeling: (3 units) 103 Data Acquisition and Management: (3 units) 104 Cartographic Design and Visualization: (3 units) 110 Internship: (1-3 units) Elective Course Options: to make up to 30 Units 120 Introduction to Remote Sensing: (3 units) 121 Introduction to Programming for Geospatial Technologies (including web/server) : (3 units) 122 Intro to Field Data Collection (GPS) : (3 units) 123 Intro to Web Appl/ & Development: (3 units) 111 Capstone - option for (1-2 units)
Possible additional courses: 100 Geospatial Awareness Course General Education spatial thinking and geospatial course that some students may take that lead them to this career pathway and certificate: (3 units) 130 Advanced Field Data Collection (GPS) : (3 units) 131 Advanced Spatial Analysis and Modeling: (3 units) 132 Introduction to Surveying: (3 units) 133 Computer Aided Design (CAD) course: (3 units)
Next Steps Go from Outlines to full curriculum resources Research and define best methods to teach the competencies Mentor colleges in using the models and assessing their curriculum Update the GTCM and Model Courses and Certificate
Ann Johnson GeoTech Center Associate Director ann@baremt.com gisajohnson@delmar.edu Thank You!