Connecting GIS professionals with the Education Community
A new storymap and a series of videos explains why and how GIS professionals can and should connect with the education community.
If you are a GIS educator, you can use this content as an instructional content aid in your courses, and to spark conversations in your online and face-to-face courses. If you are a GIS professional outside of education, you can use this content for concrete ideas on how to connect with schools, colleges, and universities, and to better understand how to continue your own learning about GIS in your organization.
I have created video content to support the above storymap, arranged in four parts, here:
Part 1: Connecting GIS professionals with the education community 1 of 4
Part 2: Connecting GIS professionals with the education community 2 of 4
Part 3: Connecting GIS professionals with the education community 3 of 4
Part 4: Connecting GIS professionals with the education community 4 of 4
In part 1, I discuss my own pathway that has roots in nonprofit organizations, academia, government agencies, and private industry, in the hopes it will encourage the GIS community in two ways: 1. You don't have to stay in the same organization your whole career. I have moved among many organizations, and so can you. 2. Geospatial technology and spatial thinking will be valuable to you no matter in which organization you work. I then lay out key challenges in GIS in education, and how the GIS community can provide leadership. Five key forces that bring us to a key moment in GIS in education and society are then investigated, with live demos provided as examples along the way.
In part 2, I encourage the community not to stop at the map, but to think of GIS as analytical tools, and not just a mapping toolset. I also encourage the community to think of GIS as a toolset that is meant to encourage people to take action--about the urban greenway, water quality, walkability, hazards resilience, economic viability of a community, and other relevant and important topics of global importance that increasingly affect our everyday lives. I then discuss the stool of geoliteracy, and how GIS has changed over the past decades and how modern web enabled and AI-enabled GIS can be conceptualized and used to connect GIS professionals and educators. I then grapple with the question, "What and how should people learn GIS nowadays", given the aforementioned changes. I discuss how, in each GIS based lesson, there is always a higher, more noble goal, beyond acquiring GIS skills. I discuss key resources such as the Geospatial Technology Competency Model and the Ikigai diagram from Japan.
In part 3, I explain the 20 ingredients for a vibrant and sustainable higher education GIS program, and 20 ingredients for a vibrant and sustainable schools GIS program. I show examples of storymaps that students have created that illustrates the empowering nature of GIS for teaching and learning, and for taking action. I explain progress in each sector of education along with challenges that remain. I then discuss how GIS professionals can be a positive influence on education and how they can effectively engage with educators and students. I then detail how modern GIS tools and approaches can be effectively taught and learned, including no-sign-in Web GIS methods and tools, discussions and case studies in ethics, and collecting, mapping, analysis, and communicating the results of field data using ArcGIS Survey123, ArcGIS Online Map Viewer, Online analysis tools, and dashboards, instant apps, and story maps.
In part 4, I encourage the community to go outside their comfort zone with several examples, the top 5 skills to nurture in your GIS career pathway, and why to connect with the education community.
I hope this storymap and set of videos are helpful, and I look forward to your comments.