Fun with GIS 214: ArcGIS for Schools & Clubs Everywhere

CharlieFitzpatrick · ‎07-25-2017

At the 2017 Esri User Conference, Esri launched its boldest offering ever for schools and clubs. The new "ArcGIS School Bundle" includes three products:

- ArcGIS Desktop (includes ArcGIS Pro Advanced, ArcMap Advanced, and Extensions for Pro and ArcMap)
ArcGIS Online Organization
Community Analyst

This combination has provided the highest level of service for the greatest number of users in schools and clubs, and offers enormous utility, from elementary level exploration to in-depth localized projects to full-scale professional career training. It is available in sizes that work well for home school or small club settings on up to large district-based configurations.

The Schools Bundle is available, for instructional purposes only (not administrative use or commercial use), to all K12 (primary and secondary) schools, public or non-public (including home schools). It is available also to youth-serving clubs, such as 4-H, Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, and so forth. And … the Schools Bundle is available worldwide, for free (in USA click here; outside USA through local Esri distributors).

This is a huge investment in education of youth globally. But, from even before the launch of Esri's formal programs for both K12 schools and higher education in 1992, Esri has been on a mission: to help more people grasp why and how to understand the complex patterns and relationships in a vast array of data about the world, at scales from global to local, exploring situations and solving problems, by thinking geographically, using GIS.

Education is a core ethic of Esri; it's in our DNA. This new "ArcGIS School Bundle" is free for schools and clubs across the globe, to use anytime, anywhere, on any connected device. Making informed decisions is essential for everyone. Learning to do that takes time, and can happen in both formal and informal settings. Education that engages The Science of Where can save the world.

Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri Education Manager

LeeBerryman1 · ‎08-07-2017

My kids are homeschooled. I'd love for them to have access to these amazing tools! Where do we apply for the school bundle? I looked on the website but can't seem to find it.

CharlieFitzpatrick · ‎08-07-2017

Go to http://www.esri.com/schools and scroll down the page to "Offerings for schools." Click the link for "Request software for your school". (Homeschools are welcome!)

LeeBerryman1 · ‎08-10-2017

Thanks Charlie!

JaniceElvidge · ‎08-11-2017

Charlie,

Would this be useful for The River Mile? www.therivermile.org We are teaching teachers, students and informal educators how to use AGOL in the Columbia River Watershed to share what they learn about the watershed. I've been using the NPS subscription account, but we can not use it to teach. I can store the data collection, share it and create the apps and forms for collecting data, but am running into a few snags. For one, if an intern creates forms for me those forms disappear when they leave and they are removed from the org. I'm just finding that piecing things together is making harder to deal with. Any suggestions?

We conducted 2 teacher trainings this summer for 11 teachers and they got excited by the possibilities.

Janice

CharlieFitzpatrick · ‎08-12-2017

What you are describing is the way ArcGIS Online works. Before you delete someone, be sure you have "changed the owner" for any content of value from that user's account -- that will move it from one login to another. Follow the guidance from the AGO documentation: Manage items—ArcGIS Online Help | ArcGIS This is where good practices on naming items, creating and using personal folders, writing good metadata (tags and descriptions), and sharing items in groups all matter hugely.

When you write "we can not use it [NPS's Org] to teach," if you mean you want an Org in which you can give people short-term logins (for as long as the training event is underway, e.g. 1-5 days) with which they can experience what it's like to do activities within an Org, that's what you as a T3G alum can do in the T3G Org. If you mean you want to have the teachers maintain logins so they can stay engaged in a project, you may need your own Org, and we can discuss that by email. If you mean you want the teachers to use the Org for teaching their classes, that's when you need to think about (a) teachers get their own Org, AND (b) they and their students access content you have shared with a group or with the public.

JaniceElvidge · ‎08-16-2017

Thank You! I am so glad to have a link to describe the management of files so we can have different people working on parts that all fit together!!!!

I think that The River Mile will need an account so teachers can maintain logins so they can stay engaged in a project together. I believe that the teaching side of it is taken care of just fine. One thing though that would help me is that in the NPS Subscription account I am only a user/publisher and so I am not able to help teachers understand how to manage their Org accounts. Teachers at both of our trainings this summer all expressed the same need: how do I manage the account, how do I let students work in it and how do I manage the different users. As I can not see any administrative side of an Org I am unable to help them. We had 13 or so engaged educators this summer. One school district had me train 4 of their teachers as a group. They worked well and began brainstorming ways they can alter their teaching to utilize AGOL. I felt that they really "got" it.

I would love to chat via email about how The River Mile Network can utilize an Org account to work with educators! I have also come to the conclusion that I need a full time GIS person, now all I have to do is convince the NPS to give me that position (I'm not going to hold my breath).