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Online course: Teaching Geography for the 21st Century

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05-07-2015 10:01 AM
JosephKerski
by Esri Notable Contributor
Esri Notable Contributor
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‎05-07-2015 10:01 AM

Teaching Geography for the 21st Century

eNetLearning Certified Facilitators Provided for Each Course

Video:  Teaching Geography in the 21st Century: Course Overview - YouTube

DATES, TIMES, NUMBER OF SESSIONS: Check the course catalog for dates athttp://www.enetlearning.org/course-catalog-and-descriptions/.

  • COURSE CONTENT: Fundamental to geography is the study of issues surrounding land use, natural hazards, population, economics, land use, and political issues, which will be emphasized in this course. However, as geography encompasses all that is in the world, at multiple places, scales, and time periods, it is impossible to cover its breadth in the short time that our course will run. Therefore, this course will touch on these issues but will focus on how to use 21st Century perspectives, themes, and tools to teach these issues.
  • Rural, Urban, Economic, Land Use, and Population Issues: Over the 5 weeks of this course, participants will deepen their understanding of and ability to effectively teach population dynamics (including such concepts as settlement, land use, age, birth rate, growth rate, and human-environment interaction), land use issues (such as zoning, sense of place), urban issues (such as historical and current development of cities, site vs. situation, and challenges facing cities), and economic geography (including industrialization, employment, measures of development).
  • Core Geography Themes: Embedded in studying these issues are core geography themes such as considerations of scale in patterns and processes, interpreting maps and analyzing geospatial data, understanding and explaining the implications of associations, networks, and interconnections among phenomena in places, defining regions and the regionalization process, and understanding the nature of and limitations of geographic data.
  • Spatial Perspectives and Tools: The spatial perspective is critical to understanding geographical content and processes. Being competent and confident in the application of the spatial perspective to geographical understanding enhances and strengthens our ability to communicate and teach about human geography. A number of powerful web mapping and related tools are now available for the geography instructor, and this course builds familiarity and confidence in using these tools through a series of hands-on activities.
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About the Author
I believe that spatial thinking can transform education and society through the application of Geographic Information Systems for instruction, research, administration, and policy. I hold 3 degrees in Geography, have served at NOAA, the US Census Bureau, and USGS as a cartographer and geographer, and teach a variety of F2F (Face to Face) (including T3G) and online courses. I have authored a variety of books and textbooks about the environment, STEM, GIS, and education. These include "Interpreting Our World", "Essentials of the Environment", "Tribal GIS", "The GIS Guide to Public Domain Data", "International Perspectives on Teaching and Learning with GIS In Secondary Education", "Spatial Mathematics" and others. I write for 2 blogs, 2 monthly podcasts, and a variety of journals, and have created over 5,000 videos on the Our Earth YouTube channel. Yet, as time passes, the more I realize my own limitations and that this is a lifelong learning endeavor and thus I actively seek mentors and collaborators.