Latest Contributions by JosephKerski

One of the easiest ways to teach and learn with online GIS tools, data, and activities is with Learning Plans and Learn Paths because they offer a sequenced way of learning specific content and tools.   What are they and how can you use them? I.  Learning Plans A Learning Plan is a set of resources (readings, hands-on activities, videos) that is sequenced for learning about a particular topic.  You can choose plans from a wide variety of topics, scales, and specific Esri GIS tools.  By signing in to Esri training (www.esri.com/training), you can track your own progress through plans that you have chosen, identify plans that you would like to take in the future, and assign plans to your students. A sample Learning Plan, for Spatial Data Science, showing the courses, videos, and seminars that comprise it. Dozens of Learning Plans are available.  We’ve highlighted a few below, and you can browse the catalog for others (filter by Format) based on your interests and needs. Recommended Learning Plans for new GIS users: ArcGIS Online Fundamentals: https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/5b733e9d2fad23092c930883/arcgis-online-fundamentals/ GIS Fundamentals: https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/5b73407f8659c25ea7014330/gis-fundamentals/ Fundamentals of Mapping and Visualization: https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/5b29690fe620ca23e6541b54/fundamentals-of-mapping-and-visualization/ Recommended Learning Plans for select topics: ArcGIS Technology for Spatial Data Science: https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/5e4c5550a333e81cae8274f0/arcgis-technology-for-spatial-data-science/ Image classification using ArcGIS: https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/5ce42f4388c6106da2d53044/image-classification-using-arcgis/ II.  Learn Paths A Learn Path is a set of resources (readings, hands-on activities, videos) from the Esri Learn ArcGIS collection that is sequenced for learning about a particular topic.   You can choose from among many tools and topics; each of which features Learn lessons that have been created by instructors at Esri and at universities.  Each path and lesson is kept current with the latest tools and data sets.  To discover available Learn Paths, see:  https://learn.arcgis.com/en/gallery/#?t=path Dozens of Learn Paths are available.  We’ve highlighted a few below, and you can browse the Learn collection for others (filter by Type) based on your interests and needs. Recommended Learn Paths for new GIS users: Getting Started with Maps and Data in ArcGIS Online. 1.  A beginner’s guide to ArcGIS Online. https://learn.arcgis.com/en/paths/getting-started-with-maps-and-data-in-arcgis-online/   2.  Try ArcGIS Pro. Get started with the essentials of ArcGIS Pro.    https://learn.arcgis.com/en/paths/try-arcgis-pro/   3.  Resources for Teaching with ArcGIS Pro. Learn path for your students to become familiar with ArcGIS Pro. https://learn.arcgis.com/en/paths/resources-for-teaching-with-arcgis-pro/   Recommended Learn Paths for select topics:   1.  GIS in the Age of Community Health. Arm yourself with hands-on skills and knowledge of how GIS tools can analyze health data and better understand diseases. https://learn.arcgis.com/en/paths/gis-in-the-age-of-community-health/   2.  For Geospatial Analysts: Create a project, ingest data, process data, analyze data, share/publish results. https://learn.arcgis.com/en/paths/learn-path-for-geospatial-analysts/ 3.  Solving Problems with GIS and public domain geospatial data 1 of 3:  Learn how to find, evaluate, and analyze data to solve location-based problems through this set of 10 chapters and short essay readings, and 10 hands-on lessons: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/paths/the-gis-guide-to-public-domain-data-learn-path/     Sample Learn Path, for Geospatial Analysts activities in the path.    ... View more

Given recent events, how can you effectively teach GIS online?   Join Esri higher education team to learn about tools, data, curricular materials, and teaching approaches during these informal virtual office hours.   We’ll present resources and take your questions. Sessions will be recorded so you can watch it asynchronously if you wish. Schedule and recordings:  THURSDAY 19 MARCH 2020 AT 5pm Eastern, 4pm Central, 3pm Mountain, 2pm Pacific View office hours recording for 3/19 TUESDAY 24 MARCH 2020 AT 12 Noon Eastern, 11am Central, 10am Mountain, 9am Pacific View office hours recording for 3/24 THURSDAY 26 MARCH 2020 AT 5pm Eastern, 4pm Central, 3pm Mountain, 2pm Pacific View office hours recording for 3/26 TUESDAY 31 MARCH 2020 AT 12 Noon Eastern, 11am Central, 10am Mountain, 9am Pacific View office hours recording for 3/31 THURSDAY 2 APRIL 2020 AT 5pm Eastern, 4pm Central, 3pm Mountain, 2pm Pacific TUESDAY 7 APRIL 2020 AT 12 Noon Eastern, 11am Central, 10am Mountain, 9am Pacific View office hours recording from 4/7 THURSDAY 9 APRIL 2020 AT 5pm Eastern, 4pm Central, 3pm Mountain, 2pm Pacific View office hours recording from 4/9 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020 AT 12 Noon Eastern, 11am Central, 10am Mountain, 9am Pacific View office hours recording from 4/14 THURSDAY 16 APRIL 2020 AT 5pm Eastern, 4pm Central, 3pm Mountain, 2pm Pacific View office hours recording from 4/16 TUESDAY 21 APRIL 2020 AT 12 Noon Eastern, 11am Central, 10am Mountain, 9am Pacific View office hours recording from 4/21 Instructions: Go to https://zoom.us  > JOIN A MEETING > enter code 437260684   Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://esri.zoom.us/j/437260684?pwd=Y0Fackd0TGdzL2RzYkdvaFQ4SUtGQT09     Password: 016251 Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll):  +13462487799,437260684#  or +16699006833,437260684# Or Telephone:     Dial:     +1 346 248 7799 (US Toll)     +1 669 900 6833 (US Toll)     +1 253 215 8782 (US Toll)     +1 301 715 8592 (US Toll)     +1 312 626 6799 (US Toll)     +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll)     855 880 1246 (US Toll Free)     877 853 5257 (US Toll Free)     Meeting ID: 437 260 684     International numbers available: https://esri.zoom.us/u/a56nAqJ1 ... View more

Teaching online entails more than recording face-to-face content and placing it in an online environment.  Pedagogical shifts need to take place while keeping student learning, course goals, and program objectives at the forefront.  Fortunately, GIS has a 20-year history of online education, so there are successful models to follow.   Advice for teaching online is widely available, and selected resources are below.   And although designing a online course takes time and planning, don’t try to design a perfect online course right now.  Focus on what is essential. Realize that many students will access materials on their phones and with limited internet, so videos may not be practical.  Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Selected guidelines about teaching online:    Recent advice about placing your courses online in light of the health emergency:  https://anygoodthing.com/2020/03/12/please-do-a-bad-job-of-putting-your-courses-online/    Resources for converting to online courses from several universities:  https://www.smu.edu/Provost/CTE/Resources/Technology/HybridOnline    Lessons learned from years of online teaching, from Muki Haklay, University College London:  https://povesham.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/what-i-learned-about-online-teaching-and-research-management/    Brief guidance from Inside Higher Ed:  https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/07/12/7-guidelines-effective-teaching-online  For more tools, books, data, and other instructional resources, see attached.  Updated 20 March 2020.  ... View more

The ArcGIS platform with its data feeds, online tools, and wide array of maps makes it easy and powerful to teach and learn about the spatial and temporal aspects of the grim situation surrounding the Coronavirus (COVID-19).  See the video I created that walks you through these tools.  One fast way to engage with these tools is to study the changes over space and time using the popular dashboard set up by Johns Hopkins University.  Make sure you also examine the USA county infographics on the same site, to teach about scale (in this case, the county-level scale) and also how to interpret an infographic.  These infographics were created with Business Analyst Web.  The situation is changing rapidly, and you can use this video to visualize the changes in the early months (between January and March 2020).   Another visualization is the COVIDPulse web mapping application, here.  The power of this map is that it is simple to understand but shows trends over time and space, at multiple scales.  COVIDPulse web mapping application.  Another map presented in story map tabbed format is this one showing daily US County trends.  Another very informative map is the which way are things going map, below and here. Which way are things going?  County level map. Another way to teach, learn, and understand the situation is to have students create their own maps.  In doing so, they learn how to work with different data sets, and gain GIS skills in map creation, symbolization, classification, saving,a and sharing.  They also gain critical thinking, problem solving, and communications skills.  A logical starting point is with ArcGIS Online (www.arcgis.com).  Start a new Map > Modify Map > Add Data > Search for layers in ArcGIS Online > find the Coronavirus COVID-19 cases by CSSE GIS and Data at JHU, and add it to the map.  The data will look like this, in the following example, below. Coronavirus data in ArcGIS Online. Since this map is now in ArcGIS Online, you can perform many tasks on it:  You can open and examine the table, sort on specific attributes such as "cases", filter the data for specific criteria, change the base map, and add data to the map such as ecoregions, population density, airports, and more.  You can do all of this without even signing in to ArcGIS Online, and thus it is easily accessible to anyone.  But saving gives you additional power.  Once you sign into your ArcGIS Online organization, and save the map, you can now run spatial analysis tools on the data, such as Summarize Within, Overlay, and Enrich.  These tools give you additional insights as to patterns, relationships, and significant difference.  Note that you need to be creator/publisher in your ArcGIS Online organization to run the analysis tools.  Also, now that you are signed in, you can share the map with others--collaborators, your entire organization's members, or even the whole world.  You can also create a multimedia story map from it.   This storymap updated daily from the Esri storymaps team, for example, shown in part below, is a powerful teaching tool and could serve as an idea for your own storymap that you or your students could create. Sections of a Coronavirus Storymap. You can also bring the layer into a 3D scene, as I did here and as shown below. 3D Scene from the JHU Coronavirus layer. You can also make a "compare" web mapping application where you, side-by-side, lay out a 2D and a 3D map of the same data. You can also create your own dashboard from the map, as I did shown here, containing a map, gauges, and graphs, shown below.   To learn how to create a dashboard, see my lesson guiding you through surveys, maps, and dashboards.  Dashboard created from ArcGIS Online map.   You can also bring the data into ArcGIS Pro for even further analysis.  ArcGIS Pro contains over 1,000 tools for analysis.   New mapping applications are appearing daily, such as this dashboard connected to news articles  and shown below. Coronavirus dashboard with news feed.  Another way of understanding the Coronavirus, and to develop skills in Business Analyst Web, is to create a state-based infographic showing cases, as explained here.  To dig deeper, use the resources in the learning plan Getting Started with ArcGIS Technology for Mapping COVID-19:  Fundamentals.   Lastly, the Esri landing Hub site provides additional COVID-19 apps, data, and resources, and is on:  https://go.esri.com/coronavirus. ... View more

How can a business student quickly and powerfully begin using geospatial technology?  The attached document was created in support of a capstone course for business master's students, but can be used by any business student as one resource to begin using geospatial tools and data.   Why do this?  Geospatial technologies are an excellent way of developing spatial and critical thinking, and to use tools increasingly in demand in the workforce.  ... View more

Connecting components of modern GIS, including field surveys, dashboards, interactive maps, and multimedia maps, can help foster spatial thinking, critical thinking, and rigorous use of GIS tools and data.  This lesson guides you through the creation of a survey in Survey123, mapping the resulting data in ArcGIS Online, creating and using a Dashboard, and creating a story map.     This lesson focuses on walkability--the degree to which communities are perceived as walkable by pedestrians, those in wheelchairs, on scooters, on bicycles, and other non-vehicle modes.  However, the same concepts can be used for any theme, from local to global—pedestrian and vehicle counts, water quality, weather observations, housing or business type, zoning, light poles, recycling bins, invasive species, litter, and other features or issues in the natural or built landscape.  This lesson is organized in 4 parts:   Part 1:  Creating a field survey using Survey123.                                             Part 2:  Creating and analyzing a map from your survey data. Part 3:  Creating a dashboard from your survey data. Part 4:  Creating a storymap from your field data. The attached zip file contains the lesson (in PDF and also in DOCX format so it can be easily modified) plus the images that are used in the lesson.  Would you consider this location walkable?  That is the focus of this lesson.  The lesson guides you through the creation of a survey, map, dashboard, and storymap.  ... View more