Latest Contributions by CharlieFitzpatrick

Can you identify spots in your community with unusual concentrations of car accidents, or makeshift camps for homeless people? More importantly, can you figure out why it's happening there? More importantly still, can you identify strategies for improving conditions? That's what the winning projects did at high school and middle school levels in the 2023 ArcGIS Online Competition for US High School and Middle School Students. Students in grades 4-12 pick a topic of personal interest occurring within the bounds of the state in which they attend school, research it, and assemble an ArcGIS StoryMap about their investigation. They need to gather data of relevance, which might mean assembling professional data, or require generating new data, as the honorable mention winners at high school and middle school levels did. Even more, it requires students to employ maps as analytical tools. This is the all-important stage where they seek patterns and explore relationships using the science of where. There is no one way to do this; it takes analysis, critical thinking, asking "what if" questions, trying different strategies. Then, when assembling a synopsis, students need to synthesize many hours of work into something viewers can digest in a few minutes. The skills and attitudes practiced here will serve these students for life. A full 600 entries were crafted by students working solo or in teams of two, with 169 earning $100 awards from their states. And many of these students get to tackle this again and again before leaving school, building powerful experience for college, career, and community. You can explore all projects at https://esriurl.com/agoschoolcomp. And join us for the Competition Results Webinar, Thu June 15, 5-6pmPT, public invited (free registration required). And start planning now for the 2024 event!   ... View more

Esri’s ArcGIS Online Competition for US HS+MS Students ends in May. States submit results in mid-May, so schools collect and judge those in early May, if not before. Many teachers have said "We would do the Competition if students could do it in May. We’re looking for things to do with their ArcGIS logins after the AP exams!" So ... do it! Hold your own class/school/district/program event! Use the national or state guidelines, or set your own. Let students pick a topic and exercise the skills they’ve spent all year developing, maybe even in teams. These won’t be in the Esri event but are still worth doing. Set the due date to allow time for sharing with the school community and even beyond. Show that this is serious! Want a topic? How about: "Design changes to public resources or public policy that will help a locally vulnerable population withstand expected changes in climate." This has something for everyone -- people, vulnerability, resilience, sustainability, big patterns, local issues, engineering, math, science, history, geography, communication. "Great ... but where do we even begin to learn about this?" See https://resilience.climate.gov, "Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation" (aka CMRA, or "cam-ra"). There’s a nice 5-minute video intro, and the "Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS" (= "T3G") group recorded a one-hour webinar on understanding and using the site. CMRA has data at scales of county, census tract, and tribal land, with tons of resources to follow, plus guidance on how locales might find funding to make things happen. What could be a better challenge for AP (and non-AP) students? Research a local vulnerability, using professionally generated government data, synthesize it with maps and models of today and tomorrow, then design a solution and present the story. Maps and charts about places they know, issues they see, alternatives they generate, and stories they believe in. ... View more

Wednesday March 22, 2023, is World Water Day. It seems a bit curious, having a special day about something so critical for humanity. But how willing are we to go a day without it? The UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6 is about clean water and sanitation, but, truly, water is life. Too much. Too scarce. Too erratic. Too far away. Too polluted by "other people's waste." Too useful for flushing away the unwanted. Too hard to "keep clean and pure for me." Too fun to splash and play in, until too fast, too hot, too cold, too crowded, too dirty, too many beasties -- both macro and micro -- that are too dangerous. Too powerful, too warm, too acidic, too toxic. Too precious. Too cheap. Too easy to squander. Too cyclic. Too everything. With that characterization, how can you help your students think about water, talk about its meaning and value, map it, analyze it, and support its future which is tied so intimately with our own? What is the value of water? Ben Franklin is credited with the phrase "When the well is dry, you know the worth of the water" (in Poor Richard's Almanac, ca.1746). How much do you consume in drinking, cooking, washing? What would you give up to ensure enough water for those? What if you had to carry all of it, from a long way? Many people are forced to do this to survive. What could help? ("Enough questions!") Hippo Roller is one option: Instead of carrying heavy buckets, use a larger container specially made to hold a lot of water and roll. What can communities do with the time and labor saved? What can you do, thousands of miles away? (See Hippo Roller USA.) Provide one. Challenge your school to provide more than one. Write a lesson that translates the impact for those who don't need to carry water. Explore how GIS helps contemporary communities in urban, suburban, and rural areas provide clean water, manage wastewater, and handle interruptions. What happens even in USA when water and the conditions influencing it trend farther away from optimal? What might that look like? How can we model that, and even prepare for it? US federal agencies partnered with Esri to develop a website, "Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation" (or CMRA, pronounced "cam-ra"; see this 5-min video). Climate and water are different views of a single system, just like blood and breathing. But the conditions, causes, effects, and opportunities to build systemic resilience are varied and complex. We can turn away, pretend all is well, and live on hope. Or we can pay attention to data, examine models, see trajectories, and explore strategies. CMRA is the focus of the "Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS" webinar for March 2023. This is a chance to learn about a model, its many roots and branches, and how to incorporate it into teaching. The T3G webinars are open to educators with registration, and recordings are available afterward. What will you do for World Water Day, Wednesday, March 22, 2023? ... View more

In 2017, Esri launched the ArcGIS Online Competition for US High School and Middle School Students; 2023 marks Year#7. A GIS competition for grade 4-12 students? Why? And some might reasonably ask "Charlie, why are you -- a lifelong member of the 'bulge in the bell curve' in darn near everything, and dismisser of competitions -- so enthusiastic about this (besides working for Esri)?" The Competition asks students -- solo or in a team of two -- to design, conduct, and present a study about some geographic phenomenon in their state, using GIS. Students submit their entry to someone in their school for consideration. Schools in participating states can send up to five to the state for judging. Those states each choose up to five HS and five MS projects, award identical $100 prizes to all 10, and send the data from all to Esri, with one HS and one MS project designated for a national competition.   So, why? Students get to decide on a topic THEY want to study. They can look at the geographic angles of anything they want in their state. They have to choose, and so are wise to aim at something they want to learn about. Students also must decide which of the three critical questions of geography they will address. Geography asks "What's where? Why is it there? So what?" The first and simplest is cataloguing; the second is explaining; the third and most complex is evaluating and solving for the future. Every step of the way, students are thinking critically, making formal decisions every few seconds. They have to gather data, and even generate their own. They need constantly to consider things from multiple sources, angles, and perspectives. "Does this meet the need? Is there a better alternative?" It's not sufficient for students simply to present numeric data. They must consider "where," constantly. Coping with info that varies from place to place, they look for meaning, seek signal in the noise of endless details, and boost their capacity to grasp patterns and relationships. Swipe back and forth; zoom in and out; pan here and there; turn on and off; see map and pop-up, map and table, pop-up and table; try style after style after style, in endless combinations, integrating layers of data and ways of seeing. At every step along the way, they will use powerful professional GIS tools to consider, explore, gather, analyze, interpret, and present. They can do so with just a few tools from the ArcGIS School Bundle; it is impressive seeing someone do powerful things with basic resources. Building skills in generating data, assembling a map, analyzing elements, classifying and symbolizing to illuminate the patterns, and presenting those with clarity and impact to a less-informed viewer … these are skills that will carry students well into careers that build a better world. And on and on. Students spend hour after hour at sports, music, chess, reading, writing, designing, tinkering with wheeled vehicles, and countless other pursuits. Here is a chance to explore on their own, solve a real-life puzzle, create a work of both science and art, and share it with their teacher, class, school, state, and country … year after year. This is no "zero sum" competition; everyone who tackles it wins. Every student can gain even just from the attempt. No one should expect on their first hike to summit Mt.Everest; we build critical experience and capacity with a first walk in the neighborhood, and then doing more. Since this is something for the students to do on their own, and even attempt in multiple years, every student should get the chance. "Here's a login in our ArcGIS Online Organization, and here is info about the event, including pointers on learning. And, look, here are hundreds of examples from past years!" This is how teachers, district staff, club leaders, parents, and GIS professionals can help. My question? Why isn't every state supporting and promoting this? Every teacher should encourage this; every class should celebrate their entries; every school should acknowledge all who enter, with a secondary cheer for those moving to the state level; every state should honor all who build their capacity for thinking geographically, with a bonus hurrah to those who earn awards. The ArcGIS Online Competition for US High School and Middle School Students presents a task that every student can attempt. This year, students in 40 states can enter a formal competition, but everyone can do such a project.   ... View more

Want to meet hundreds of GIS-using educators? Plan now for the Education Summit at Esri User Conference, in San Diego CA, July 8-11, 2023.     Educators who use GIS love being among peers. Whoops and squeals of delight ring out as they learn a useful skill, see an old friend, hear an effective strategy, share a great story, make a new friend. It all happens at the Education Summit (aka “EdUC”), which leads up to and includes the first two days of Esri’s User Conference. With plenary sessions, fully hands-on classes or self-directed learning labs, technical sessions led by experienced leaders, and presentations by users sharing their experiences, and lots of people to talk with, the big challenge at EdUC is making a choice.     And, this year, a special plus! Educators attached to an ArcGIS School Bundle can register at no cost. You still have to be in San Diego and be ready for morning-to-night interaction. But imagine what you, your team, department, school, district, or club can learn for $0 registration! Charge up depleted batteries and add new ideas for your activities! Mark your calendars for the Education Summit @Esri UC, July 8-11 and a ton of learning! Visit https://www.esri.com/educ! ... View more

Across written history, which stories have dominated? With few exceptions, the stories of those in power have dominated, if not smothered, those of the less powerful. But everyone has stories. A new project on the USA education landscape brings out some stories that have not received their due. They appear in StoryMaps, with teaching materials alongside. “2892 Miles to Go” is a project of the past, the present, and the future. How far is it across USA from east to west? Eyeball a quick straight line distance across the coterminous 48 states, in either Map Viewer or Scene Viewer, and you will find roughly 2892 miles. But that doesn’t come close to the number of stories in USA’s past, which lead to issues and challenges in the present, which must be heard and understood to break down the barriers of today and build up the supports for tomorrow. Walk a mile in someone’s shoes by reading their words, listening to their story, consuming their maps. See the world as another human being. Witness how geography can illuminate patterns and relationships … and how, as with any tool, some have used knowledge and power to cause harm. But geography can be the language for finding, building, or restoring common ground … in places across the country, and even in our own communities. Bear witness, and note especially the section for educators. Share the stories from 2892 Miles To Go. Then, seek out the stories in your community. (And for a guided intro to 2892, check out the T3G Webinar on 2892 featuring Ashley Lamb-Sinclair and Anita Palmer.)   ... View more

When you are using software, how do you know what is permitted and not permitted? The license tells you. Do you read the licenses for the software that you use? Do you read the licenses for the software that your students use? They are sometimes hard to find, sometimes use impenetrable language, and sometimes are presented only while you are doing setup, when poring through dense legal text is the last thing you want. The ArcGIS School Bundle Summary should help educators, administrators, and students understand the basic “rules of the road” for working with the ArcGIS School Bundle, which Esri offers to schools at no cost for instruction. Some people have been confused about who can use it, and how, but this document should help. It is a two-page PDF, in “plain language,” with icons to help users focus. The ArcGIS School Bundle Summary is already presented to users at several points during the process of requesting, acquiring, and working with the Bundle, but we are making the Summary even more prominent. We want people to read it, understand it, and follow it.   What should administrators of an existing ArcGIS School Bundle do if their software is already up and running, including their ArcGIS Online Organization and numerous user accounts? Read the Summary, understand it, help teachers and students understand it, and set a link to the document inside your Org so anyone who wants to know the rules of the road can do so. Esri wants everyone in schools to use GIS to explore and understand the world. That’s why we offer the ArcGIS School Bundle at no cost for instructional use. We want it to be clear that schools, districts, and youth clubs have a great opportunity to expand engagement and boost student learning about the complex world in which we live, using ArcGIS. Questions about the ArcGIS School Bundle Summary? Email [email protected]. ... View more

‘T’was the night before class proj. In the ArcGIS Org, Not a mapper was stirring. This was hardly ‘the Borg.’ Apologies, Clement Clarke Moore. Some admins of ArcGIS Online School Bundle Organizations (“Orgs”) do not deserve presents this holiday season. Like ill-prepared cars in northern winters, some Orgs are going nowhere; like inattentive drivers, some admins haven’t done the most basic steps for safe and effective operation. We see many examples of weak Org management (at best, this is inefficient; at worst, debilitating, even untrustworthy). Does your Org feature any of these? Consider this a “holiday stress test,” with maybe a bit of fireside reading after.    Org has only one admin. Arguably the worst sin of all in a school Org, this translates into an admin saying “Mine. All mine. Not the school’s; mine.” Only an admin can make another admin; it’s easy to do, and easy to put off. Every week, we are confronted with people trying to resurrect a school license where the once-upon-a-time admin is gone or out of commission, before s/he had spent the 60 seconds needed to create a second admin. Admins are in charge of everything in the Org. (If you’re the only admin, you are responsible for everything that happens – or doesn’t happen – in the school Org.) See p.18 of https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools. Org has only one “primary” admin. Not as bad as #1, but close. The primary admins (plural … school Orgs can and should have more than one) are the only persons in the Org whom Esri knows about. They receive critical announcements, notices of password resets, credit issues, and so on. See p.18 of https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools. Org admin has not set credit limits. This is like not having a speedometer or tachometer in a car … not cataclysmic, until it is. This can bring activity in the Org to a screeching halt for days at an inopportune time, when a user – whether by accident or ignorance or mischief – burns through hundreds, or thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of credits. When an Org goes into deficit, certain actions are halted for everyone, until the deficit is taken care of. “Oops” is not a word that GIS teams like to hear in the business world, where 1000 credits costs $100. We sometimes hear, in the final week of a marking period, “He just chose to enrich these ZIP codes with this data, but instead of his desired 4 ZIP Codes chose the whole country, and had these 35 attributes added to all 40,000, and he just didn’t look at the credit estimator, and burned thru all our credits.” This takes seconds for admins to constrain, and a minute to teach about. Help students (and, umm, adults too) learn to be responsible users of “The Commons.” See p.27 of https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools. Org admin has let students share content publicly from an account bearing their name. Yeesh … where to begin? Only in special circumstances should students be sharing with the whole Org, much less outside the Org. Admins should limit sharing to protect privacy and reduce clutter, for the school or district, and for all ArcGIS Online users. Admins can simply prevent all public sharing, period, which is effective, but a blunt instrument. Better is using a custom role. Org admin has not built and assigned custom roles. Built-in roles are designed for generic adult users; schools do not have generic adult users. They should have some “generic” permissions limited, and other “generic” limitations lifted. (Credit limits? 100 is enough for most K12 students for a year. Transfer item ownership? Key in schools.) See pp.12-13 of https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools. Org admin set up usernames that use personally identifiable information (PII) about students. Please, please, PLEASE don’t do this. Esri does not want, seek, or knowingly accept student PII. The easiest way to keep the personal data of minors safe is by simply not using it. That prevents all kinds of questions, concerns over data breaches, and so on. Help Esri help you keep your students’ personal data safe. Just don’t use PII in creating usernames. See pp.19-21 of https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools. Org admin hasn’t engaged single sign-on. Most districts and many schools today have a single sign-on operation. This takes help from the tech staff to set up, but it should happen because it is by far the easiest and fastest way to enable most students to have access to common resources. (See #1 above.) Teachers managing students with traditional login/password burn many minutes just to handle “I can’t …” and “I forgot …” See p.20 of https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools. Org admin hasn’t prevented outsiders from logging in. Some Org admins are really trusting souls, happy to let outsiders be a part of operation of the Org. Many don’t think about preventing outsiders from viewing the Org, or even logging in with something as simple as a social login. Make your Org more of a “walled garden” that is truly safe for minors. Use great discretion and care when opening up any portion of the Org to the outside world. Org admin hasn’t set up an optimized default user. Everyone given a username in the Org has some initial characteristics, which may or may not be optimized. Set a good default status. See p.22 of https://esriurl.com/agoorgsforschools. Org admin has not posted visibly an email address going to the admin or tech staff. Best practice is to have an email alias (such as “gisadmins@<ourschool.org>”) going to the Primary Admins (see #2 above), and this alias prominently visible on the front page (if not all pages) of the Org. Users need to be able to ask questions of or comment to those who manage the Org.   How do you score? Check out your Org(s). Then submit your score(s) ... anonymously ... and see those for others, via this link.   ... View more

The 2023 ArcGIS Online Competition for US High School and Middle School Students is underway! It's a chance for students in grades 9-12 ("HS") and 4-8 ("MS") to explore, analyze, and present about a topic of their choice inside the bounds of their state. Their resources are maps, data, curiosity, and the power of the geographic approach.   HS and MS students with a login to an ArcGIS Online Organization -- which Esri offers at no cost to schools and clubs -- can choose their own topic for investigation. Over the years, we have seen analyses of community art, invasive pests, housing patterns, environmental hazards, natural wonders, historic events, transportation proposals … and an endless array of topics important in the lives and minds of young learners. Schools play a central role, building life-empowering skills in mapping technologies, data analysis, critical thinking, and effective communication. But, no matter how big, a school can advance to the state level only five entries, so some schools take their role with utmost gravity, and rightly celebrate their stars, and in fact all participants, even at just this first level. States, in turn, gather these best entries, award five HS and five MS prizes, and send all the data to Esri for national attention. The most thoughtful states also celebrate these 5+5 awardees, not solely their one HS and one MS nominees for the final national prize, for all awardees have demonstrated powerful capacity to serve their future, their community, and the planet. At the final level, with entries winnowed to only the bests, it is holistic expertise that wins the day. Maps are powerful models, and the best are interactive instruments for exploration, discovery, and analysis. Stories need to be crisp, and imagery pared to only the essential. Conclusions need to be clear, built with geographic analysis, and supported with careful documentation. No single element alone can win the day; it is the integration of skills, data, and perspectives that characterizes the geographic approach. For these reasons, the national winners are models of how high school and middle school students can meet the challenges of the future. See the Competition at https://esriurl.com/agoschoolcomp. Help the learners in your life build their capacity in the science of where.   ... View more

Calling all teachers who have used digital mapping in instruction! You can play a key role in research, in 15 minutes or less, just by filling out one short form. Your honest responses would be a big help to our entire community! Please see this post in the K12 Instruction zone. Thank you! 🙏 https://community.esri.com/t5/k12-instruction-questions/survey-educator-acceptance-of-digital-mapping/m-p/1215821#M321    ... View more

Calling US students in high school and middle school with an idea for an app! Congress has posted a "Congressional App Challenge." The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2022. Teams of 1-4 students can tackle the challenge. Interested students should check first to see if your congressional district supports the challenge; there is a list (No map? C'mon, Congress...) of where the Representatives support the event. If a Congressperson is not listed in support, you can even email him or her to promote it. One of the key technologies permitted is "web apps." Think about building an app -- a "finished product," not a "construction zone." The ArcGIS Instant Apps provide great opportunity. See the rules to make sure you conform, then design carefully, build and test thoroughly, and share publicly.   ... View more

As a kid growing up in the country, with good eyesight and guidance from family, I was good at spotting and identifying birds and animals at a distance, based on habitat, shape, and behavior. But I had a terrible time coping with a human landscape, particularly cities. It was very hard for me to translate between what I saw in the typical small-scale 2D map and my real-life human-scale side-view of the 3D physical world. Overhead views of a topographic map or even a road map taunted me like so many treasure maps. In college, I studied geography because it helped me s-l-o-w-l-y to find and grasp the patterns and relationships of what was to me a cloaked world. I  struggled with large-scale (local) geography, even while teaching, until the arrival of maps on computers. Hours of studying shapes and locations -- features with attributes -- built recognition of patterns and relationships. The subsequent merging of GIS (with its infinite capacity to vary visible content) and GPS (with its ability to show current and past location, and thus both personal direction and compass direction, yielding context) was to me like opening the door to the biggest library imaginable.     The simple sign above my classroom blackboard said “Geography is three questions: What’s where? Why is it there? So what?” The first question seeks both “the where” and “the what” — the infinite catalogue of locations and their characteristics — and shows that things vary between here and there, and between time1 and time2. The second question seeks the factors — large and small — that shape these variations. The third question seeks the impact of the first two.     This is the geographic approach. It is a way of thinking about and seeing the world, using the science of geography to sift through infinite data to illuminate the patterns and relationships relevant to a topic or question. Doing this with GIS just turbocharges the process, especially for kids.     Some people are gifted cataloguers and interpreters of the world, able to consume and integrate torrents of inputs. But even they need the ability to track an infinite array of questions, to find or generate specific content, to analyze data with different ways to extract different results, to isolate the treatments that bring out the most important findings, and to present these in a manner that most clearly and transparently builds understanding.     What years of experiencing, studying, and then teaching geography did was help me overcome a disability to see, grasp, and interact positively with patterns and relationships in the world. Geospatial technologies multiplied those capacities infinitely. Today, across the world, at scales global to local, businesses, governments, and agencies of all kinds use the geographic approach to learn about the parts of their world that matter most to their mission. GIS helps them seek, discover, and act effectively on these truths, from simple questions like “Where do we find trash?” to “What do we need to do for which communities in view of recent and future disasters?”   Students can learn these tools, skills, and perspectives, even in primary grades (see 3-minute video from grade 3). Those who build their capacities effectively will have a richer present, and a much more impactful future. (See Student Competition results or explore students on stage at Esri User Conferences.)   ... View more

What value is recognition? For the schools, districts, states, and organizations that have earned a "Special Achievement in GIS" award from Esri as part of our annual User Conference, it has meant affirmation. Users have done what people who know GIS deem admirable. Not just working hard, but leading the way … blazing a trail … making a difference. Esri teams get to nominate one organization per year, so the "SAG Award," as it is lovingly called, means a lot.   When you see your name in lights, and look around at thousands of GIS professionals who understand hard work, have done the hours of study, and have given always a measure of extra effort, there is just a moment of humble exhilaration … but it morphs quickly into inspiration … for the next improvement, around the next project, to overcome the next challenge. And, for the 2022 SAG Awardee for Schools, the next life to change.   Hopeworks is a remarkable organization in Camden, New Jersey, which is a community with more needs and hurdles than opportunities and resources. Hopeworks helps students build skills, adjust mindsets, acquire knowledge, discover capacity. The staff teaches, supports, expects, documents, challenges, encourages, listens, and shares. "With a focus on skill development, real-world job experience, and trauma-informed care, Hopeworks propels young adults into long-term living wage careers that put them on the path for healing and financial stability." - the Hopeworks webpage Hopeworks helps young people grow. Part of their opportunity is GIS. Students … young adults … interns … get exposed to GIS and can choose to focus on it, then grow their own talents and benefit the community at the same time. In 2002, a handful of Hopeworks students completed in four months what no collection of adults had been able to accomplish, ever: building a digital parcel map of the city, which opens up all manner of community benefits. The 2003 Esri User Conference crowd witnessed their story. Twenty years later, the Hopeworks GIS team has expanded. The technology is worlds different, the youth are more numerous, the challenges have multiplied, but the mindset remains: galvanize the talent, energy, and capacity of youth, captivate them with the power of GIS and other technologies, mix in life skills, teamwork, responsibility, and help them grow toward interviews, internships, jobs, careers, and building the community. Oh … and, in the process, make sure the GIS work is absolutely rock solid … in data creation, data management, analysis, presentation. As Hopeworks youth get good and can start to see a future for themselves, they in turn also need to help teach newcomers, monitor them, and help them get good too. Good enough to help Hopeworks earn a Special Achievement Award for 2022. The individuals, the team, the organization, and the story are truly inspiring! Hopeworks GIS Team leaders receive Special Achievement in GIS award from Jack Dangermond       ... View more

ArcGIS Online Organizations are the heart of the ArcGIS School Bundle. The Organization's admins are the electrical current in the heart … the ones that make the heart work. Every Org has some default roles, like User and Publisher. Dutiful admins will assign each Org member one of these default roles. But strategic and inspired admins will use their capacity for customizing roles to give their Org members more finely tuned powers and more protections. The default roles in an Org are not ideal for either K12 teachers or their students. But it takes less than 15 minutes to build a set of much more appropriate roles, for both minors and adults. The "ArcGIS Online Organizations for Schools & Clubs" document spells out why customization is needed, and how to differentiate students and teachers, and starters from stars. For typical school Orgs, the doc recommends three roles for students and two for teachers, but even more may be appropriate as an Org gets more users with more diverse interests and skill sets. Generating these roles may seem superfluous at first, but they will help students and teachers avoid careless or ill-informed choices, such as sharing with an entire Org (clutter!) or even the public (clutter AND security risk), or burning large numbers of credits because of mistakes. On the flip side, custom roles can ensure users have access to the right software permissions and licenses. (I've heard of Org admins so fearful of users making mistakes that the Org is more akin to impenetrable digital cubicles than a walled garden.)   A short video walks admins through how to generate Custom Roles, showing the creation of "Student-2" role in a school Org. Best part: Even if a school Org has been around for years, and even if there are already custom roles, it's easy to look at the privilege sets referenced and make some tweaks. Esri is anxious for schools and clubs to use their admin power to help keep minors safe, but also to ensure they can do appropriate work. See the Orgs for Schools document, and the Customizing Roles video. Then look at your own Org. Have the admins been "dutiful" or "strategic and inspired"? ... View more