Latest Contributions by CharlieFitzpatrick

How can someone tell at a glance that you have some skill, if not proclivity, for a technology or process? A certification does that. Esri technical certification means someone has enough knowledge to pass an exam about a specific technology or content area. Developing such an exam is carefully managed to generate just the right type and distribution of questions to match a publicly posted description. One part of the development process is a beta exam. It is "the test of the test." It also provides test takers the chance to think ahead and prepare better to help others achieve a worthy goal. Such a chance is now open for those interested in Esri's "GIS Fundamentals Foundation" certification. Eventually, this may be a worthy consideration even for savvy high school students. For now, though, the beta is open to adults with at least basic experience and understanding of both ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online. (That's "both/and," not "either/or," but also "basic," not "wizard.") I know many educators with strong knowledge in one plus at least the basics in the other. I hope you can help us ensure this is a good test. Passing the beta means being one of the first to achieve this new certification. Esri offers a limited number of discounted seats for the beta, so it's a great opportunity for educators … and the beta period for this exam is very short: Dec.13-27. Act quickly, starting at the Certification Blog.     ... View more

At this Thanksgiving, may those least scathed by the last 12 months rejoice and give thanks. Few years have tested our species so deeply on so many fronts. Droughts and fires, storms and floods, heat waves and cold snaps torment billions. Famines and pests conspire with human tempest to compound desperation for many. Coursing through us all, an invisible sinister foe levers against us our weakness in thinking, action, or genes. Despite these pains, our gross numbers keep rising, our impact compounding. Around us, the air, water, and life of our inherited world cry quietly and buckle under the ravages of centuries. Yet we who still stand should rejoice. At no time have we been more able to detect and document the impact of forces. Our growing capacity to see, analyze, understand, and share the patterns and relationships of our many tormentors lets us uncover and point the way to survival; scientists, seers, and students do it. We’ve shown we can change the world. We need only the will to steer that change. So let us give thanks for the power to discover so much, for the vision to explore alternative futures, and for the wisdom to choose … and then call for the courage to act. May we in the coming year be wise enough to see the hard road that leads toward safety … and be bold enough to run it, bringing along even those most vulnerable.   ... View more

"It is far more impressive doing powerful work with modest tech than doing modest work with powerful tech." -- Me as an 8th grade geography teacher, circa 1989. Decades later, one of the most common questions I hear is "Can my students do GIS on just Chromebooks?" Absolutely, using ArcGIS Online. On my own basic, $250 retail, 2-year-old, off-the-shelf Chromebook, I test things all the time, and would happily teach with these. The biggest tech constraints on K12 students in schools and homes are (a) access to a device and (b) bandwidth, not device horsepower. I have been in classrooms with 30 students on very low end Chromebooks but strong wifi who could cruise comfortably through GIS activities, while, at the same time, schools with impressive hardware but meager bandwidth could only crawl. The magic of a Chromebook (and similar devices) is putting a capable device with a solid browser into kids' hands day after day. With bandwidth sufficient to meet the greatest demand, students can explore, create, collaborate, and build capacity at high speed, constrained far more by weak guidance, adult avoidance, and crummy connections than by the device. When adults ask how they can ensure their kids will succeed, I answer "Provide devices and bandwidth, and promote frequent use." Below are screenshots from my Chromebook using ArcGIS Online: choosing a tool from the ArcGIS Online App Launcher, accessing GeoInquiries (classic and new Map Viewer), measuring in a combined 2D/3D web app, viewing a storymap, altering classification inside of Business Analyst, engaging analysis (buffer and layer enrichment) in a geoprocessing exercise in Map Viewer. My process was impeded only by my own diversions and indecision, not by the device. Kids demonstrate constantly that they can do GIS with a Chromebook, if given access, encouragement, and bandwidth. Esri provides to K12 schools, for free for instruction, a remarkable bundle of software including logins so students and teachers alike can create, save, and share. And if logins are just not desired,  we still provide an enormous raft of capacity for free with no login required.   ... View more

Certification is a big deal. It shows at a glance that one has a noteworthy level of understanding, whether a scuba diver, an accountant, a plumber, a cybersecurity officer, or a GIS user. Technical certifications -- grasp of a specific technology -- are equally important, and Esri offers over a dozen at different levels and emphasizing different capacities. BIG NEWS!! A new "GIS Fundamentals" technical certification is in development! Subject matter experts created a "blueprint" for the exam, with overall guidelines. Now the organizers need help from educators who teach GIS, and from GIS professionals savvy about "what someone with 'GIS fundamentals' needs to know." The certification is being developed for adults post high school, but this could be much more approachable than existing options from Esri for high school students with strong experience. A 20-minute (or less) survey is all it takes for you to help. The survey closes Oct.20. The more inputs we get, the better.   ... View more

"How can I help my students build skills for life? How can I engage all my kids in something that interests them? I want to do projects, but the kids are all so different. And I have to be ready for some of them to be stuck at home for a week or two, with just a Chromebook or iPad." The ArcGIS Online Competition for US High School (gr.9-12) and Middle School (gr.4-8) Students can help accomplish multiple goals. Students do a project, solo or with a single partner, in school or out, investigating a topic of their choice, about something within their state, gathering and analyzing geographic data, and presenting their findings via an ArcGIS StoryMap. States participating in the Competition get to award prizes to a handful of entries each at high school and middle school, but everyone gets to win. Students build content background, tech skills, research skills, project skills, independence or teamwork, and experience with design and analysis, patterns and relationships, documentation and presentation, and more. It can help students and even teachers build vision, empathy, and resilience. Projects are like "educational Velcro:" you can bring together many valuable elements, especially when done bit by bit across the year. The Competition gives everyone a target, and helps all build long-term frameworks. In the Competition, the geographic scope is bounded and the student's mission needs to be clear. Many class activities during fall and winter can build capacity, leading to a powerful synthesizing event … or teachers can encourage students to do their own intense personal study outside of class. Regardless, even young students charged with meeting identifiable milestones over time can surprise adults with their vision, creativity, tenacity, and capacity to learn and use technology effectively. Explore the Competition at https://esriurl.com/agoschoolcomp. See and listen to winners from previous years. State leaders are invited to apply using the form accessed from the Leadership Team section of the Rules page. While there, look carefully at changes to the awards section this year. Engage the state's geomentors. Plan how to get the word out and help engage these powerful young minds in understanding a complex world and develop the skills they need to build a better tomorrow.   ... View more

Want to boost use of GIS in your school or district? Go single sign-on (SSO), which works well with ArcGIS Online. Many schools and districts have implemented SSO. It simplifies administration, improves access for all, and lets teachers focus on teaching instead of account management. For teachers who want to boost analytical thinking about complex situations, or understanding data, or engaging with community, or building more career options for the entire student body, GIS is hard to beat. Teachers who use GIS should lobby for inclusion within a school/district SSO. Point your technicians to the critical guidance. If a district-wide SSO is in place, schools should look at centralizing their ArcGIS Online organizations. Depending on the size and operation of the district and desires for customization, it could be one Org for all, or one per hierarchical unit, or one per grade band. ArcGIS Hub allows schools to establish a unique presence within a district Org. Even if just at the school level, engaging SSO makes it easier for all who want to use ArcGIS Online. But teachers cannot forego all decision-making about operations. Teachers need to ensure the necessary privileges and protections are in place -- neither locking things down so tightly that people can't engage the power of analysis or even creation, nor accepting all defaults as "good enough." The document "ArcGIS Online Orgs for K12 Schools" walks through important considerations. Managing the Org needs to be a collegial process. For help deciding about your situation, contact the Esri K12 Education Team. And to see the impact, see this case study of a teacher who was a district tech. ... View more

Update: In July 1, 2024, I released an updated version. See Fun with GIS 347. Around the one-year anniversary of the chaos and trauma introduced by Covid, I wrote a blog to help educators, parents-turned-teachers, administrators, and mentors see what could be done in ArcGIS Online without logging in. Since then, addresses have changed, new content has arrived, new tools have been released, and many schools and districts now require intense documentation to "protect students who log in." With so much power and content available, we want educators to start first without login ... USE what is already made. Get students exploring and understanding the patterns and relationships of the world, before working to create from scratch. Be active users! Take screenshots to add to your own text or media presentations. Discuss impacts of patterns shown in maps. Study how professionals invite interaction and detailed exploration, or wrap content in a context. Be a skilled consumer, first and foremost. Then look into creation, only when ready. For now, see the updated Fun with GIS 284: Learning Without a Login   ... View more

Esri offers to K-12 (primary and secondary) schools a bundle of ArcGIS software titles for free for instructional use. The heart of the ArcGIS School Bundle is the ArcGIS Online Organization (the "Org").  K-12 students and teachers have been using it effectively since 2012. The ArcGIS School Bundle has evolved over time, and so has Esri's guidance for educators. How should schools and districts arrange and use their Org to empower students and keep them digitally safe and secure in this changing world? The ArcGIS Online Orgs for K12 Schools document walks teachers, school techs, and district IT staff thru the design considerations and best practices for US-based K-12 schools and districts. This is a diverse and dynamic landscape, with students engaging at school and at home. Schools and districts adjust technology in ways large and small. The principles in this doc will help teachers and students be able to use the Org and thus the different tools in the Bundle safely and effectively. The ArcGIS School Bundle is a remarkable instructional resource. This latest update of the "AGO Orgs for Schools" document will help educators in all settings, from newest users to those nearing a decade of experience, get the most out of their software while maintaining digital safety.   ... View more

Before Covid, every Esri Users Conference included a segment honoring a select group of organizations (never individuals), from across USA and around the world, nominated by Esri staff, and selected by Esri President Jack Dangermond, for "Special Achievement in GIS."   The 2021 SAG Awardee in K12 Education is the Bigfork (Montana) High School Cave Club. Their story has been written up, deservedly, in this blog (FWG253: Teaching Underground; FWG287: Headlamps; FWG288: A Generalist), and in the description of their work among the community of 2021 SAG awardees. But for a more complete picture, visit the club's own presentation of their work. Bigfork Cave Club's website. Image courtesy Bigfork Cave Club.   In 2010 and again in 2020, this tiny club in a tiny town in a great big state, working underground and in the classroom, earned the President's Environmental Youth Award for their activities, and GIS has been crucial for documenting disparate elements, analyzing the data, and especially sharing their findings. Parts of Bigfork Cave Club's Story Map of their work. Images courtesy Bigfork Cave Club.   "Special Achievement in GIS" cannot be earned "solo," though groups often have a single person leading or navigating. There are many versions of the expression "To go fast, go alone; to go far, go together" … but they epitomize SAG awardees: collaborators who share a vision and share the work, and compound their impact. Cave Club leader and Bigfork HS science teacher, Hans Bodenhamer. Image courtesy Bigfork Cave Club   Not everyone can solve cosmic mysteries, invent new medical techniques, or launch a global enterprise. But in this increasingly threatened world, everyone can identify local challenges that deserve attention, and grow an ongoing collaborative force that engages GIS to achieve a larger mission: building a more sustainable world. ... View more

  "Which tool -- or tools -- should I teach?" I get this question a lot from teachers who hesitate to use GIS because there are so many useful tools. I'll confess to answering differently depending on the situation, but always some version of these: 1. First, get good at USING maps and apps that others have created. The more time -- and times -- you explore and practice reading and interacting with content others have already made, and the more questions you can ask and answer using those resources, the better you will see what's needed, and what's possible. 2. ArcGIS Online. Get good at it. If you discover needs not served by that tool chest, then add ArcGIS Pro. 3. Get good at ArcGIS Online Map Viewer. When you discover a capacity you require, add it. 4. Map Viewer, StoryMaps, Scene Viewer, Survey123, Dashboard, Hub … but not all at once. 5. Focus on the basic tools. It's far more impressive doing powerful things with basic tools than doing basic things with powerful tools. This is my guidance for school teachers and their students. Employees and college students don't have as much time or leeway to dabble. But for teachers and students at secondary level and certainly younger, these guidelines should help. Item #1 above is my absolute: seeing and interacting with maps is vital. It is certainly useful for young learners to create hardcopy or digital drawings of spaces in their universe, starting with a single room, but once they grasp representing reality with a simplified miniature version, they can build facility with patterns and relationships. Soon enough they will struggle with notions of precision, completeness, currency, emphasis, perspective, bias, mission, and so forth. They will need to consider how different people, or even a single person at different times, might see the same phenomena in different ways. The more facility learners have exploring these contents, interacting with them, deriving meaning, articulating questions, designing thoughtful responses, and communicating effectively, the greater their potential. Think of GIS like driving. From a very early age, we ride around in all manner of vehicles, go different places, see different environments. If we're lucky, we get to play bumper cars, and practice safely going forward, backing up, turning, looking around, and thinking about other vehicles. We might even go out on bicycles, on neighborhood roads, with live traffic. Long before we might work on solo driving of an automobile, we amass many hours of relevant experience. Similarly, spending time with maps, especially interactive ones … thinking, poking, reading, wondering, interpreting … then panning and zooming, and repeating … this all matters hugely. Because, top line, the user's mind is by far the most important tool. Items 2-5 in my list above can help teachers strategize, but they should all be in service to building in learners the disposition to see and think about the world in a holistic way.   ... View more

ArcGIS Online is a vast infrastructure with unfathomable capacity. An ArcGIS Online Organization provides schools and districts a "walled garden" to engage that capacity, with secure logins for all members, who can make, save, and share items with the whole Org or with just Groups. But how can leaders coordinate resources, activities, and projects that integrate GIS? If a district of 10,000 students has 15 schools, how can each school have its own "custom presence?" How can leaders optimize using the tools, powers, privileges, and devices within the school/s? Say hello to ArcGIS Hub -- a website builder. Every ArcGIS School Bundle provides an ArcGIS Online Organization, and every Org includes Hub Basic. (Schools don't need Hub Premium because they get unlimited logins.) With this, schools and districts can generate an unlimited number of custom "sites."   What can Hub sites look like and do? See these public examples from the Esri Schools Team: 1 https://geoinquiries-education.hub.arcgis.com GeoInquiries 2 https://agoschoolcomp-education.hub.arcgis.com ArcGIS Online Competition for US HS+MS 3 https://geoprojects-education.hub.arcgis.com GeoProjects 4 https://mappinghour-k12.hub.arcgis.com MappingHour 5 https://gisclubkit-k12.hub.arcgis.com GIS Club Kit 6 https://tvc-k12.hub.arcgis.com Teacher Video Challenge 7 https://educ-k12.hub.arcgis.com 2020 Education GIS Summit for Schools 8 https://t3ghub-esrit3g.hub.arcgis.com Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS (T3G)   What are some key visible commonalities of these examples of Hub Basic? Custom purpose Custom design (including variable appearance, length, and number of pages) Easy inclusion of interactive maps and apps (including surveys, dashboards, storymaps) Mobile-friendly (try shrinking them!) URL: {sitename}-{ORGprefix}.hub.arcgis.com (note: 3 in "education" Org, 4 in "k12" Org) What are some key invisible commonalities of these examples of Hub Basic? Sharing is just like that for any Org resource: private, group(s), Org, public; a page can be public, and have public items, plus Org-only items, plus group-only contents Editing privileges can be shared with individuals or groups Authoring is simple: Lots of clicking choices, drag&drop, and easy configuring Easy to clone and share or change ownership of pages or even sites (think "template") Easy to include shared resources from other ArcGIS Online Orgs   So what? With Hub, it is easier to share more content more appropriately, and easier to have more schools in a single Org, which boosts the value of single sign-on and helps teachers coordinate resources within their grade/subject/activity. Even within a large district Org, each school, department, and teacher can have their own page/s, so any district can have the customization of individual Orgs plus the efficiency of a single Org. Imagine for instance a district with 3 high schools, in which a total of 7 teachers tackle 25 sections of Human Geography -- 11 at AP level, 14 at standard level. There can easily be both congruence and customization across all. Is it easy for educators to build hubs? See the Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS (T3G) Webinar on Hub, showing creation process and design considerations. The ArcGIS School Bundle is available for free for instructional use, to all schools and districts. ArcGIS Online Organizations are "bridges" that enable any number of users to access the extraordinary powers of the ArcGIS Online infrastructure. ArcGIS Hub is the keystone that can "complete" each bridge, the key with which to connect and unlock the power. ... View more

Hello T3G friends, we have a hiccup with our listserv right now, so I'm using this venue to alert folks. Please share in your state! Thursday June 17, 5-6pmPT=8-9pmET, as part of the T3G Third Thursday webinar series, we have a webinar focused on the ArcGIS Online Competition for US HS+MS Students. We will have HS+MS winners, their state leads, and a teacher or two. The webinar will be recorded, and the event is open to the public with registration, needed for the T3G series, of which this is the last, so see "https://esriurl.com/t3g >> Webinars" to register. (Registering doesn't put you on any list for anything other than this webinar.) ... View more

“What’s important about maps? And what’s so special about ‘modern maps’? What does it mean that someone can ‘make a difference with maps?’ And, if adult users have to take classes to use these newfangled maps, how can K12 students be expected to understand them, and schools to afford them?” Those were the key questions that an organization called “Reach the World” asked a team from Esri to address.   Three colleagues — Clinton Johnson, Koya Brown, and Phil Mielke — joined me in tackling this. I opened and closed the series, between which these three stars shared elements of their life and their work. We provided very brief essays with images, then did a video interview that was live-streamed and recorded. You can see all elements linked below.   Most teachers learn quickly the challenge of the bell, and that of the day, week, marking period, year. “With only this much time and these many words, how will you ensure learners grasp and value what you do?” You distill, connect, and hook.   Charlie Fitzpatrick (#1) Intro to the world of modern mapping Essay & images Video interview Clinton Johnson Solving the world's toughest challenges with maps Essay & images Video interview Koya Brown Mission-drive mapping Essay & images Video interview Phil Mielke Seeing the world in another dimension Video interview Charlie Fitzpatrick (#2) Making the world a better place Essay & images Video interview   Reach the World is a global education non-profit that uses virtual exchange to bring the world into K-12 classrooms. They help young learners (especially those getting fewer opportunities) grasp what the world is like, puzzle over why things are as they are and where they are, and work out an answer for “So what?” These powerful questions address everything in the world today, and yesterday, and tomorrow. We need all people to understand, not just a few born in a specific place and time. And not just understand these, but act on that knowledge. Our survival — as a country, as a species, as a planet — depends on it. ... View more

The 2020-21 school year has been just awful for students, teachers, communities, and everyone, because of COVID-19. Despite that, the 2021 ArcGIS Online Competition for US High Schools and Middle Schools had the most participation in its five-year history, and many students conducted significant research and created interesting story maps. Complete contents from the event are available at the new ArcGIS Online Competition hub site   Out of 500 entries from high school (gr.9-12) and 145 entries from middle school (gr.4-8), two winners and two honorable mentions emerged: High School Winner: Skye Lam Bronx High School of Science (NY) "Mapping the Green Book in New York City" https://arcg.is/1vHG1b HS HM: Cassandra Vongrej, Brigid McMahon Marine Academy of Technology & Envir.Science (NJ) "Analysis of Seagrass in Barnegat Bay" https://arcg.is/1vTuGf0 Middle School Winner: Kei Handzic-Smith Wydown Middle School (MO) "Poverty and Food in St. Louis" https://arcg.is/1afu1G0 MS HM: Titouan Chaligne, Luc Hoffman Lycee Francais de New York (NY) "Organic Food Consumption in NY State" https://arcg.is/0iybLu   The works by these four national honorees are linked above, and with special pins on the map, though you'll have to zoom in to New York City to separate the two local honorees. These four, plus all other state winners -- 27 more at high school and 21 more at middle school -- have hotlinked images in their popups when you click on them. The creations by the other 83 high school and 56 middle school state awardees are also visible when you click the desired links in their popups. All 191 awardees earned $100 for their award-winning entries, and more than 400 other entries received consideration by teachers before some made it to state judging. On the map, you can click on the states to see their participation and even revisit the state websites to learn more. In emails, social media posts, articles, and live stories from teachers this year, I heard constantly how difficult the year was. Students were thus necessarily more on their own to discover, learn, and follow through. That some completed challenging projects is a testament to their fortitude, capacity, and grit. Hopefully, the sand in the gears of life and school is drifting away, and we can all breathe a little easier in the 2021-22 school year. But we can still celebrate the powerful work that some were able to accomplish. We will use the monthly webinar of our educator network "Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS" (T3G) to hear from the national winner students and some educators. It is a publicly accessible event (registration required), and the recording will be available after. Join us Thursday June 17, 5-6pmPDT (= 8-9pmEDT), for the 2021 ArcGIS Online Competition Wrap-up webinar. See "https://esriurl.com/t3g >> Webinars" for the registration link. ... View more