Latest Contributions by TomBaker

Single sign-on uses a school district’s identity provider software (such as Microsoft Active Directory or Google G Suite) to support student authentication on devices, when accessing the school network, or when using district software.  Single sign-on provides three broad categories of benefits to teachers: increased instructional time, stability and support across the school, and reduced teacher liability.   Read more >> ... View more

New article in ArcNews! Useful ideas for sharing with educator colleagues: GeoInquiries Can Help Educators Teach Their Subjects More Effectively Read more at: Getting Teachers Started with GIS  ... View more

(with Python, the Python Imaging Library, and the ArcGIS Online API for Python) Using geotagged images can be a great way to capture verifiable data in a project-based learning or citizen science exercise. Students can collect data with photographs, share their images to a common folder, and then use this script to map the pictures. Geotagged images are taken constantly, usually by people with smartphones, perhaps even by people unaware that latitude-longitude information is embedded in the header of the images.  For many casual users, seeing these images in a smartphone’s built-in Photo app with a simple map feature is all the mapping they’ll want.  But, for the carto-literati ... Read more >> ... View more

ArcGIS Online Organizations can accrete user accounts over time for a number of reasons. Bulk CSV based creation of user accounts or single sign-on or simply orphaned accounts from last year's classes all contribute. For bulk user management in ArcGIS Online, no tool is more powerful than the ArcGIS API for Python - however, it should be noted for the non-scripter, GEO Jobe Admin Tools are .... Read more >> ... View more

E-book market growth continues to climb.  E-books, as a share of the worldwide textbook market sales, is estimated to jump from 12.3% to 25.8% from 2013 to 2018 (Statista). The advancement of ebooks (including etextbooks) is nowhere more evident than in education. A projection report from Technavio suggests, 49% of “students” had purchased and used an etextbook by 2015.   With the rise of ebooks on more powerful mobile devices and the continued growth of digital instructional materials in education, it's worth noting that maps can extend a wide variety of standards-based instructional content in schools (e.g. see the Esri GeoInquiry project to validate this idea). Thankfully, ArcGIS Online maps can be inserted into at least one particularly ebook format: Apple's iBook.  Learn how >> ... View more

The content of this page has been updated and moved to a new home as a storymap collection.  Visit: https://esriurl.com/K12SSO.  [ backup URL: https://arcg.is/08amaO0 ]   Posted: September 2021. ... View more

Select states have created GeoInquiry™ collections that support teachers who teach state history or state geography courses.   These collections do not simply align existing (Esri-produced GeoInquiries) with state standards but rather have created new content, specially designed to serve teaching in that state.  Explore the projects below.  Keep in mind that many are still in development and/or beta testing. Minnesota Texas Georgia Virginia Michigan Nebraska Send an email to [email protected] for questions. ... View more

We're pleased to announce that we have released a new type of GeoInquiry, the Level 2 activity!     Level 2 GeoInquiries do analysis with ArcGIS Online, typically using the same great maps and activities from standard GeoInquiries. Level 2 activities are a little tougher than standard GeoInquiries, requiring an ArcGIS Online organization subscription and at least one account/login with publisher-level permissions to run the analysis tools.  Since Level 2 activities are a little more complicated, they generally take a little longer but each activity can still be completed within a class period.     At this time of this writing, Level 2 activities are available in Earth Science, US History, and the new Government/Civics collection.  We expect L3v3l 2 activities for human geography to be available very soon.   To find Level 2 activities, go to your favorite GeoInquiry collection and browse it.  Try one out and let us know what you think!   As an example, the Industrial Revolution was a critical period in American history, ushering in an energy, production, and automation expansion like rarely before seen. In the standard GeoInquiry, students explore the growth of steel in the United States, using Pittsburgh as a case study. The use of the Identify tool and Bookmarks are the principle GIS skills.  In the Level 2 GeoInquiry, Coal Power, students explore the growth of steel in the United States, using Pittsburgh as a case study.  The level 2 activity uses the Aggregate Points analysis tool (in Summarize Data) to quantitatively and spatially describe smelter access to coal.   ... View more

See the new GeoInquiries landing page at www.esri.com/geoinquiries   The new page includes all nine collections plus the new level II content! ... View more

http://esriurl.com/STEMGIS  These new geographical tools benefit not only STEM researchers but also educators, who can offer their students a spatially oriented approach to learning that will enhance both learning and recruitment. Building on this argument, Tsou and Yanow (2010) have made an even stronger case for general-education courses in geographic information science and technology (GIS&T) at both the university and community college levels. They argue: With a solid foundation in spatial literacy, students will be better prepared to consider the crucial scientific and social questions of the 21st century. We believe that the dramatic progress of Web-based GIS and mobile GIS, along with the easy access to global geospatial datasets and virtual desktop access, will help GIS educators create more GE-level GIS&T courses in the coming years. (Tsou and Yanow 2010, 46) This advances upon a major 2006 National Research Council (NRC) study, entitled Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K–12 Curriculum, which drew the following conclusions: • The committee sees GIS as exemplifying both the theoretical power of a high-tech system for supporting spatial thinking and the practical design and implementation problems that must be faced in the K–12 context: • The power of GIS lies in its ability to support the scientific research process and to provide policy-related answers to significant real-world problems arising in a range of disciplinary contexts. • The appeal of GIS lies in its direct connection to significant workforce opportunities in the information technology (IT) sector. • The potential of GIS lies in its ability to accommodate the full range of learners and to be adapted to a range of educational settings. (NRC 2006) To help realize the benefits of a stronger linkage between GIS and STEM education, Esri has committed to providing free ArcGIS Online software to the more than 100,000 elementary, middle, and high schools in the United States. This project is part of the White House ConnectED Initiative “to facilitate digital learning anytime, anywhere, high-quality software that provides multiple learning opportunities for students, and relevant teacher training to support this effort” (https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/k-12/connected). Read more at: http://esriurl.com/STEMGIS  ... View more

The Government and Civics GeoInquiry collection from Esri is now available for public testing and review.  Visit http://esriurl.com/govGeoInquiries to learn more.  Activities cover topics including elections, Federal Reserve, the judiciary, federalism, rights, and comparative governments.  ... View more

Learn how one science teacher "steps up" his instruction with GIS throughout the school year.  Explore the April winner from Minnesota! Visit the Teacher Video Challenge project. ... View more