Geospatial Science and Technology Model Courses and Certificate: Guidelines and Tools to Align

Curriculum to Workforce Needs

Ann Johnson Associate Director gisajohnson@delmar.edu

Funded by National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education program [DUE #0801893]. Author’s opinions are not necessarily shared by NSF

“Empowering Colleges:

Expanding the Geospatial

Workforce”

Data From:

GPS

Sensors

Cell phones

Remote Sensing

Crowd sourcing

Enterprise

databases

Web

Geospatial Technology

Used by: Landuse Planners

Environmental

First Responders

Earth Scientists

Government analysts

What Geospatial Technology

skills and competencies are

needed by the workforce?

How can curriculum be created

to meet those needs?

What existed to help?

Many past efforts to define skills &

competencies of a “Geospatial Industry”

Skill Areas

Specific Geospatial

Interpersonal

Domain Knowledge

Business & Computer

GIS&T: Body of Knowledge

• Knowledge Areas (10)

▫ Analytical Methods (AM)

▫ Conceptual Foundations (CF)

▫ Cartography and Visualization (CV)

▫ Design Aspects (DA)

▫ Data Modeling (DM)

▫ Data Manipulation (DM)

▫ Geocomputation (GC)

▫ Geospatial Data (GD)

▫ GIS & T and Society (GS)

▫ Organizational and Institutional Aspects (OI)

1,660 Educational Objectives

U.S. Dept of Labor

“Competency Models”

• Industry defined competencies

• Building Block Tiers:

▫ Personal

▫ Academic

▫ Workplace

▫ Industry Wide

▫ Industry

• Each block “links to full” description

http://www.careeronestop.org

Building Block Details – can also be download as a PDF

http://www.onetonline.org/

then search on “geospatial”

GIS Technician Occupation

Geospatial Technician or Technologist

Occupation Specific Competencies

Tier 6 & 7

DOL & DACUM

• Panels of expert workers are used to precisely describe & define job tasks

+ knowledge, skills, behaviors, tools, equipment

• 8 to 12 GIS Technicians, over two - 8 hour days

DACUM Job Analysis

DACUM: Developing A CurriculUM used regionally for competency based education & training by industry, government & education

Duties

Tasks

Meta-DACUM Methodology

By consolidating validated results from multiple

DACUM analyses for a single occupation taken at various USA locations, we can identify a comprehensive list of competencies.

DACUM Validation

Original Eight Duty Categories

• Manage Data

• Generate Data

• Process Data

• Analyze Data

• Manage Software

• Manage Projects

• Generate Products

• Professional Development

Methodology – How to Go From Lists to Curriculum? • Start with GTCM structure:

▫ 5 Tiers compiled by experts from Industry, vetted by workforce across nation and approved by Dept of Labor

• Compile a MetaDACUM: ▫ Long lists of skills & competencies from “expert

workers”

• Compile Model Course Outlines: ▫ Expert Geospatial Educator Panels: Take long “lists” of competencies and determined

courses, descriptions and Student Learning Outcomes Parse list of competencies by depth into model

courses Choose the courses that should be included in a Model

Certificate program

Prototype Assessment Worksheet

Educator Panels - A New Content Tool Created • A new Excel Workbook with 4 worksheets

tabs was created including:

▫ An Assessment Worksheet tab with the 320 competencies sorted into 8 categories

▫ A column was added for each of the courses where educators could enter a value of 0 to 4 for each competency

Value

Level of

inclusion in course

Bloom’s Key Word

Examples from 6 Levels*

Representative type of

Presentation and/or Activity

0 do not include

1 Awareness recognize, communicate

included as part of a lecture or demo

2 Comprehension grasp meaning, interprets, comprehends

included as part of a lecture and as part of an activity

3 Application

/Analysis apply, calculate, demonstrate, employ, illustrate, interpret, relate, use

included as part of a major topic of a Module and applied in an activity

4 Synthesis Mastery

Compare, construct, contrast, design, develop, …

included in depth as major topic of a Module with a significant activity to apply the skill or competency independently

Model Courses Outlines

• Geo 100 – Awareness Stand alone Model Course

• “Model Courses & Certificate” ▫ GST 101 – Introduction to Geospatial Technology

▫ GST 102 – Spatial Analysis

▫ GST 103 – Data Acquisition and Management

▫ GST 104 – Cartographic Design and Visualization

▫ GST 105 – Introduction to Remote Sensing

▫ GST 106 – Introduction to Geospatial Programming

▫ GST 107 – Geospatial Web Application and

Development

▫ GST 108 – Capstone

▫ GST 109 – Internship

320 Competencies

May Curriculum Review

• Expert educators met to review models

• Each course was reviewed and recommendations included:

▫ changes in title, description, SLOs and competencies.

• Recommendations were reviewed for each course by a GeoTech Team member

• Updated Models were posted on the GeoTech Moodle server for each course

Model Certificate Content Tool

12 Competency Clusters

Cross Cutting

Conceptual Foundations

Cartography and Visualization

Generate Data

Manage Data

Programming and Application Design

Project Management

Professionalism

Remote Sensing

Spatial Analysis and Modeling

Surveying

Server and Web

Knowledge Map –

Geospatial Technology

Cartography &

Visualization

Professionalism

Generate Data

Programming &

Application Design

Surveying

Project

Management

Cross-Cutting

Spatial Analysis &

Modeling

Remote

Sensing

Conceptual

Foundations

Manage Data

Server & Web

Cross-Cutting

Topology Spatial References Scale

Adjacency

Data Format Spatial Connectivity Temporal Spectral Coordinate

Systems

Projections Datum

DD UTM SP TR

Future Trends

Software Hardware Applications

Validation

Cross-Cutting Details (Draft)

Cross-Cutting

Topology Spatial

References

Scale

Adjacency

Spatial Connectivity Temporal Spectral Coordinate

Systems

Proje Validation

Cross-Cutting Details (Draft)

Model Course Outline and Pack Contents

• Example syllabus ▫ Description & Student Learning Outcomes ▫ Course Learning Units & other resources

• Course outline ▫ Aligned with course syllabus teaching units/SLOs ▫ Resource List

• Evaluation Rubrics • Model Course Spreadsheet • Curriculum for some courses

http://geotechcenter.org

Geotechcenter.org – GTCM Resources

http://moodle.delmar.edu

Potential Benefits of National Guidelines - Models

• Alignment of local curriculum with nationally recognized standard

• Foster articulation between education silos

• Pre-, Post- or Self-test for students, industry

• Help identify gaps or weaknesses or strength of a geospatial program

• Be the basis for future certification efforts, such as the GISP or “Badges” = Micro-Credentials

California Model Certificate Core Courses: (13-15 units total)

• 101 Introduction to Geospatial Technology: (3 units)

• 102 Spatial Analysis and Modeling: (3 units)

• 103 Data Acquisition and Management: (3 units)

• 104 Cartographic Design and Visualization: (3 units)

• 110 Internship: (1-3 units)

Elective Course Options: to make up to 30 Units

• 120 Introduction to Remote Sensing: (3 units)

• 121 Introduction to Programming for Geospatial

Technologies (including web/server) : (3 units)

• 122 Intro to Field Data Collection (GPS) : (3 units)

• 123 Intro to Web Appl/ & Development: (3 units)

• 111 Capstone - option for (1-2 units)

Possible additional courses:

• 100 “Geospatial Awareness Course” –General

Education “spatial thinking and geospatial”

course that some students may take that lead them

to this career pathway and certificate: (3 units)

• 130 Advanced Field Data Collection (GPS) : (3 units)

• 131 Advanced Spatial Analysis and Modeling: (3 units)

• 132 Introduction to Surveying: (3 units)

• 133 Computer Aided Design (CAD) course: (3 units)

Next Steps

• Go from Outlines to full curriculum resources

• Research and define best methods to teach the competencies

• Mentor colleges in using the models and assessing their curriculum

• Update the GTCM and Model Courses and Certificate

Thank You!

Ann Johnson

GeoTech Center

Associate Director

ann@baremt.com

gisajohnson@delmar.edu