Workforce Demand Assessment to Shape Future GI-Education – First Results of a Survey

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014.Geographic Information Science & Technology (GIS&T) is constantly evolving in scientific and technological terms. In 2006 the GIS&T Body of Knowledge (BoK) initiative has provided a domain inventory that serves as a structured basis for curriculum development. The content and structure of the BoK are currently undergoing revision. One of the projects addressing an update of the BoK is the project Geographic Information: Need to Know. In this project an assessment of current and future workforce demand and educational supply in the geographic information (GI) domain provide the basis for revising the BoK. This article reports on first results from a survey regarding GI workforce demand in Europe. People working in the GIS&T domain were asked to rate BoK knowledge areas related to their relevance in a professional working context. These ratings are differentiated by types of organizations and educational backgrounds of respondents. The report is rounded off with an outlook to the results on future competences identified by respondents

Growing up: The Social and Economic Implications of an Aging Population

The Canadian population is aging more rapidly than ever before, and that trend has widespread implications for a number of different aspects of Canada's society. This paper explores the possible impact of an aging population on health systems, labour supply, intergenerational relationships, and social and private income security programs. The analysis shows that a number of actions can be taken in the immediate future to alleviate pressures caused by this aging trend. Highlights include the creation of a seniors’ health account, the elimination of mandatory retirement, phased-in retirement options and increased personal retirement financial planning.population aging, health expenditures, aging labour force, retirement, private income security programs

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

One of the most (if not the most) highly charged public debates in this country over the past decade has been about the role of economic imperatives in dismantling the foundations of the welfare state set out in the universalist model adopted in the post-war years. Ken Battle in his chapter is critical of the ongoing public discourse on this issue, which he considers as lacking both in substance and subtlety. He argues that this has led to a polarization of views and produced persistent mythologies which in his estimation have served to insulate government from effective criticism and prevented the occurrence of a truly needed, open and informed public debate on the present and future course of social policy. Battle describes the overall process of reform and developments in social policy in the last two decades as one of "relentless incrementalism" where cumulative, purposeful and patterned change has produced a substantial shift in the structure of the Canadian income security system. He concludes that on the whole the emerging post-welfare state will better serve Canada's evolving social, economic and political needs and sees little cause for continuing nostalgia over the fading universalist welfare state, which in his estimation never worked all that well.Social Policy, Income Support, Income Security, Economic Security, Welfare State, Welfare System, Social Safet Net, Welfare Policy, Social Security, Canada

Bridging the Geospatial Education-Workforce Divide: A Case Study on How Higher Education Can Address the Emerging Geospatial Drivers and Trends of the Intelligent Web Mapping Era

The purpose of this exploratory collective case study is to discover how geospatial education can meet the geospatial workforce needs of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the emerging intelligent web mapping era. Geospatial education uses geographic information systems (GIS) to enable student learning by increasing in-depth spatial analysis and meaning using geotechnology tools (Baker & White, 2003). Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory and geography concept of spatial thinking form an integrated theoretical framework of spatial cognition for this study. Data collection included in-depth interviews of twelve geospatial stakeholders, documentation collection, and supporting Q methodology to determine the viewpoints of a total of 41 geospatial stakeholders. Q methodology is a type of data collection that when used as a qualitative method utilizes sorting by the participant to determine their preferences. Data analysis strategies included cross-case synthesis, direct interpretation, generalizations, and a correlation matrix to show similarities in participants\u27 preferences. The results revealed four collaborative perceptions of the stakeholders, forming four themes of social education, technology early adoption, data collaboration, and urban fundamentals. Four strategies were identified for higher education to prepare students for the emerging geospatial workforce trends. These strategies are to teach fundamentals, develop agile faculty and curriculum, use an interdisciplinary approach, and collaborate. These strategies reflect the perceptions of stakeholders in this study on how higher education can meet the emerging drivers and trends of the geospatial workforce

Post-traditional Learners and the Transformation of Postsecondary Education: A Manifesto for College Leaders

Our traditional system of two- and four-year colleges and universities is not well-suited to educate post-traditional learners, writes Louis Soares. Postsecondary education leaders need to be challenged to embrace a future of innovation that may put their current institutional, instructional, and financial models at risk. This paper includes a brief primer on innovation, a profile of post-traditional learners, a look at the U.S. investment in postsecondary education and training, and concludes with three principles to "catalyze a manifesto for college leaders on how to proceed.

Complementing the European earth observation and geographic information body of knowledge with a business‐oriented perspective

A body of knowledge (BoK) is an inventory of knowledge or concepts of a domain that serves as a reference vocabulary for various purposes, such as the development of curricula, the preparation of job descriptions, and the description of occupational profiles. To fulfill its purpose, a BoK needs to be up‐to‐date and ideally widely accepted by academia as well as the private and public sectors. This article presents the initiative taken in the Earth observation and geographic information (EO*GI) domain to provide a current, comprehensive education‐ and business‐oriented EO*GI BoK called EO4GEO BoK. In particular, an approach to strengthen the business‐oriented perspective in the EO4GEO BoK is presented. This approach is based on the analysis of professional tasks and the mapping of these tasks to concepts and skills contained in the BoK. A critical reflection of the proposed approach that is based on the experiences gained during a workshop complements this article

Wageningen University and Research centre : Your partner for sustainable development in the Arctic

This position paper explores new claims in the Arctic region. These claims are closely connected to new developments in the region such as climate change and the utilisation of natural resources. The aim of the paper is to illustrate how Wageningen University and Research centre contributes to sustainable development in the Arctic

Wprowadzenie systemów informacji geograficznej do edukacji biznesowej na przykładzie polskich studentów logistyki

This article aims to extend current research in the area of teaching geographic information systems (GIS) in business faculties. GIS has a lot of areas of usage (logistics, trade, marketing, infrastructure management, public administration, archaeology, geology, meteorology forestry, agriculture environmental monitoring, aviation, statistics, education), however is not a popular subject especially in business school programs. Young people quickly learn and use new applications and technologies. Therefore, the author presents the GIS classes framework and the opinions of students about their knowledge and perception of GIS systems. The article contains theoretical background of GIS, presents the main areas of geographic information systems usage. The main part of the paper is a framework of ''E-logistics and GIS'' programme prepared for students of logistics at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Poland. The author analyzes also students' opinions about GIS and presents main conclusions derived from quantitative research conducted in a form of online questionnaire performed in January 2017 on a group of 96 logistics students. At the end of the article there can be found the proposal for the future research. The author examined only students of logistics of Faculty of Economics, so small group of young people. Some future research should be performed in order to compare the obtained results with GIS-related programmes from different universities in Poland and abroad.Opracowanie zawiera wprowadzenie do tematyki GIS oraz przedstawia główne obszary wykorzystania systemów informacji geograficznej. Główną część pracy stanowi charakterystyka programu przedmiotu pn. 'E-logistyka i GIS' przygotowanego dla studentów logistyki Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie. Autor analizuje także opinie studentów na temat GIS i przedstawia główne wnioski wynikające z badań ilościowych w formie kwestionariusza internetowego przeprowadzonego w styczniu 2017 r. wśród 96 studentów logistyki. Na końcu artykułu znajduje się propozycja dotycząca kontynuacji niniejszych badań. Autor zbadał opinie studentów logistyki na Wydziale Ekonomicznym UMCS, a więc niewielką grupę młodych ludzi. Przyszłe badania powinny być rozszerzone o inne grupy respondentów w celu porównania uzyskanych wyników z opiniami studentów z różnych kierunków studiów i uniwersytetów w Polsce i za granicą

The future of careers at the intersection of climate change and public health : what can job postings and an employer survey tell us?

Climate change is acknowledged to be a major risk to public health. Skills and competencies related to climate change are becoming a part of the curriculum at schools of public health and are now a competency required by schools in Europe and Australia. However, it is unclear whether graduates of public health programs focusing on climate change are in demand in the current job market. The authors analyzed current job postings, 16 years worth of job postings on a public health job board, and survey responses from prospective employers. The current job market appears small but there is evidence from job postings that it may be growing, and 91.7% of survey respondents believe the need for public health professionals with training in climate change may grow in the next 5–10 years. Current employers value skills/competencies such as the knowledge of climate mitigation/adaptation, climate-health justice, direct/indirect and downstream effects of climate on health, health impact assessment, risk assessment, pollution-health consequences and causes, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, communication/writing, finance/economics, policy analysis, systems thinking, and interdisciplinary understanding. Ensuring that competencies align with current and future needs is a key aspect of curriculum development. At the same time, we recognize that while we attempt to predict future workforce needs with historical data or surveys, the disruptive reality created by climate change cannot be modeled from prior trends, and we must therefore adopt new paradigms of education for the emerging future