Developments in getting GIS technologies into classrooms

The paper maps progress in the adoption of GIS in secondary education over more than 15 years, As it explores the incentives and impediments in the adoption of GlS in secondary schools, it notes the rich technology base in North America, and benefits of national geography curriculum and support structures in Britain

Teaching practical science online using GIS: a cautionary tale of coping strategies

Strong demand for GIS and burgeoning cohorts have encouraged the delivery of GIS teaching via online distance education models. This contribution reviews a brief foray (2012–2014) into this field by the Open University, deploying open source GIS software to enable students to perform practical science investigations online. The “Remote observation” topic spanned four science disciplines in 6 weeks – an ambitious remit within an innovative overarching module. Documenting the challenges and strategies involved, this paper uses forum usage and student feedback data to derive insights into the student experience and the pitfalls and pleasures of teaching GIS at a distance

Distance, multimedia and web delivery in surveying and GIS courses at the University Of Southern Queensland

[Abstract]: The University of Southern Queensland has been involved with the distance education of surveying courses for over 25 years. In recent times, staff of the Surveying and Land Information Discipline, and the University as a whole, have embarked on multimedia enhancement and web delivery of curricula. This paper examines some of the initiatives undertaken to enhance the delivery of educational materials and discusses some of the issues involved in the effective delivery of distance education materials. The significant experience in the delivery of traditional educational materials has proven to be an advantage in the repackaging and enhancement of teaching materials. Delivery of education to off-campus students requires a significant support infrastructure which is often not recognised by new entrants into the flexible delivery arena. Traditional support mechanisms such as phone, fax and standard media (eg. videos, audio tapes etc) are being replaced by email, ‘electronic’ discussion groups, CDs and internet resources. These enhancements, when developed professionally, require a significant commitment of resources and expertise and often require a team approach to their design and development. Access by off-campus students to internet services and affordable software packages also require careful consideration in the design and offering of distance education materials

The development of a natural language interface to a geographical information system

This paper will discuss a two and a half year long project undertaken to develop an English-language interface for the geographical information system GRASS. The work was carried out for NASA by a small business, Netrologic, based in San Diego, California, under Phase 1 and 2 Small Business Innovative Research contracts. We consider here the potential value of this system whose current functionality addresses numerical, categorical and boolean raster layers and includes the display of point sets defined by constraints on one or more layers, answers yes/no and numerical questions, and creates statistical reports. It also handles complex queries and lexical ambiguities, and allows temporarily switching to UNIX or GRASS

From SpaceStat to CyberGIS: Twenty Years of Spatial Data Analysis Software

This essay assesses the evolution of the way in which spatial data analytical methods have been incorporated into software tools over the past two decades. It is part retrospective and prospective, going beyond a historical review to outline some ideas about important factors that drove the software development, such as methodological advances, the open source movement and the advent of the internet and cyberinfrastructure. The review highlights activities carried out by the author and his collaborators and uses SpaceStat, GeoDa, PySAL and recent spatial analytical web services developed at the ASU GeoDa Center as illustrative examples. It outlines a vision for a spatial econometrics workbench as an example of the incorporation of spatial analytical functionality in a cyberGIS.

Contemporary developments in teaching and learning introductory programming: Towards a research proposal

The teaching and learning of introductory programming in tertiary institutions is problematic. Failure rates are high and the inability of students to complete small programming tasks at the completion of introductory units is not unusual. The literature on teaching programming contains many examples of changes in teaching strategies and curricula that have been implemented in an effort to reduce failure rates. This paper analyses contemporary research into the area, and summarises developments in the teaching of introductory programming. It also focuses on areas for future research which will potentially lead to improvements in both the teaching and learning of introductory programming. A graphical representation of the issues from the literature that are covered in the document is provided in the introduction

The course of lectures on discipline “Intellectual property” (for the 5 year students of the specialty 8.03060101 “Management”)

Затверджено на засіданні кафедри менеджменту інноваційної діяльності та підприємнцтва. Протокол No 1 від 27 серпня 2015 р. Рекомендовано методичною комісією факультету управління і бізнесу у виробництві ТНТУ імені Івана Пулюя. Протокол No 6 від 26 лютого 2016 р.У методичних вказівках, у відповідності до робочої програми, сформовано лекційний матеріал з дисципліни “Інтелектуальна власність” для іноземних студентів спеціальності 8.03060101 “Менеджмент організацій та адміністрування”.Методичні вказівки призначені для допомоги іноземним студентам при вивченні курсу “Інтелектуальна власність”. У методичних вказівках містяться загальні теоретичні відомості, необхідні до вивчення даного курсу. Рекомендовано для іноземних студентів спеціальності 8.03060101 “Менеджмент організацій та адміністрування” з метою закріплення, поглиблення і узагальнення знань, одержаних студентами за час навчання та їх застосування до комплексного вирішення конкретного фахового завдання із дисципліни “Інтелектуальна власність”. Складено з урахуванням робочої програми вивчення курсу, методичних розробок інших вузів, а також матеріалів літературних джерел, наведених у рекомендованій літературі