21st Century Challenge Making Community College GIS Programs Relevant

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21st Century Challenge Making Community
CollegeGIS Programs Relevant
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Dr. Phillip Davis

• Director, GIS-TECH Project (NSF)
• Professor, Computer Science, Del Mar College,
  Corpus Christi, Texas

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Challenges

• Course Ownership (Academic or Occupational)
• Articulation (K-12 and University)
• Lack of recognized certification
• Funding (GIS is relatively expensive)

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Challenges

• Course Ownership who teaches GIS?
• Traditionally taught in Arts and Science leading
  to an AA degree (geography, geology, forestry,
  etc.)
• Recently co-opted by Occupational programs
  leading to an AAS degree (IT, CIS, etc.)

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Advantages of AA Degree

• Required courses, therefore enrollment rarely a
  problem
• Taught as integrative tool to support traditional
  fields, like Geography, Geology, Forestry, etc.

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Disadvantages of AA Degree

• Coverage of GIS is too shallow in technical depth
• Students desiring to major in GIS may not be
  prepared with sufficient GIS skill set

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Advantages of AAS Degree

• Depth of GIS technology allows technician-level
  training
• Students prepared to solve GIS applications
• Transfer to Bachelor Science programs in GIS is
  more likely

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Disadvantages of AAS Degree

• Specialized natural of courses can make them
  difficult to sustain in numbers of students
• Transferability is limited to specialized
  Bachelor degrees at select universities

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Challenges of AAS Degree

• Sustaining viable programs is difficult
• Specialized nature of GIS degree limits its local
  workplace market appeal
• GIS programs are expensive in terms of equipment
  and software costs

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Challenges of AAS Degree

• Lack of national certification hampers
  transferability among schools and universities
• Serving local workforce needs precisely.
• Do technicians need AAS or certificate degree?
• Is there a large enough local need to support an
  ongoing GIS program?

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K-12 Articulation
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K-12 Articulation

• Is GIS a mandated essential skill in your state?
• Can you provide cost-effective teacher
  preparation for local school districts?
• How can you support and sustain your local school
  teachers with technical help and professional
  development?

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One K-12 Solution

• Create a GIS Academy program
• College acts a regional leader with multiple
  school districts chartered as local academies

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GIS Academy Model
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GIS Academy Components

• Articulation agreement between schools and
  college
• Affiliation fee and contract to support teacher
  training and technician
• Teacher training and certification

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GIS Academy Components

• 1. Articulation agreementlocal high school GIS
  courses are articulated to community college
  since course outcomes are identical and teachers
  are certified by the college to meet accrediting
  requirements. Articulation may be either
  Tech-Prep or Dual Credit.

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GIS Academy Components

• 2. Annual affiliate fee to support GIS technician
  and teacher training
• Affiliate fee provides free teacher training to
  all GIS courses and technical support on site.
  Our fee is 2500 and supports a single 32,000
  per year technician.

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GIS Academy Components

• 3. Teacher certificationteachers complete exact
  same GIS courses as college students with 85 or
  better to become GIS Level 1 certified.
  Certificate consists of 4 college courses
  totaling 15 semester hours.

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K-12 Summary

• Provide clear articulation path for both teachers
  and students
• Provide framework for support via an affiliate
  Academy program
• Provide sustainability through an affordable
  affiliation fee

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University Articulation

• Aligning AAS and BS curriculums is difficult at
  best.
• Each level has core requirements that often
  conflict.

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University Solution

• Alignment of Program Objectives
• Crosswalk of course outcomes
• Student tracking mechanism

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GIS Funding Opportunities

• Federal Programs Available for GIS

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Primary Federal Funding Agencies

• National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Department of Labor (DOL)
• Department of Education (DOE)

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National Science Foundation (NSF) Programs

• Directorate for Education and Human Resources
  (EHR)
• Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
• Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
• Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory
  Improvement (CCLI)
• NSF Computer Science, Engineering, and
  Mathematics Scholarships (CSEMS)

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Department of Labor

• Employment Training Administration (ETA)
• Community-Based Job Training Grants (CBJTG)

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Department of Education

• Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE)
• TECH PREP DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

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Grant Resources

• ESRI Grant Notification Service
  http//www.esri.com/grants/index.html
• ECIVIS Commercial Grant Locator
• http//www.ecivis.com

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Questions and Comments

• What do YOU think?

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Contact Information

• pdavis_at_delmar.edu
• 361.698.1126
• http//gistech.delmar.edu