One Edu Data Point…

The Lebanon County Career and Technology Center (PA) dropped several courses due to lack of interest including graphic arts, computer-aided drafting, and Cisco basic networking. On the flip side?

The loss of the three courses could be offset by the addition of a new course: geospatial technologies, the science involving cartography and global-positioning system, or GPS. If the course is offered, the LCCTC would be the first vo-tech school in the state to offer it, Custer said.

via Lebanon Daily News (PA)

We should be appalled at the lack of geographic literacy

Perhaps you were watching? On ESPN’s Monday Night Football, when they mentioned that Tavarias Jackson, rookie quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, was telephoned that he would be drafted and he didn’t know where the Twin Cities was when the words appeared on his caller ID. I was appalled and then saddened. Here’s a college (though probably not a grad) student of Alabama State in Montgomery (I cringe that I have to mention my home state) who doesn’t know that the Twin Cities refers to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota! It’s a basic geography question as far as I’m concerned. I could almost understand it if he "maybe" didn’t know that the Crescent City refers to New Orleans or that the Music City was Nashville or certainly not that the Rocket City refers to something as close as Huntsville Alabama or that the Magic City is Birmingham. But the Twin Cities? How did the kid get through high school?

I’ve written previously about the lack of geographic literacy in our youth. I’m always amazed when I see statistics quoted about how most people couldn’t locate Iraq on a map; couldn’t find Africa if their life depended on it. If you bloggers or blog readers want to make a difference this year, go volunteer at your local elementary school and at the very least take a map of the world with you and then take the class for a spin on Google Earth or Microsoft Live Local. Please share your knowledge.

High School at MapInfo Receives Funding

A new public high school will pop up at MapInfo headquarters in North Greenbush, NY next fall. It was created by state legislation and funding from The New Technology Foundation and the state of New York, totalling $1.2 million was announced yesterday.

Next fall about 30 students will begin in the freshman class and focus on science and technology. When I spoke with MapInfo representatives at the New York State Geospatial Summit in June, plans were afoot to get students involved with the company.

USGIF Call for Review of Academic Guidelines

This may not be what you think, but it’s worth the time to review. You may have seen the press release on this matter.

USGIF felt the need, based on industry input, to create a Geospatial Intelligence Certificate Program. Now, unlike other certificate programs that individual schools put together (I’m most familiar with the one at Penn State), USGIF will accredit schools that want to offer the program. The Foundation is now asking for input on curriculum guidelines and accreditation standards. If you’ve not been involved with defining or evaluating “learning guidelines” or this sort of process, it’s rather interesting. I found my work on creating a degree program very educational and rewarding.

Here’s what understand of how this will work: USGIF defines a curriculum. An institution that wants to be accredited fills out a form document how it supports that curriculum (and will perhaps receive a site visit). If it gets the OK of USGIF…

Upon approval, the accredited program may be offered by the approved institution, and will be advertised through the USGIF website, and the institution will have permission to use the USGIF logo in marketing the program. Any student going through an accredited program will submit a record of their successful completion of the program to the USGIF Academy, which will award the USGIF Geospatial Intelligence Certificate to that student.

So, as I understand it, students may attend different institutions and take different classes but in the end, they learn the same material. The programs are expected to take one year full time or two years part time.

Input is due by September 15. If you, or the folks working for you, or your institution might someday want to participate in this program, now is your time to speak. And, if you are just interested in the health of our field, this is a good chance to chime in.

New Twist in Grant?

An article about a 4H grant from ESRI to Montezuma County Colorado includes this statement:

If the group’s work satisfies ESRI’s requirements for the grant, they can keep the GIS software.

I guess that’s the equivalent of adult grants from some vendors where you get the software, but must present a paper.

Another sign of the times, Kaytlyn Alexander, 13, of Cortez on how easy it was to learn to use GPS/GIS for a weed mapping program.

We’re teenagers; we’re fast.