This year, IQSS' Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) looked at the potential role that geospatial technology can play in the rapidly expanding field of online learning.
The 2014 Annual CGA conference—co-organized this year with HarvardX, Esri, and Harvard's Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning—met in May to focus on the topic of geospatial technology and online education. With the recent rise in popularity and availability of remote education and massively open online courses (MOOC), guest speakers shared their insight not only on how such media can be used for geospatial education, but also on how geospatial technology could be used to enable and enhance online education in other disciplines. Attendees from the public and private sectors actively engaged with guest speakers in discussions on current challenges and achievements, as well as ways in which geospatial technology and online tools could potentially be applied toward unmet needs.
In his keynote address, Peter Shea (University at Albany-SUNY) addressed the mixed reception online learning has received from educational professionals, but he also stressed how institutions can use it to democratize and improve higher education. CGA Conference discussions throughout the day covered topics including:
- Higher education online, which featured Meg Benke, Isaac Chuang, Andrew Ho, Huntington Lambert, and Robert Lue, moderated by David DiBiase;
- Geospatial education online, which included panelists Adrienne Goldsberry, Karen Kemp, Doug Richardson, Anthony Robinson, Diana Sinton, John Wilson, and Matt Wilson as moderator; and
- Geoenabled online education, featuring panelists Tom Baker, Scott Bell, Werner Kuhn, Adena Schutzberg, and Michael Solem, with moderator Stephen Ervin.
Guest moderator David DiBiase (Esri) explores some of the topics discussed in his recent article, "Geo-enabled Education Online." Wendy Guan, CGA's Executive Director and conference co-organizer, said that the this year's conference team was excited to see active, in-depth discussions between the panelists and the audience throughout the day's events.
Visit the CGA website for details on the recent 2014 Conference and Peter Shea's keynote address. You can also see information about next year's CGA conference, The Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis Lab and Its Legacy, which will take place in CGIS on April 30-May 1, 2015.
Pictured: CGA Director Peter Bol (R) congratulates Leif Estrada, one of this year's winners of the Fisher Prize in GIS.
