1. Designing GIS & Remote Sensing Courses, Modules, & Activities for Teaching Geoscience Students
Audio access: Call in Access code: Please mute your phone by pressing *6 Alternate number: (not toll-free) Technical problems? Contact John at
Program begins at 2 pm EDT, Sat. Apr. 9
Please bookmark the workshop program at

2. Welcome to session 2!
Two intro sessions in March, one virtual and one face-to-face
40 participants
Everyone now merged into three roughly equal groups
Group 1: GIS or RS course
Group 2: geo-themed activity(ies) for GIS or RS course
Group 3: GIS or RS module for a geo course

3. Workshop leaders Adf Barb Tewksbury David McConnell John McDaris
History of course design at CE, this being very different
Brian Hynek
John McDaris
Adf

4. Elluminate nuts and bolts
Muting your phone – press *6
Optimizing windows
Using the chat function
Raising your hand; other tips
Problems? Please do not use the chat function to report problems. Send to
John at
or post a question on the tech thread of the discussion board.
All important links and instructions are on the workshop Program page!

5. Plan for today Focus on developing assignments and activities
Briefly revisit goals – activities and goals are interlinked
Presentation on extraterrestrial data sources
Characteristics of effective assignments/activities
Design task in small groups

6. Achieving goals
If you want students to achieve the goals, need to design practice for them.
Assignments activities are the way that students acquire experience and practice
One-off practice is not enough!

7. Examples of goals
Identify the analysis to be done (identify goals and analytical approach to be taken) to solve a problem with spatial data
Choose the appropriate imagery analysis technique(s) to solve a geospatial problem based on the inputs/outputs/pros/cons of the techniques

8. Examples of goals
Locate appropriate datasets, assess data quality, ascertain information about the datasets through the metadata, and analyze spatial data for an assigned task or problem

9. Examples of goals
Overcome obstacles in using the complex software by seeking solutions in the software help tools and Internet sources while applying appropriate applications of spatial concepts/skills such as projections and datums, resolution, and spatial queries.

10. Examples of goals
Integrate, document, and evaluate field data into a GIS database

11. Examples of goals
Create output that is appropriate for the target audience
Present advanced GIS techniques and their outcomes in laymen's terms

12. Examples of goals
Extend skills and techniques learned in course exercises to plan analyses to solve new problems.

13. Examples of goals
Articulate the unique contribution of GIS analysis to problem-solving
Reflect on how their understanding of spatial analysis and the use of GIS to solve spatial problems has changed over the semester

14. Novel data sets
Planetary data offer unique opportunities to have students work with extraterrestrial data sets using techniques more commonly applied to Earth-based data
Brian’s presentation
How to find planetary data?
How to use it?