Abstract


IS Curriculum Contributions to GIS Education
Track: Designing GIS Curriculum for Higher Education
Author(s): Kathleen Moffitt

This presentation will discuss the contributions that a typical IS/MIS curriculum can make to the GIS curriculum. GIS is fundamentally an information system but is dramatically different from what is typically considered an IS because of its emphasis on location. IS as a discipline has a couple of decades of experience where it has learned numerous important lessons and typically learned them the hard way. These lessons learned have been integrated into IS curriculum and can have great value for the GIS student and practitioner. Topics to be discussed are understanding the ultimate user; understanding the process, in particular, business that is being addressed; project management, systems analysis and design; user interface; and especially database and working with data. The experiences of an IS major turned GIS practitioner, who has since earned a master's in GIS, will be incorporated.

Kathleen Moffitt
California State University, Fresno
Info Sys & Dec Sci
671 E. Blue Ridge Rd
Fresno, CA 93720
US
Phone: 559-278-2415
E-mail: kathym@csufresno.edu