The use of hands-on practical exercises with GIS software is a critical component of an undergraduate introduction to GIS Course. However, getting students familiar with a fully functional GIS software package is time consuming and can overshadow the learning of GIS concepts. Historically, a traditional textbook is used to address these concepts, and the software is learned through instructor produced handouts. This paper describes an approach taken by the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering's Mapping, Charting, & Geodesy Program, United States Military Academy, which focuses on the use of Esri's ArcView 3.0 Software, the "Getting to Know ArcView" training textbook, and World Wide Web resources to tackle this problem.
The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) course offered by the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at the United States Military Academy underwent a major course design change in the spring of 1997. The change was initiated to increase student active learning, and was made possible by recent hardware and software upgrades. The major components of this change were: the use of ArcView 3.0 instead of IDRISI for Windows, the utilization of the "Getting to Know ArcView" training book as the course text, and the heavy use of web based resources. This paper will highlight the justification, method of utilization, and effectiveness of teaching an introductory undergraduate level GIS course with these components.
Historically, the GIS course was designed as a senior level capstone course for students obtaining a major in Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy, one of five possible majors within the department. Over the last five years, it has evolved into a "tools" based elective for junior and senior level students from all five majors (Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science, Environmental Geography, Human/Regional Geography, and Mapping, Charting, & Geodesy). The prerequisites are to have completed a course in remote sensing or cartography, and have completed the mandatory physical geography course, which includes a ten lesson block on "Geoskills". The course is offered only in the Spring term.
The computing facilities available to students greatly impacts the design possibilities of a GIS course. Each student at the Academy is required to have a networked computer in their room. However, this computer is purchased their freshman year and the systems which the current juniors and seniors have is near the end of its life cycle. This, along with licensing costs, preclude loading GIS software on student machines. The departmental facilities available to the course are located in the Geographic Sciences Laboratory (GSL). The GSL provides a teaching facility with eighteen computers, one for each student in a class. This facility can be used to teach in, and is also available for student use 24 hours a day.
In the past the GSL's student computer stations were 486/50 based systems with 16Mb RAM, a 2x CD-ROM, and a 200 Mb Hard Drive. Each system was running Windows for Workgroups and fully networked an a Windows NT Domain. Each station had a SummaSketch II Digitizing Tablet. There was a Hp550C 256 color Inkjet printer for every two systems. A Laser Printer (HP 4Si) and a mid size Inkjet Printer (HP XL300) were available on the network.
A major impact on course design was the planned system wide upgrade to the GSL, scheduled for the winter break prior to the semester. The new systems consist of a p166 processor, with 32 Mb RAM, a 8x CD-ROM, a 2 Gb Hard Drive, and a Sound Card. The digitizing tablet is being upgraded to a SummaSketch III, and the student printers are being replaced by HP870 256 Color Inkjet Printers. In addition, a multimedia projection system was installed. The upgrade was delayed and did not occur until midway through the semester, which greatly impacted the course.
One of the primary goals of the course is to get the student to explore GIS issues with the software, not wrestle with learning software procedures. Instructor opinion and course feedback from previous semesters has shown that it is difficult to transition from detailed step-by-step exercises to more realistic results based problems. The student must have a certain expertise with the software before they can make the transition to more realistic based problems. But how would this be accomplished?
Historically, students learned the procedures and capabilities of GIS software through instructor prepared handouts. These handouts detailed the keystrokes required for certain procedures for each practical exercise. Of course these instructions were limited and required extensive instructor preparation time. Vendor supplied reference material was available in the lab, but in very low quantities, and its usefulness to new users was limited. The course text provides no help with learning the software, since its aim is to introduce general GIS concepts. Therefore, a priority in the course design was to find a better way to empower the student, enabling them to use the software for geographic analysis, not just following procedures written by the instructor.
The decision to change the GIS software used with the course from IDRISI for Windows to ArcView 3.0. was based on a number of factors. The first and most critical was the computing facility upgrade discussed above. This allowed the efficient use of ArcView 3.0. and it's extensions; Spatial Analyst and Network Analyst. The second factor, was the difficulties in past years with the user interface and output quality of IDRISI for Windows. ArcView 3.0 provides an easier and more flexible user interface. This, along with its superior output capabilities and newly implemented analysis functions made it a desirable choice.
With the change of software, all practical exercises and graded projects would have to all be re-written. As noted above, how this is handled greatly effects the active learning environment. We selected the "Getting to Know ArcView" book to assist in achieving the desired active learning effect. Though based on ArcView 2.1, the "Getting to Know ArcView" book has a number interesting features. The text is professionally laid out and provides a large quantity of color figures. The book comes with a CD-ROM which contains the following: a version of ArcView 2.1 "hardwired" for the book's examples, all the data for the examples, and twelve multimedia presentations. The book itself is divided in two sections: an introduction of basic GIS concepts, which are also covered on the CD-ROM's multimedia presentations; and step-by-step examples of GIS related procedures using ArcView 2.1.
However, there were two problems with the use of the book. First, would the examples written for ArcView 2.1 be useful while using ArcView 3.0? It was determined that, though not optimal, the differences were not that great, and this would not be a major factor. The second problem resulted from an Academy policy limiting the cost of materials which students can be required to purchase for a course. We would go over the limit if student's were required to purchase the "Getting to Know ArcView" book and a traditional course textbook. An interesting decision needed to be made. Could we afford not to use a traditional textbook and make room for the "Getting to Know ArcView" book?
We have and continue to place a high priority on active learning, therefore it was necessary to find an alternative to the traditional text. Two options were considered. First, provide handouts on GIS concepts from articles and other sources. However, due to printing and copyright costs this option would not be cost effective. The second option utilizes the World Wide Web. Since each student at West Point has a computer and network connectivity in their room, we have the option to substitute paper based readings with web based assignments.
Therefore, the course would extensively use Internet resources, in lieu of a traditional text. However, to effectively utilize the web, the course material itself must also be on the web. Therefore, the course syllabus, each lesson's notes, and other related material were published on a course web site. The course web site can be viewed at http://www.dean.usma.edu/geo/courses/ev398.
Though great changes were being implemented on how the course was being taught, the underling goals were essentially the same. These goals were determined to be the following:
The course itself was organized into five major areas roughly based on the Input, Storage, Analysis, and Output Model. Each organizational block consist of 3-5 instructional lessons, with 2-4 lessons set aside for a graded project. These projects are designed to reinforce the concepts introduced in each block. Conceptual knowledge and practical software skills within each block build upon each other and the final project is a capstone event testing the students ability to use a GIS to solve spatial problems.
The course consists of forty 55 minute long lessons, of which thirty six are available for instruction after subtracting two test days, the course introduction, and the last lesson set aside for a course critique. The lesson topics were determined from a number of sources, (see the reference section for a list). The NCGIA's core curriculum was the major source for course topics. Though dated, it is still an excellent topical source. The lesson topics decided upon are shown below.
For each lesson, Student Performance Objectives (SPOs), a vocabulary list, and a study assignment was published. The SPO's are developed to assist the student understand the key concepts of each lesson. They also assist the instructor when preparing for class and writing tests.
A vocabulary list was developed for each lesson. Since the web was the primary method of publishing course material, each vocabulary word could be hot linked to a definition. This allows the student to immediately access the definition. The building of the vocabulary definition list can be accomplished in a number of ways. The definitions can be "homemade" or a list on the web can be used. We utilized the Geography Craft's Vocabulary List, developed by Dr. Kenneth Foote from the University of Texas at Austin, and was supplemented with terms not covered in his list.
Each lesson's study assignment normally consisted of visiting one or more web sites. There are numerous web sites available on GIS topics and they fall into a number of categories, all of which were utilized in the course.
See Appendix One for a list of Web Resources Links.
The projects were designed to reinforce material learned in each block. The students were exposed to concepts in the classroom and had worked a number of practical exercises in the "Getting to Know ArcView" book. The idea was to have the student take this conceptual and practical knowledge and apply it to a problem posed by the project. The student would have 2-4 lessons to complete their work.
Projects used this semester were:
Even though the course is only three quarters complete, up to this point the overall results have been positive. The course has taken advantage of the hardware upgrade and employed more powerful software and larger datasets. The three major areas affected by the change and problems with the lab upgrade are discussed below.
It soon became clear that the computer lab upgrade would not be ready for the beginning of the semester. This brought up a number of questions. Would ArcView 3.0 run effectively on the 486 based systems? Would the "Getting to Know ArcView" CD-ROM material (multimedia presentations and practical exercises) run effectively? It was found that ArcView 3.0 would run, though slow, on a 486 16Mb RAM system if the data sets were kept small. However, the extensions; Spatial Analyst and Network Analyst would not run, since they require Windows NT. Though these extensions were planned to be implemented, the course could be adjusted without too much difficulty.
The "Getting to Know ArcView" CD-ROM material did run on the older systems. However the effectiveness of the multimedia presentations was limited by its slow speed. Instead of assigning these presentations as individual homework, they were shown to the entire class on a faster computer with a large display device as if it were a movie. The older system's effects on the CD-ROM practical exercises were minimal. The only impact was that the entire dataset would not fit on the hard drive. Therefore, the relevant datasets needed to be loaded by the instructor before each block.
The switch from IDRISI to ArcView 3.0 was successful. The student projects have been more realistic and output has been superior to that generated in previous years. Professional output, though not the most important feature of a GIS, does greatly effect a students perception of the quality of analysis conducted.
The analysis functions of ArcView 3.0 are limited to some extent. This was not found to be a problem for an introductory course. If more analysis capability is desired, the Spatial Analyst and Network Analyst extensions can be used. However, these are not covered in the "Getting to Know ArcView" book.
Some of the negative features of using ArcView 3.0 are a function of its power and flexibility. The students found the number of buttons on the interface overwhelming. An even more frustrating issue for them, though considered a positive feature for an experienced user, was ArcView 3.0's ability to perform a task a number of different ways. The student's lack of exposure to GIS applications was a major factor in these problems.
The "Getting to Know ArcView" book was found to be marginally effective. This difficulty stems from two factors; hardware problems and content relevance.
We realized from the start that the student's computers would not run the "Getting to Know ArcView" CD-ROM. We expected to overcome this problem with lab time, but the late upgrade to the GSL made this difficult. The multimedia presentations on the CD-ROM were not effective in the lab on the older systems. However, with the improved hardware now available in the GSL, these presentations will be much more effective in subsequent years. Even with faster computers, the relevance of the CD-ROM's content to an introductory college level GIS course is still questionable.
The practical exercises contained in the book, which were planned to be an integral part of getting the students familiar with the software had mixed results. The student's found the exercises to be clear and concise, but found it hard to transfer the procedures to the graded projects. Students reported that when each example uses a different scenario and data set, it was hard to understand the relevance of the example.
Web based homework was found to be the least effective change made to the course. Two major factors caused this disappointment: site download problems, and the students inability to use web sites effectively.
Web sites are becoming more sophisticated as user expectations increase. This results in slower download times and decreases a site's usefulness. Download problems can result from either a slow user computer, a clogged network, or an overworked web server. The student's older computers and the large volume of web traffic generated by the student body each night made web site downloads problematic. This was made worse when high volume web sites or those with large graphics were selected for homework. An even worse situation can occur if the site goes down and can not be accessed.
A number of methods were used to solve these download problems. The first method was to simply limit the use of off site web resources, and when they were used, to decrease the length of the assignment. The second method involves mirroring off site resources on our local web server. This was done, with permission, with the NCGIA Core Curriculum Lesson Notes. Even with permission, this can be difficult to accomplish because of the difficulty in maintaining a web page's links and embedded graphics. The last method was to take the time to create our own web based resources. This was used to a limited extent.
Even without download problems some students found it hard to use web resources effectively. Difficulty reading from the computer screen for long periods of time, and the open ended, flexible nature of web resources were most often cited as the reason. These both can be controlled with greater care in homework site selection by the instructor. In addition, efforts must be taken to focus the student on what they should be getting from a visit to a web site.
Though the course changes were positive overall, several changes are planned for next year's course.
The overall results of the course changes were positive. The course has increased active learning while employing more powerful hardware and software. The use of ArcView 3.0 worked well. The difficulties with its overwhelming interface are not critical and can be handled better next year. The use of the "Getting to Know ArcView" book as the course text was not completely successful. Difficulties with hardware and the student's inability to relate to the examples were a problem. Though not found to be suitable as a course text replacement, it was found to be an effective lab resource supplement. The greatest disappointment came from the troubles encountered in using web resources as homework assignments. The current hardware constraints and student skills utilizing web based material both need to be increased before this method of instruction realizes its full potential.
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Michael D. Hendricks
Assistant Professor
Geography & Environmental Engineering Department
United States Military Academy
West Point, New York 10996
Telephone: (914)-938-4158
Fax: (914)-938-3339
E-Mail: bm9886@exmail.usma.edu
WWW: http://www.dean.usma.edu/geo