[OSGeo-Edu] Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Training and certification

[Cameron Shorter]

Mark,
Yes I agree that OSGeo-Live also provides a good framework for the 
periodic review of projects beyond incubation.

What we have on our side is:
1. A periodic release schedule
2. A valuable business driver which attracts projects to continue to 
work on OSGeo-Live (namely the marketing value of each release)

We do have the potential to *gradually* introduce review of incubation 
criteria into the OSGeo-Live release cycle.

On 12/06/11 07:19, Mark Lucas wrote:
> Cameron,
>
> I like this approach.  Extending the excellent work on the OSGeo-Live 
> disk can also be used as a metric for incubation of our leading 
> projects.  Tyler and I had a really good discussion in Denver a couple 
> of weeks ago on how we might work towards improving the 
> sponsorship/funding efforts - giving us more resources to move 
> forward.  More funding sponsors will be critical to enhancing these 
> types of projects.
>
> Additionally, our group has been working with US government agencies 
> over the years encouraging them to adopt open source geospatial 
> solutions.  The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is 
> working an open source initiative that will be announced at foss4g in 
> Denver.
>
> My opinion is that OSGeo has accomplished our initial goals and it is 
> time to start thinking about financially securing its future.  I look 
> forward to discussing this further.
>
> Mark Lucas
> Principal Scientist
> RadiantBlue Technologies Inc.
> mlucas at radiantblue.com <mailto:mlucas at radiantblue.com>
>
> -------------------
> http://www.radiantblue.com
> http://www.ossim.org
>
>
>
>
> On Jun 11, 2011, at 4:16 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>
>> I do believe that we as a community have the potential to 
>> collaboratively build quality, comprehensive training material, which 
>> will provide the key backbone required to support comprehensive, 
>> internationally recognised training.
>>
>> (I've already mentioned this to the education and discuss email 
>> lists, as well as a few others).
>>
>> The idea:
>> We already collaboratively build the OSGeo-Live DVD by tapping into 
>> targeted expertise from a wide range of domain experts.
>> Packagers have written step by step instructions and templates for 
>> packaging, and tech writers have provided writing instructions and 
>> documentation templates, which are followed by application 
>> developers. Once developers have finished, the installers and 
>> documents are passed back for review.
>>
>> Why do applications contribute to OSGeo-Live? Because we have built a 
>> highly valuable marketing pipeline, (including translations, web 
>> pages and a DVD handed out at conferences and workshops). This 
>> pipeline is available with a relatively low amount of effort.
>>
>> We can extend this OSGeo-Live build process to also include the 
>> development of consistent training documentation.
>> It requires:
>> * educators to create writing guidelines and a template on how 
>> projects should write training material.
>> * This is to be provided to developers to fill out.
>> * We then need a technical writer / educator to review all provided 
>> material
>> * All this needs to be coordinated
>> * And we need supporting wiki style tools and infrastructure to be 
>> put in place
>>
>> This is actually very achievable, but is a bit more than a volunteer 
>> can typically take on as a hobby activity, and so I believe that a 
>> key to the success is also a funding sponsor.
>>
>> I have quite a bit more to say on this, but will keep it brief for 
>> the moment.
>>
>>
>> On 11/06/11 00:13, Phillip Davis wrote:
>>> Charles, the GeoTech Center will be at FOSS4G this September 
>>> offering the following workshops:
>>>
>>> 1. FOSS4G for Educators (Monday)
>>> 2. GTCM Course Development (Tuesday)
>>> 3. Remote Sensing DACUM (Wednesday-Thursday)
>>>
>>> to promote two goals: a) FOSS4G for higher ed and b) alignment of 
>>> geospatial industry needs and academic GIS program curriculum.  Our 
>>> ongoing effort is the help higher education better align with the 
>>> new Dept. of Labor's Geospaital Technology Competency Model (GTCM). 
>>>  You can see our work on building SCORM-compliant, GTCM-aligned 
>>> course packs with curriculum modules here: 
>>> http://www.geotechcenter.org/Education-Training/GTCM-Faculty-Development-Workshop-Summer-2011.
>>>
>>> In regards to certification, we fully support the GISCI's effort in 
>>> improve their GISP certification with a competency-based exam, 
>>> something they've committed to doing last week, over the next three 
>>> years.  Researchers with GeoTech assisted the GISCI working group 
>>> that investigated the question over the past 18 months, offering our 
>>> extensive research into the precise skills required by GIS 
>>> technicians (and now Remote Sensing Specialist).   You can view this 
>>> research here: http://www.geotechcenter.org/Resources/Publications.
>>>
>>> Finally, we would like to offer our SCORM-compliant, GTCM-aligned 
>>> course packs for OSGeo to help us vet and eventually disseminate 
>>> beginning next May, 2012 when the results of our 2011 workshops have 
>>> been properly vetted and created.  The Center would offer to sit 
>>> with yourself and the OSGeo board at the forthcoming FOSS4G to 
>>> discuss collaboration.
>>>
>>> Phil Davis
>>> Director and PI
>>>
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: edu_discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org 
>>> <mailto:edu_discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> 
>>> [edu_discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Charlie Schweik 
>>> [cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu]
>>> Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 8:31 AM
>>> To: discuss at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:discuss at lists.osgeo.org>
>>> Cc: OSGeo-edu
>>> Subject: [OSGeo-Edu] Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Training and certification
>>>
>>> I'm not going to weigh in on the certification question -- I don't
>>> understand the companies out there doing training and the issues raised
>>> by Cameron and others. Apologies in advance for a long posting.
>>>
>>> But I find myself puzzling about how this is linked to universities (our
>>> edu group) and the discussions about more formal relationships with
>>> universities. I teach in an Environmental Conservation department and
>>> also in a Public Policy and Administration program. I sometimes have
>>> undergrad and grad students interested in going beyond the traditional
>>> "Intro to GIS" course, and would love to be able to somehow offer a more
>>> advanced course that would utilize open source technologies and
>>> especially training on web-based GIS (currently we have none in our
>>> curriculum). Or "enterprise-level" desktop GIS that might be utilized in
>>> small local government settings (that often do not have GIS because of a
>>> lack of staffing) -- like small "hilltowns" in Western Massachusetts, or
>>> local governments in developing world contexts. Right now we offer both
>>> Intro to GIS courses using ArcGIS and also desktop open source, but we
>>> don't have the ability to teach the next level -- an enterprise GIS or
>>> web-based GIS.
>>>
>>> The other thing I am seeing is a movement away from standard lecture
>>> format to one where the prof might use YouTube videos or other open
>>> access content outside of class and then use class time to be more
>>> hands-on. Also there is a push at our university to try and use more
>>> open access educational material to help reduce the costs of textbooks
>>> and coursepacks on students.
>>>
>>> This leads me to my questions regarding training and this discussion.
>>>
>>> 1) How can we collectively act and utilize the expertise within OSGeo
>>> software groups and other affiliates to develop a set of training
>>> material that could be connected to university classes? Could people on
>>> this list with expertise develop "modules"? Could we develop,
>>> collectively, workbooks along with data and exercises that we
>>> instructors could use? If there are people out there willing to
>>> contribute to this idea, who are you and what kind of material would you
>>> be willing to contribute? For example, I would love to get some students
>>> learning how to use technology like OpenLayers or other web-based GIS
>>> technologies, but I don't have those skills so would want to offer a
>>> "group independent study" under my direction, where students could try
>>> and learn these kinds of technologies on their own and together, under
>>> my direction and with the support of this OSGeo network.
>>>
>>> 2) Would it be possible to develop a network of classes in affiliated
>>> institutions that are all teaching the same content in parallel, and
>>> perhaps all using one Moodle course hosted by OSGeo?  In other words,
>>> have face-to-face classes running in parallel on several universities
>>> during the same time frame (e.g., Sept-December or January-May) where
>>> these classes are meeting face-to-face but then we have the ability to
>>> tie expertise and he classes together via Moodle or maybe hold some
>>> webinars by technical experts that all classes in all universities
>>> (timezones will be an issue here)?
>>>
>>> This would at least work for universities in locations where they have
>>> decent Internet connection. But the idea might be the start of the
>>> content for a proposal to educational funding agencies or
>>> foundations.... and I greatly appreciate the approach Cameron has done
>>> for the Free DVD in terms of having an editor who coordinates these
>>> things. Some proposal for funding would need to put forth that model.
>>>
>>> I hope these ideas are helpful and not noise....
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>> Charlie Schweik
>>> UMass Amherst
>>>
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>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Cameron Shorter
>> Geospatial Director
>> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
>> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>>
>> Think Globally, Fix Locally
>> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
>> http://www.lisasoft.com
>>
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-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Director
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com

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