[OSGeo-Edu] BOF notes

[Scott Mitchell]

Thanks, William!

All - this is a site that I had seen once before, but then forgotten  
about - it has 15 learning modules available, on "Multimedia  
Cartography", and "Location Based Services".  As William says, a  
unique feature is that they're available as SCORM modules that can be  
imported straight into Moodle.

Cheers,

Scott

On 2009-10-23, at 17:05 , William Walter Kinghorn wrote:

> Hi Scott,
>
> You can also look at http://www.gitta.info
>
> Overview of available modules - http://www.gitta.info/website/en/html/modules_overview.html
>
> They have SCORM / IMS packages that can be imported into a LMS like  
> Moodle ( http://moodle.org/ )
>
> From the site
> Overview of available modules
>
> If no links are shown on this page, you have to subscribe the GITTA  
> newsletter to get full access!
>
> The GITTA teaching material on the website is continuously updated  
> from the CVS repository and corresponds to the latest version. This  
> means that content may change at any time if it is updated. If you  
> need stable content, e.g. to teach classes, you are strongly advised  
> to download the module(s) as SCORM / IMS package and import it into  
> a learning environment such as Moodle or OLAT. Please contact the  
> GITTA coordinator if you need an older version.
>
> Hope this helps
> William
>
> ________________________________________
> From: edu_discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [edu_discuss- 
> bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Scott Mitchell [smitch at mac.com]
> Sent: 23 October 2009 01:41
> To: OSGeo-edu OSGeo-edu
> Subject: [OSGeo-Edu] BOF notes
>
> Here's my attempt to take notes yesterday at the BOF (second attempt  
> sending it, this time from the right address):
>
>
> Notes on Education/Curriculum BOF discussion, FOSS4G2009, 23 Oct  
> 2009, Sydney NSW - taken by Scott Mitchell
>
> - participants, please don't hesitate to correct/add/expand on the  
> mailing list if I've missed or misrepresented anything in these notes
>
> - started meeting with a quick review of Charlie's email - clear  
> consensus that we all really appreciate all the work Charlie has put  
> in, we send best wishes to him and his family;  we are very happy  
> with the leadership he has provided as Chair, and we hope he will  
> continue.  At the same time, we recognize the workload issues in the  
> tasks we want to tackle, and encourage volunteers to take ownership  
> of sub projects within our group
>
> - started curriculum discussion - Tyler gave brief summary of what  
> we've done so far for newcomers to the group - the efforts to  
> document what's out there is working really well - the online  
> database was a good development, much improved over the wiki
>
> job - need to finish checking re: things that are in wiki but not in  
> the database - Venka will do this - if still valid / current etc,  
> transfer to database
>
> - but this is courses, not a whole curriculum - showing the AAG  
> "Body of Knowledge" book as an example - outline freely available,  
> but need to buy the book to get the real content - organized well -  
> we examined the document's outline and quickly looked into some of  
> the modules
>
> Tyler's idea was to use this or something like it as an outline  
> instead of starting from scratch; Venka wonders if there are any  
> similar ones elsewhere?  Only one we know about is the older NCGIA  
> work.
>
> Tyler would like to get a digital copy of the text if possible -  
> take the subsections, e.g. map algebra, etc., use the curric as is,  
> but put in sample data sets and instructions to use FOSS4G tools to  
> explore the concepts being taught - so how to learn the lesson using  
> the tools we know/like/advocate - come up with OS examples
>
> Maria: this curric can be too much and too little - hardly anything  
> re: the Internet, for example, one bullet point on web mapping only
>
> Discussion: could still use and figure out what to fill in - maybe  
> even contribute back?; On the other side, it's quite long / big -  
> could be challenging to get it all covered
>
> The existing content inventory is normally focussed on specific  
> technologies, whereas the curriculum idea would be more concept  
> based;  might want to concentrate on specific areas within the  
> curric, work together (at the beginning, while we explore the  
> process), and see what it takes to complete the process to a  
> consensus approval
>
> Massimiliano: could also have parallel demonstrations - e.g. how to  
> do it with QGIS, how to do it with GRASS, etc...
>
> Venka: see example Hengl and Reuter (2008) Geomorphometry - has  
> examples on how to do it with GRASS, QGIS, Arc etc.
>
> --> could add other software versions through time
>
> general agreement that it makes sense to agree upon topics to start  
> with
>
> Venka suggests AM3 and AM4 (basic spatial processing);  discussion -  
> in addition to these, group has interests especially in data,  
> cartography, etc.
>
> purpose - enable more tool-independent education of GIS/geomatics/ 
> geo-infomatics education, so that it can more easily include OSGEO  
> tools
>
> prioritize by things we already have (harvest from existing database  
> of lessons etc)
>
> - also take advantage of the software groups in OSGEO - make  
> requests to them for help - could do things like "using the same  
> dataset, and what we want to show, how would you use your software  
> package to accomplish the task"; define approach and collect  
> examples of implementation - sell it as improving their  
> documentation (or, where stuff exists, maybe collect the links to  
> the specific steps; no need to rewrite everything)
>
> Thierry: in Québec, has worked with education ministry people - they  
> have identified Questions in the program, and gather information on  
> how to answer the question - so like we're talking about, but  
> specifically using the model of "how to answer this question" - e.g.  
> instead of typical software documentation "how to set up a WMS  
> server", questions like "What is WMS?"  "What are the requirements  
> to set up a WMS service?" (what needs to be done to data, etc etc…)
>
> - could go after future contributors and/or local chapters for  
> extending versions that have other localized data set examples - so  
> we would need to define from the beginning what kind of data set is  
> needed for this module, and then what we want to show with it, so  
> then other peoples can be clear on how to extend to new examples -->  
> documenting clearly the data needs will really help others provide  
> localized data - also refer to possible sources as we learn them so  
> that others can follow - and think when choosing about the fact that  
> some things are available for free with global coverage, so examples  
> using these would be the easiest to port to new places
>
> Do we choose some now?
>
> Maria proposes she can coordinate GS-5 - adding practical exercises  
> to sharing geospatial data - or maybe need a new one e.g. "IN-1" -  
> the Internet section
> AM-4 and AM-5 seem very do-able
> Tyler could go through and match up existing modules to the modules  
> of the curriculum (recognizing limitations of using just existing  
> stuff), and is interested in CV-4 - but maybe AM4/5 first?
>
> Where possible, be software version independent, but could focus on  
> the Arramagong image, and include links to install instructions etc,  
> but our interest is not to write software installation
>
> - use keywords where possible to make searching easily - the  
> structure of the curric good, but adding keywords will further aid  
> finding what one needs
>
> - develop an outline for what data is needed, the approach to get  
> it, and how to demonstrate the concepts in the learning modules
>
> people committing to help with AM4/AM5:  Venka, Tyler, Scott
>
> people committing to help with Internet mapping: Maria, Scott
>
> Other people also expressing interest in helping, but I didn't keep  
> up - let's follow up with this on the mailing list
>
> FreeGIS book - Lorenzo here now - over many hurdles in the past  
> years, but not much in the past year - recognize need to find  
> sponsorship - need a professional editor; huge logistics involved;  
> hope to part of Barcelona conference income to fund some of this  
> work; then can also translate - dream is to have a book capable of  
> multiple contributions, easy to update, allow sponsors, etc.  Not  
> clear yet re: costs for the editing, but thnking of someone half  
> time for one year; will research this more;   concentrate on coming  
> up with a version 1, but still 0.x
> --> lead to discussion of the 2010 conference
>
> Adjourned to go catch the cruise
>
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