[Geo4All] Vision for an OSGeo education program

Tue Nov 1 10:01:31 PDT 2016

(apologies for my English) As Tom says, I am not a teacher either. But... I have direct access to teachers who are prepared to take FOSS4G material into the classroom. They are also prepared in helping refine it based on their experience. After some years developing gvSIG Educa/Batoví we have already created solid experience that took advantage of a privileged situation: 1) although it's not my only nor principal assignment I have full support from the institution where I work (Ministry of Transport and Public Works) to dedicate time in this;  2) we are in close coordination with the Education authorities (Geography and others); 3) we here in Uruguay have the Plan Ceibal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alQuRWh9O9Q) which is a fantastic initiative; and opportunity: it is Nation-wide, it works good and it keeps expanding and improving; 4) we recently created a Monitoring Group for gvSIG Educa/Batoví with teachers from all over the country (belonging to the Board of Secondary Education, Board of Technical and Professional Education and Education Training Council) and lead by the National Geography Inspection, Plan Ceibal and the National Bureau of Surveying (where I work). So if I can help in something I'm offering this advantages in order to use it as a base for tests.

Best wishes,

Sergio Acosta y Lara
Departamento de Geomática
Dirección Nacional de Topografía
Ministerio de Transporte y Obras Públicas
URUGUAY
(598)29157933 ints. 20329/20330
http://geoportal.mtop.gub.uy/
________________________________
De: GeoForAll <geoforall-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> en nombre de Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
Enviado: lunes, 31 de octubre de 2016 16:55
Para: Bridget Fleming
Cc: Brandon Louw; Tom Roche; Clinton Van Der Merwe; OsGeo, GeoForAll; Randal Hale
Asunto: Re: [Geo4All] Vision for an OSGeo education program

Bridget, Tom, Randal, Charles, others tapped into the teaching profession,

If you had access to scores of people to help build everything required to create a GIS training program, what would it look like? What is the gap between material you have access to today, and what you would like to have? What base material (if any) should we start from?

Is it possible to create training material which is targeted, but also useful for an international audience? (So that it can be used and maintained by an international user base)

Do you have accesses to teachers who are prepared to take this material into the classroom, and are prepared to help refine material based on their experience?

If we can have a clear definition of what we need to create, and have teachers offering their commitment to take what is created into the classroom, then we have a very compelling motivational reason for people to get involved. (Defining a very tangible and realisable goal, along with steps to reach it, is key to a successful open source project )

On 29/10/2016 9:00 AM, Tom Roche wrote:

Angelos Tzotsos[1]

>> to reach out to schools we need a scaled-down and lighter OSGeo-Live build [...]  I volunteer to make a custom OSGeo-Live iso for kids, but we will need lots of feedback and volunteers to shape up a new documentation.

Not to mention curriculum ...

Cameron Shorter[2]

> * Re content, are there national or international learning guides we can trace back to?

You might wanna start by evaluating existing work in this domain, e.g., this ISU primary-ed-focused group using QGIS[3], particularly their curriculum[4].

GIS Technologies in Elementary Grades[3]

>>> Our research was designed to complement and to be used in conjunction with the social science and science curricula of upper elementary school.  Focusing on learning and problem-solving within an ecological interest, the goal of the study is to advance students spatial thinking, multi-step causal reasoning, systems thinking, and problem solving skills through the use of Geographic Information Systems as part of an enriched learning environment.

>>> Though the basic features have stayed the same, our curriculum has continuously evolved over the course of our research. You can view more information about the current version of our curriculum materials at our Teach ATLAS website[5]. If you have questions regarding the specific versions of the curriculum used in our formal interventions, please contact May Jadallah[6]

>>> Modules - a scaffolding framework

>>> Our learning modules build on a number of underlying concepts which scaffold the gradual development of a number of skills and cognitive processes to ensure students success including: technology skills and spatial and higher-level thinking processes.

>>> 1. Technology Skills

>>> Students will primarily interact with the curriculum through QGIS, an advanced experience with desktop computing is inconsistent in upper elementary grades, so the curriculum aims to introduce students to the technology in a way that reinforces strong, efficient computer-use skills. Students are encouraged to approach the technology "fearlessly," and are given opportunities to explore the computer and GIS software independently. Students are also given ample support through curricular materials and teacher instruction while becoming more independent in each progressive module. The students we have worked with have consistently been surprised by the things that they were able to do with computers by the end of the unit.

>>> 2. Spatial Thinking

>>> A primary focus of our study has been the exploration of the potential of GIS to hone and improve students spatial thinking skills. From teaching the most basic principals in spatial thinking, to creating opportunities to close the gender gap in students test scores, our modules provide students with opportunities to communicate about and reason through the use of maps and GIS technology while honing their spatial reasoning through environmental problems solving.

>>> 3. Higher-level Reasoning

>>> Students are challenged to find solutions to complex problems by learning to think creatively while considering multiple variables, and gaining a greater  understanding of real life situations through the delineation of  multiple components while developing step by step solutions to achieve the best potential outcomes.  The study is designed to provide students with support for their learning through three primary modes of scaffolding:  1) content of the modules progress from simple to increasing complex, 2) learning activities are designed to require increasing degrees of independence, and 3) provision of organizers and guiding questions on activity sheets to help students organize their learning and devise plans for problem solving.

>>> Materials

>>> A number of materials have been developed for teacher and student use to aid in the implementation of the curriculum. These include:

>>> * Activity Worksheets that provide visual organizers and guiding questions to help students to complete modules and give teachers an immediate means of assessment
>>> * Lesson Guides and Answer Keys for teachers
>>> * QGIS Activity Files, to be opened in QGIS. These are the files that students will interact with in each module.

>>> Standards

>>> The curriculum designed by this team will be aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards[7], Common Core State Standards[8], as well as state and national standards in social studies. Documents detailing the alignment of standards to our curriculum will be available soon.

HTH, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche at pobox.com><mailto:Tom_Roche at pobox.com>

[1]: https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2016-October/016870.html
[2]: https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2016-October/016876.html
[3]: https://education.illinoisstate.edu/nsf/curriculum/
[4]: http://www.teachatlas.com/our-curriculum.html
[5]: http://www.teachatlas.com/
[6]: may.jadallah at illinoisstate.edu<mailto:may.jadallah at illinoisstate.edu>
[7]: http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards
[8]: http://www.corestandards.org/

On 29/10/2016 12:55 AM, Randal Hale wrote:

If I can just chime in (I told my cat I wasn't).

The kicker in this is ESRI is deeply entrenched everywhere. They've entire groups of people just focused on "giving to schools". I was at the helm of rolling out a full ESRI rollout to a school in 2012. We had a 50 seat lab setup. I ended up moving them over to FOSS4G 2 years ago - and I need to go back and update their setup (they don't know how). The school is Title 1 (which means the school is very poor). The computers are better than what they normally get - BUT - they will be using them longer than what they need to. They will be unable to run the next version of ESRI Software. The computers can still run FOSS4G software.

The teachers here in the US (and I have no doubt this is the case everywhere) are stretched thin. That's what makes ESRI so nice. They show up and go "here is a curriculum (of sorts) and here is 'free' software". It's a short term win. They have people targeted to do just that.

So what would Randy do (and I've thought about this more than I care to mention) to introduce FOSS4G into the schools:

A bootable disk with FOSS4G software (I am partial to QGIS - other things exist) and not everything like the OSGEO Disk. A few select pieces of software with a purpose:

  *   10 lessons of 1 hour apiece to work through that are student oriented (maybe pick an age range - 12-16)
     *   Start globally and work down to locally. Maybe we have different local datasets.
  *   An explanation for the teachers. They don't understand like we do - they need us there for hand holding and encouragement. They can manage kids - We need to help manage the lessons. I'm not a teacher. I can teach adults - but not kids - it's a whole different  game.
  *   A spot where teachers can get the lessons (NOT GITHUB) and the disk (maybe we combine all things into a bootable USB stick).
  *   Help - a place where they can get help (NOT GITHUB). My town has 30+ schools. If more than 1 does this I can't be everywhere. ESRI put out a call for Geomentors. We put out a call.
  *   We have COMMUNITY - I don't believe ESRI currently does. They have an advertising budget. 20 years ago they had community. We have momentum now. Community is greater than an Advertising budget.
  *   Advertise it. Ask for help from the teachers.
  *   Update it.

I know I'm asking for a lot - it's time intensive - but I think it's 100% doable. I go to speak at 2 colleges on GIS Day on nothing but FOSS4G.

We've got all the pieces to make this work except time. I'll carve out some time if this gets going.

I wished the cat had stopped me. Now I'm in it.

On 31/10/2016 6:50 PM, Bridget Fleming wrote:

So true. I left the teaching profession three years back, had time to upskill in GIS and now I am back in the classroom.
Teachers desperately need support. A panel discussion (FOSS4G Boston) to map a way forward will be great.

SAGTA (SA Geography Teachers’ Association) and FOSS4G – S Africa (Gavin Fleming) will be hosting a conference at my new place of work, St John’s College (Johannesburg) 26 to 30 June 2017.

Good work is being done and know that we have teachers using QGIS in very under resources school. Sadly, few know about these pockets of excellence.

Bridget Fleming
bridget.fleming at stjohnschool.co.za<mailto:bridget.fleming at stjohnschool.co.za>
+27827757072
Skype: GeoBridget

On 2016/10/29, 7:50 PM, "GeoForAll on behalf of Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX)" <geoforall-bounces at lists.osgeo.org on behalf of patrick.hogan at nasa.gov><mailto:geoforall-bounces at lists.osgeo.orgonbehalfofpatrick.hogan@nasa.gov> wrote:

    So true, teachers, are our most important profession and the measure of our future. Yet, they are underpaid and overworked. They are in desperate need of help, the fully fledged kind of help that comes ready to go. All the ideas being suggested here are the right ones, but it will be no small effort to build 'OTS' packages for the different grade levels.

    And I am not even sure that trying to approach 'mainstream' education is the way to go. We really need to tap into super achievers, inspire and equip them so that they can 'implement' spatial data activities that will help inspire other students in this endeavor to make all of us more aware of the world around us.

    So, building packages, maybe curriculum elements, that are exercises with specific spatial data goals in mind, seems necessary. With the idea that competence with these software tools will allow them to go much further.

    Please realize this is an uphill battle all the way, so finding a teacher or few to work directly with to build these things interactively with actual students, is one thought. In the US, we are happy to spend $30k-%50k per prisoner (private prisons no less) and yet only $10k per K-12 child. And about half those prisoners are there just because they wanted to get high (drugs). Better education will certainly impact the prison population in a positive way.

    The point is, trying to help education which dearly needs it, will be quite difficult due to how overwhelmed teachers already are. 30 years ago I was a High School teacher and conditions have not gotten any better, understated I'm sure.

    I would suggest working at a personal level locally with a teacher and their students, finding what works and then try to scale that. Let actual students' success be our guiding light. They can teach us!

    -Patrick
     (650) 269-2788 (cell)

    -----Original Message-----
    From: GeoForAll [mailto:geoforall-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of labrinos at eled.auth.gr<mailto:labrinos at eled.auth.gr>
    Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2016 9:08 AM
    To: Massimiliano Cannata
    Cc: OsGeo, GeoForAll
    Subject: Re: [Geo4All] Vision for an OSGeo education program

    Maxi, I think that the teachers don't care. Most of them don't know what to do with an open source software.

    Nikos

    Περιορίζοντας Massimiliano Cannata <massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch><mailto:massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch>:

    > Thanks Nicos for the arguments you put in the table.
    > A provocative question... Why a teacher using a web application to
    > teach and produce a map should care if the server use open source or not?
    >
    > More, esri pushing geospatial need and industry is working also for us
    > ;-)
    >
    > Maxi
    >
    > Il 29 ott 2016 12:28 AM, <labrinos at eled.auth.gr><mailto:labrinos at eled.auth.gr> ha scritto:
    >
    >
    > Dear all,
    >
    > I follow your emails these days and I can see two things: a)
    > enthusiasm and
    > b) anger.
    > The first is good the second is bad. Both are reasonable. They are
    > generated from a kind of an undeclared war between proprietary and FOS
    > Software.
    > I have the feeling that many of us feel ready to declare war against
    > proprietary software but ... don't do it. We need it. Propriery
    > software makes us priceless. We do need something to compare with.
    > Someone wrote that ESRI has a lot of people working on GIS and education.
    > So do we.
    > The problem lies on how we are organized. ESRI looks better organized
    > than we are. They are focused and they know where to strike first and
    > how. We don't.
    > Take a look at the emails. Each one is talking either about middle or
    > high school and (in my turn) I would talk about primary school. Each
    > level has its own needs.
    > What do we want from the teachers and from their students? It isn't
    > enough to show them how to use GIS. We have to convince them that they need GIS.
    > This is what ESRI is doing. In order to do so we have to show them a
    > very simple way to use it. ESRI gives free licenses, we give free
    > software. So, we give more.
    > Teachers and especially students love to show the results of their
    > work. If they have to take many courses and 10s of teaching hours (no
    > matter if it is webinars or f2f courses) then many of them may get
    > disappointed or consider GIS difficult to begin with. Because they
    > don't get quick results (for example a newly constructed map).
    > In my opinion, we have to begin building a real global network with
    > schools of any level of education. This is something I had proposed
    > few months ago but I got almost no answer. We can do that the same way
    > that GeoForAll was built. With patience and vision.
    > I am almost 23 years talking about GIS in school teachers (starting
    > back in
    > 1994) and I think that the difference was made since the beginning of
    > web mapping. This is because they can see their efforts go public.
    > Everyone loves publicity. It will be easier to go from the very simple
    > keystrokes of web mapping to more complicated procedures (teachers
    > don't like much georeferrencing systems etc) of GIS.
    > Who thinks that we can start with these two thngs? a) forming a well
    > organized global school network and b) web mapping as a starter?
    > We have to have system and patience.
    >
    > Best wishes
    > Nikos
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > --
    > Δρ. Νίκος Λαμπρινός
    > Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής
    > Τμήμα Δημοτικής Εκπαίδευσης
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    > Web Page:       http://users.auth.gr/labrinos/
    >                 http://www.digital-earth.edu.gr/
    >                 https://www.auth.gr/univUnits
    >
    > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    > Dr. Nikos Lambrinos
    > Associate Professor
    > Faculty of Education
    > School of Primary Education
    > Dept. of Science and New Technologies
    > Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
    > GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
    > Tel: +30 2310 991201
    > Email: labrinos at eled.auth.gr<mailto:labrinos at eled.auth.gr>
    > Web Page:       http://users.auth.gr/labrinos/
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    --
    Δρ. Νίκος Λαμπρινός
    Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής
    Τμήμα Δημοτικής Εκπαίδευσης
    Α.Π.Θ. 54124 Θεσσαλονίκη
    Τηλ.: 2310 991201 / 991230
    Email: labrinos at eled.auth.gr<mailto:labrinos at eled.auth.gr>
    Web Page:       http://users.auth.gr/labrinos/
                http://www.digital-earth.edu.gr/
                https://www.auth.gr/univUnits

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    Dr. Nikos Lambrinos
    Associate Professor
    Faculty of Education
    School of Primary Education
    Dept. of Science and New Technologies
    Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
    GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
    Tel: +30 2310 991201
    Email: labrinos at eled.auth.gr<mailto:labrinos at eled.auth.gr>
    Web Page:       http://users.auth.gr/labrinos/
                http://www.digital-earth.edu.gr/
                https://www.auth.gr/en/univUnits

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