[Geo4All] FW: [OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web...

Sat Oct 29 04:09:57 PDT 2016

"geoforall at lists.osgeo.org" <geoforall at lists.osgeo.org>
Cc: <sergio.acostaylara at mtop.gub.uy>, Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>, Gavin Fleming <gavin at kartoza.com>, Serena Coetzee <serenacoetzee at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Geo4All] [OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web...

To add my bit from South Africa. Online GIS software is not a solution as internet access for us is expensive and most of our schools do not have connectivity. I’ve written a short paper on my GIS experiences in our local Journal for SA Geography Teachers: http://sagta.org.za/JoGESA-V2.php

QGIS ‘power lessons’ work best where GIS practioners come in and give short courses directly to the students. Even the most IT-savvy teachers are too fearful to give GIS classes. We have started a GIS Olympiad which is being rolled out nationally. My colleague will be presenting a paper at the upcoming AAG conference in Boston and I’ll do similar at the FOSS4G conference, also in Boston in August next year. I’m looking forward to meeting like-minded geographers in education as we need to pool our ideas. Gavin Fleming, my long-suffering husband has helped build a tangible landscape using GRASS GIS. My kids/ grade 8 to 12 love it. GIS has taken geography to another level. Keeping it simple works and Open Source does the trick!

Kind regards

Bridget Fleming

-------- Forwarded Message -------- 

Subject: Re: [Geo4All] [OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web...
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2016 13:56:47 +0000
From: SERGIO ACOSTAYLARA <sergio.acostaylara at mtop.gub.uy>
To: Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>, discuss at lists.osgeo.org <discuss at lists.osgeo.org>
CC: geoforall at lists.osgeo.org <geoforall at lists.osgeo.org>

Thank you Jeff for your great answer to my ¿call? It's a pity the Geo4all Teacher Training and School Education Thematic Group (http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoForAll_TeacherTraining_SchoolEducation) isn't as active as I think it should be as I find it's the group that can best answer to this "huge opportunity" as you call it. Sure Bridget is doing great work and we need to publicise it much more. We here are also doing hard work in order to disseminate the use of FOSS4G in schools (post -in Spanish- about last news: https://gvsigbatovi.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/jornada-taller-en-ceibal-y-creacion-de-equipo-de-seguimiento-gvsig-batovi/) but we surely need to work harder. It is not an easy task but it deserves doing the effort. It`s scaring to know that "youth -only- learn what ESRI means". We all know this provision of free ArcGIS online organization accounts to all K-12 schools in the US (note this: ALL K-12 SCHOOLS) is not at all philanthropic. Cameron, I agree with your idea and I can help with it.
Regards,

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: Discuss <discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> en nombre de Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>
Enviado: jueves, 27 de octubre de 2016 21:34
Para: discuss at lists.osgeo.org
Asunto: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web...

Maybe what we are missing are the existing OSGeo-led education labs
inside highschools - I was cooking now and thought of the great work
being done by Bridget Fleming with the South African highschool
geography teachers.  How can we publish and share this great work, and
spread that out to other highschools around the world - can OSGeo's
Geo4All committee make that its focus now?

Anyway, 'food' for thought! :)

Thank you again Sergio for bringing this to everyone's attention.

Night all,

-jeff

On 2016-10-27 6:04 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> Hi Sergio,
> 
> Thank you for sharing this news.
> 
> I'd like to take this opportunity to take a moment for us, our
> foundation, to look in the mirror.  Like this article points out
> strongly (yet indirectly), we still have much work to do to reach the
> youth of today and tomorrow. And I don't mean the United States or any
> one country, as I see this in my own backyard in Canada and everywhere I
> travel for OSGeo: a focus on universities and industry (where the money
> and funding is), and a pure lack of focus on those fresh energetic and
> unbiased minds of youth in highschool and middleschool.  I see it each
> year in the Geo4All day (or PostGIS day, or GISDay, whatever we all call
> it) where events are held for university students and industry
> professionals, all over the world - the problem is those attendees of
> the events already know the thrill of the Open community, of geospatial,
> of our passion.  We miss the focus on today's youth.
> 
> I always tried to speak to the back row of the theatre, to sing to those
> at the very back too shy to come forward yet so eager to be part of the
> spotlight, part of the community, and I put much focus on those rarely
> heard of communities and countries around the world, giving them the
> spotlight and the microphone to shine and grow and be seen and heard on
> the world stage - well, the time is now for us to give that spotlight to
> the youth as well.
> 
> Now that Geo4All is the official education committee for the OSGeo
> foundation, we can use that committee to tackle this huge hole, or
> rather this huge opportunity.  Maybe the Geo4All committee feels that
> they are indeed handling this already, in the highschools etc, and this
> message can help Geo4All promote and recruit more champions for their
> existing work.  Great!  I'd like to hear of our equivalent for this
> ConnectED initiative by Esri, focusing on the youth (and not directly on
> universities), of how youth learn what "OSGeo" is, what "OSGeo" means -
> as this article strongly points out, youth learn what "Esri" means,
> indeed Esri continues to do great work and focus on that huge future
> market of youth.  But what are we doing as the OSGeo foundation? Talking
> here about that can help build this momentum.
> 
> Just how many highschools and middle schools are involved in our Geo4All
> initiative by OSGeo's education committee?  Can someone come up with a
> total from the list of current labs?
> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Edu_current_initiatives  What does that
> total tell us?  How can we improve on that total?
> 
> I actually was on the stage and handed an award to about 4 highschool
> students in person at the FOSS4G-Europe event in Como last year, on
> behalf of OSGeo; I saw their passion and spoke with them right after the
> session, they were thrilled to be included in this community.
> This was an award led by the Geo4All committee, so, this is an example
> of their great work with the youth of today - but I bet few knew of that
> award, well we can hopefully change that here through Sergio's wakeup
> message.
> 
> I hope this message brings all those passionate leaders out there in
> OSGeo's Geo4All committee here, with their great examples of their work,
> and we can use this news shared by Sergio to help change this myth that
> OSGeo isn't a part of the youth activities today, get more press on the
> great work by the Geo4All committee of OSGeo (as mentioned by Cameron),
> and gather more champions to keep spreading our passion to the youth of
> tomorrow - as I've said many times, we're currently hiring champions :)
> 
> -jeff
> 
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