A Tale of Two Cities: The case for blended learning for GIS at Masters level for Victoria and Canterbury

Mairead de Roiste, Victoria University of Wellington Femke Reitsma, University of Canterbury

Ako Victoria 18 th 1 April 2011

Outline

• • • • The Why?

The What?

The How?

And the unexpected… 2

GIS at VUW

GIS Lecturer GIS Technician GEOG 215: Introduction to Geographic Information Science and Systems (GIS) GEOG 315: Advanced Geographic Information Science and Systems (GIS) PHYG 415: Introduction to Geographic Information Science and Systems (GIS) for Postgraduates Contributions to: Research Methods courses in Earth Sciences and Geography

• • • •

Personal Motivation for Collaboration

Students with more advanced GIS knowledge at Masters and Honours level Tailored courses for postgraduate students Attracting quality students with similar research interests Reaching out!

– Sharing resources and research collaboration 4

Industry Interest

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Development of the MGIS

•

2006.

Idea for a joint Masters in GIS first raised •

2009.

UC gets funding to advance a Masters in GIS from the NZ Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) •

2009/2010.

Consortium of universities work on the pilot 2x workshops (course development and pedagogy) •

2010.

Decisions made for new course application for 2011. Canterbury and Victoria ready to start, Otago and Auckland needed more time. •

2010.

Interdisciplinary Masters in GIS (and PGDipGIS) developed that will run at UC in collaboration with Victoria in 2011. 6

Initial Barriers

• • • • Institutional approval – – VUW Pilot 2011 Canterbury full steam ahead 2011 Multiple locations – Remote technologies A cohesive cohort?

– The student experience Staff interactions – Remote technologies 7

Outline

• • • • The Why?

The What?

The How?

And the unexpected… 8

Programme

Year 1

Semester 1 Core GISC 401: Foundations of GI Science GISC 404: Geospatial Analysis Electives (choose 2) GISC 405: GIS Programming and Databases GISC 406: Remote Sensing for Earth Observation GISC 411: GIS in Health

1 local approved elective

Year 2

GISC 690: Research Thesis Semester 2 Core GISC 402: GI Science Research GISC 403: Cartography & Visualisation Electives (choose 2) GISC 410: GIS 2.0

GISC 412: Spatial Algorithms & Programming GISC 413: Special Topic: Geomatic Data Acquisition

1 local approved elective

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MGIS team

Femke Reitsma Greg Breetzke Simon Kingham Peter Day Wolfgang Rack Carl Cerecke Mairead de Roiste Kelvin Barnsdale Marcus Andreotti Amber Pearson

Outline

• • • • The Why?

The What?

The How?

And the unexpected… 11

Pedagogy

•

Blended Learning

• • • Intensive residential + ongoing virtual Short burst in person + ongoing virtual Weekly synchronous in-person/virtual 12

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Field course: Round 2

Field course: Group Work

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Field course: Field Techniques

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Course Example

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Teaching Technology

KAREN K iwi A dvanced R esearch and E ducation N etwork Scopia Desktop Access Grid

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Outline

• • • • The Why?

The What?

The How?

And the unexpected… 20

Dealing with the Unexpected

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Benefits

• • • • Students – – Greater variety Alignment with research interests and future career paths Teaching staff – – – Specialised teaching Alignment of student projects with research interests Research collaboration potential Wider Schools – – Taking non-VUW courses Reducing over reliance on staff Institutions – – – Attracting quality students, esp. internationally Industry scholarships Response to industry demand 22

Any Questions?

Further information: www.mgis.ac.nz

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