Second Annual Conference
GIS Educators in Maine
Friday, November 13, 2009 9:30am to 4:30pm, Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield, MaineME GIS Champs Home | About | Middle & High School | College | Rules & Guidelines | Get Help | FAQs | Sponsorship
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Conference information: Home | Conference Flyer (pdf) | Agenda | Photo Gallery
Detailed Conference Agenda
Click here to download an agenda in PDF format.
8:30 – 9:30 Registration, Coffee & Snacks
133 Lunder
9:30 – 10:15 Welcome, Opening Remarks & Update on GIS Education Happenings in Maine
133 Lunder
10:15 - 10:30 Break & Snacks
|
Bring
laptops (PC or
Mac) for hands-on workshops! If
you don't have one, there will be some available during the workshops.
You
may want to install the following free software before you come to the
conference:
Web streaming of conference sessions: We have the capability to stream conference sesions via the web and to record them for later viewing on the web! If you are interested in viewing the sessions on the web, please let us know. If there is sufficient interest, we'll set it up. |
10:30 – 11:45 Hands-on Workshop* An Introductory Remote Sensing Activity for GIS Courses- 133 Lunder
NASA has recently made all Landsat imagery from 1982 to the present free and available for download. In this workshop, we'll learn some of the basics of remote sensing and image analysis, and we'll walk through a hands-on introductory exercise using Landsat imagery of Maine. The exercise can be used with ArcGIS or Multispec, a free, open source, multi-platform image analysis application, and it's suitable for high school or college students. Participants will receive a CD with data, activity handouts, resources, and Multispec. To get the most out of your workshop experience, you may wish to install Multispec on your laptop before the conference: http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~biehl/MultiSpec/.
- Michael Lachance & Tora Johnson, University of Maine at Machias
| Participants may bring up to three posters each (48” x 48” or smaller) to share at the lunchtime poster session. We will also have tables for display materials. Posters may highlight programs, projects and student work. We will also have tables for displays and handouts. If you'd like to bring posters and/or display materials, please indicate that on your registration form in the space required. |
11:45 – 1:00 Lunch & Poster/ Table Session- 133 Lunder
Displays will highlight programs, projects and student work.
[GeoLibrary Educational Workgroup Mtg. in 118 King]
1:00 – 1:45 Presentation: The Educational Needs of Maine Geospatial Workforce- 133 Lunder
In this talk, we'll hear the results of a study of the geospatial technology education needs of Maine's workforce. The study, involving focus group interviews and a statewide survey, is helping us to understand what Maine's labor force needs from education programs, now and in the future.
- Charles Colgan, University of Southern Maine's Center for Business and Economic Research
1:45 – 3:30 Hands-on Workshop* Integrating Google Earth with GIS- 133 Lunder
With the growing popularity of web mapping applications, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's GIS Unit uses Google Earth to serve its scientific data to users outside the building walls. Using Google Earth, DEP serves millions of records worth of spatial and environmental sampling data, including groundwater surface water, biological and physical data, to environmental consultants, the regulated community, researchers, and the general public. This workshop will demonstrate some of the Google Earth functionality that Maine DEP is using to to create these simple but highly effective presentations of spatial data. We will also work through an exercise where participants will make a Google Earth project of their own.
- Chris Halsted, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
3:30 – 3:45 Break and Snacks
3:45 – 4:15 CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Presentation: A How-to Guide to Community Service GIS Projects- 133 Lunder
Project-based learning with real-world applications can be a powerful tool for teaching GIS. We'll discuss the potential benefits and challenges of doing projects for community “clients,” share examples, and offer tips on successful service projects for K-12 and college students.
- Moderator: Tora Johnson, University of Maine at Machias; Margaret Chernosky, Bangor High School; Mark Matson, University of Maine at Presque Isle; Penny Kern, Aroostook Junior Emergency Preparedness Society
Discussion: Strategies for Data Stewardship for the new Maine GeoPortal- 118 King
This discussion will interest people in higher education interested in providing regional stewardship of GIS data for the Maine GeoPortal currently under development. The portal will provide free public access to GIS data, metadata and a viewer. Members of the public will be able to contribute data to the portal, and an important role for higher education in the new portal system will be as regional "hubs" of data stewardship who can gather data from various sources, ensure its quality, manage updates, create metadata, support local users, etc.. This discussion is an opportunity to provide input about data stewardship for the portal as it is implemented.
- Facilitator: Christopher Kroot, Maine Office of GIS
4:15 – 4:30 Open Forum: Sharing tips, tools, challenges, and questions- 133 Lunder
What's your favorite new GIS gizmo or script? Are you stuck on a problem, either technical or curricular? In this open forum, we'll swap tips and ideas.
4:30 Prize drawing and farewell: Add your name tag to the bag for a chance to win geo prizes.
Please don't forget to complete your evaluation forms! Thanks.
For more information, please contact giscenter@maine.edu or call Tora or Angela at the GIS Lab & Service Center at University of Maine at Machias at 207-255-1214.
This conference is funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation as a component of a three-year project designed to improve and promote geospatial technology education in Maine. The University of Maine at Machais is the lead organization on the project that involves partners from five other universities and three community colleges. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the National Science Foundation.
Still have questions? Contact: Angela Brady at 207-255-1214 or giscenter@maine.edu
