University Consortium for
Geographic Information Science
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Upcoming Events

SPACE Workshops: Summer Workshops 2006 For Instructors of Undergraduate Courses in the Social Sciences

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SPACE workshops are intended for instructors of undergraduate students in the social sciences. They offer content knowledge in methods of spatial analysis, instructional resources, and professional development support for curriculum planning and learning assessment. Successful applicants must commit to implementing spatial perspectives in their undergraduate courses and to providing feedback and documentation to evaluate the SPACE workshop program.

Participants in the program are eligible for scholarship support for subsistence. The deadline for applications is 18 April 2006. Details are available at www.csiss.org/SPACE/workshops

GIS and Spatial Modeling for the Undergraduate Social Science Curriculum
18–23 June 2006, Columbus OH

This workshop focuses on applications of spatial analytic techniques suited for undergraduate social science courses. These techniques include cartographic visualization, exploratory spatial data analysis, space-time modeling of individual behavior, spatial equilibrium models, and spatial optimization methods. Workshop participants will consider how to integrate these techniques into instructional modules, exercises, and learning assessment approaches. Requirements to benefit from this workshop include prior experience with computer file and data management in applications of quantitative analysis in the social sciences. GIS experience is desirable.

Instructors: Mei-Po Kwan (coordinator), Ola Ahlqvist, Darla Munroe, Alan Murray, Morton O’Kelly, Kathryn Plank, and Ningchuan Xiao (all of The Ohio State University), Jiyeong Lee (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), and Sara McLafferty (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

Co-sponsor with CSISS and Host Institution: Dept. of Geography, The Ohio State University www.geography.ohio-state.edu

Remote Sensing and GIS Technologies for Undergraduate Curricula in the Social Sciences
23-28 July 2006, Norman OK

This workshop will explore the uses of geographic information technologies for undergraduate curricula in the social sciences and

offer guidance on the uses of these technologies to enhance spatial understanding for undergraduate social science students. Participants will acquire understanding of the utility of remotely sensed data - how they provide nontraditional, and otherwise unobtainable, measures of social phenomena, and how these measures are used with a wide range of population-related data in

GIS for the visualization, analysis, and understanding of social dynamics at micro, macro, and global levels. Lectures, demonstrations, tutorials, and group investigations will foster open discussions to stimulate spatial thinking and problem-solving skills, and to translate these into resources for teaching at the undergraduate level. Applicants should already have basic GIS knowledge since GIS will provide the integrated platform for introducing remote sensing and spatial statistics.

Instructors: Tarek Rashed (coordinator), May Yuan, Jon Pedersen (all of The University of Oklahoma), Victor Mesev (Florida State University), and Rebecca Powell (UC Santa Barbara).

Co-sponsor with CSISS: The University Consortium for Geographic Information Science www.ucgis.org

Host Institution: Dept. of Geography geography.ou.edu and the Center for Spatial Analysis www.csa.ou.edu, University of Oklahoma.

Spatial Analysis in the Social Science Curriculum: Enhancing Undergraduate Learning
31 July–5 August 2006, Santa Barbara CA

This workshop focuses on spatial methods and perspectives suited for applications in the undergraduate social science curriculum, such as spatial statistics, spatial econometrics, spatial pattern analysis, and cartographic visualization, in a GIS framework. Participants will illustrate these methods and design instructional modules and exercises for use in teaching undergraduates. A major goal of the workshop will be to explore strategies for curriculum enhancement and for assessment of student learning. Requirements to benefit from this workshop include prior experience with computer file and data management in applications of quantitative analysis in the social sciences.

Instructors: Stuart Sweeney (coordinator), Sarah Battersby, Fiona Goodchild, Mike Goodchild, Don Janelle, and Waldo Tobler (of UCSB)

Co-sponsor with CSISS and Host Institution: Dept. of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara www.geog.ucsb.edu, Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research www.isber.ucsb.edu

This program is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education, under its program for Course, Curriculum & Laboratory Improvement – National Dissemination.

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