Applied Learning
One of the greatest strengths of the Geography program is that student use of geospatial technologies is fully integrated throughout the curriculum. Most of the courses within the program have some form of ePortfolio signature assignment that requires them to use at least one of the following geospatial technologies: ArcGIS for Desktop, ArcGIS Online, Google Earth, QGIS, and/or OpenStreetMap. These technologies include geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and global positioning systems (GPS). By the time students take the capstone course, they should be near the end of their academic career within the program and should have acquired broad knowledge and skill sets in order for them to make informed decisions about when, where, and how to apply these technologies in other contexts, specifically when students are given opportunities to apply advanced geographic and geospatial concepts associated with capstone-level projects. The curriculum has been enhanced by the inclusion of geospatial technology courses as part of the degree. Again, I think a short explanation of an assignment and how these technologies are used in the assignment would help you explain how students acquire applied learning in your program.
Additionally, Geography faculty are working on incorporating more project-based learning into the program so that students can work with local geospatial industries from the nonprofit sector. This will create real-world scenarios that are more complex opportunities for students to develop their abilities and become more engaged with the local, national, and global communities of which they are a part.
Additionally, Geography faculty are working on incorporating more project-based learning into the program so that students can work with local geospatial industries from the nonprofit sector. This will create real-world scenarios that are more complex opportunities for students to develop their abilities and become more engaged with the local, national, and global communities of which they are a part.
DQP Indicators for Applied Learning
At the associate's level, students pursuing a degree in Geography will:
- Communicate at least one case in which knowledge and skills acquired in academic settings may be applied to a field-based challenge and evaluates the learning gained from the application.
- Analyze at least one significant concept or method in Geography outside the classroom setting.
- Locate, gather, and organize evidence regarding a question in a field-based venue beyond formal academic study and offers alternative approaches to answering it.
- Demonstrate the exercise of any practical skill crucial to the application of expertise.
- Prepare and present a project, paper, exhibit, performance, or other appropriate demonstration linking knowledge or skills acquired in work, community or research activities with knowledge acquired in one or more field of study, explains how those elements are structured, and employs appropriate citations to demonstrate the relationship of the product to literature in the field.
- Negotiate a strategy for group research, documents the strategy so that others may understand it, implements the strategy, and communicates the results.
- Complete a substantial project that evaluates a significant question in the student's field of study, including an analytic narrative of the effects of learning outside the classroom on research or practical skills employed in executing the project.
- Create a project, paper, presentation or other appropriate demonstration reflecting the integration of knowledge acquired in practicum, work, community, or research activities with knowledge and skills gleaned from at least two fields of study in different segments of the curriculum. Articulate the ways in which the two sources of knowledge influence the result.
- Design an implement a project in an out-of-class setting that requires the application of advanced knowledge gained in Geography to a practical challenge, articulates in writing or another medium the insights gained from this experience, and assess (with appropriate citations) approaches, scholarly debates, or standards for professional performance applicable to the challenge.
The bulleted indicators listed above for each level of academic pursuit are just slightly modified from the DQP by the Geography program to align better with the discipline. There is no direct intent on the program determining what should or should not be taught at the 4-year institutions. The goal is to start a conversation within the State of Utah and nationally on what all three levels should look like.
Signature Assignments
GIS Final Project
More to come...
More to come...
Program Showcase
With student permission, the Geography program plans to showcase student artifacts demonstrating how students have acquired broad, integrative knowledge while going through the program.