Ithaca College

This is the official announcement requesting applications for faculty participation (with three credits reassigned time) in the Fall 2013 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) course.

COMP-124 (currently called "Data, Place, and Time") is a course that introduces participants to spatial literacy through Geographic Information Systems. Aside from the basics of map making, we focus on (i) data sharing and collaboration, (ii) interconnection of different disciplines through spatial data/information, and (iii) application of computational processes in non-computational fields.

Learning Geographic Information Systems is a time consuming process so, with generous support from the Provost’s office, three seats have been reserved in COMP-124 for faculty involvement. Specifically, a faculty member who participates in COMP-124 will have three-credits reduced teaching load during the Fall 2013 semester so that s/he can (i) attend all lectures, (ii) do assigned work, (iii) complete the projects, and subsequently (iv) explore ways to make use of Geographic Information Systems in her/his scholarship/teaching [*]. Our premise is that faculty members who are empowered with new computational tools will be able to utilize these tools in their own discipline in innovative ways.

Hands-on learning will be based on real-world data such as spatial justice, early childhood development ecologies, growth of gated communities, etc; proposal based projects (coordinated in collaborative form over Google docs) will be the primary type of exercise; semester deliverables will include a poster (please see [**] and [***] for two sample exercises). The course will be taught by Ali Erkan (aerkan@ithaca.edu) during the Fall 2013 semester.

If you are interested in joining us, please provide a proposal by October 15, 2012 (the same deadline as that of CFRD) that addresses the following questions without exceeding two pages:

• What draws you to this project?
• In what way can this set of computational tools (Geographic Information Systems, online collaborative data management systems) contribute to your teaching?
• In what way can this set of computational tools (Geographic Information Systems, online collaborative data management systems) contribute to your scholarship?
• What publication venues exist in your field for your GIS based/enhanced scholarship?
• What funding opportunities exist in your field for your GIS based/enhanced scholarship?

If your faculty web page does not have an up to date CV, please include it as an attachment as well. The proposal (and CV, if needed) can be sent to Arlene Dende (adende@ithaca.edu). A committee will evaluate the proposals to choose participants that have the most potential for successfully integrating GIS into their scholarship and teaching.

Please let us know if you have any comments and/or questions.

[*] Please note that due to institutional teaching load constraints, a single applicant will not be able to get a CFRD as well as a seat in COMP-123 during the 2013-2014 academic year.

[**] One of the introductory exercises of the Fall 2012 course is showing the names of around 10 painters (with a sample painting and a link to a home page) using Google Maps.

[***] One of the latter exercises of the Fall 2012 course (based on a full desktop GIS) is reporting at the district level, the rate of change of women’s reading/writing levels based on the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 numbers, obtained from the National Statistics Institution in Turkey; more intense colors represent faster change within the reported four years.