Teaching BUSB 433

James Pick

james_pick@redlands.edu

BUSB 333-433 Faculty Training Workshop Agenda, Oct. 23, 2010

Some general tips on teaching BUSB 433

• Being patient on “getting it”

• Pacing. Be flexible on lab dates.

• In lab, stronger students help weaker ones

• Determine with a pre-survey the extent of knowledge of computers, computer programming, and geography.

• Make sure that students use relative paths since they will want to save files and use them at home and vice versa

• Invite a guest speaker from real world of GIS and Spatial Analysis– Example from fall 433 class.

Some general tips on teaching BUSB 433

Case Studies – How to get the best from them

• Include some in-class discussions.

• Vary length and outcome.

• Suggestion: ungraded.

• Other ideas?

Examples

• Global International Oil (GIO). Chap 1, Geo-Business

• Sears . Chap 7, Geo-Business• Enmax. Chap 8, Geo-Business

Approaches to Cases in-class

• Turn to neighbor and discuss for 5 min (magazine clip)

• Class discussion for 10 min (short book case)

• Breakout into small groups with question sets for 25 minutes (longer book case that has been pre-assigned)

• Good as offset to lab work and to lectures.

Fig. 1.3

Global International Oil (GIO)

Geologic Model displayed in 3-D GIS of oil and gas deposits in the Cretaceous. Fig. 1.4

Map overlays of exploration field topography and locations of proposed pipelines and well sites. Fig. 1.5

GIO’s Supply Chain Routing of Containers from Plant to Customer in Africa, South Asia, and

Australia. Fig. 1.7.

Fig. 1.8.

Sears Roebuck. Six areas of Enterprise GIS Use

• Routing and deploying service technicians• Routing/deploying home delivery drivers• Warehouse optimization• Demand forecasting in marketing• Automated vehicle navigation• Capacity management of the technician

workforce in service areas.

Sears Integrated GIS Systems for product repair services and home delivery. Fig 7.2

Sears Delivery and Transit Time Reduction. Fig. 7.3

Enmax GIS application areas

• Enterprise applications• GIS-enabled applications (these departments

previously had some form of GIS. Now the data comes from the central depository but runs with the specialist software)

• Drafting design and maintenance applications• Other spatial applications (asset reporting-

regulatory, custom operations products, JUMP (with other city agencies, and financial tracking of joint use)

Enmax

How to make the Gorr and Kurland labs meaningful

• Include essay questions. On pp. 4-5 of syllabus, essay questions are given for lab assignments in Chapters 1-4 in Gorr/Kurland.

• Ask students to print out key maps (B&W) and accompany essay answers, or e-mail them electronically (color) attached to answers in MS-Word.

• If several strong students are sailing through the exercises, ask if they could help lagging students. This frees you up to circulate and help students across the spectrum of the class, rather than spending all your time with weak ones.

• If you don’t know the answer to a lab question, tell the student to skip that point if possible, and pick it up later after you have determined the answer. Make a note that the student was told to skip part of an exercise.

How to make the Gorr and Kurland labs meaningful (cont.)

• Don’t rush the labs. Let the students work at the pace they are comfortable with. This will vary from group to group. I tend to put labs in the second half roughly of the class, and I always ask them to end up around 9:45pm at the latest. They should save their work with relative paths, and continue working on it at home.

• Get students together at end of a lab, and ask them to step back and reflect on how it went.

How to make the Gorr and Kurland labs meaningful (cont.)

Extra week – instructor’s choice

• Week 7 on syllabi.• Can offer Google Earth exercise• Could offer ArcGIS Explorer exercise• Could add more advanced Gorr/Kurland exercise• Could have a class breakout discussion on an ethical

or legal issue from Geo-Business Chapter 11 (“Ethical, Security, and Legal Issues of Information Technologies”)

• Something else?? It’s up to you, but do gauge the level of capability in the students.

BUSB 433 Course project on GIS Design

• In the course project, the student selects his/her own company or another real-world organization that he/she is familiar with, and designs a GIS application involving spatial and attribute data.

• The student does not actually build the

application. He/she will think up, and design a new GIS/spatial capability.

• In the design, the student describes the organization and indicate how GIS can benefit it. – What are the sources you recommend of GIS data? – How do you recommend that the GIS and its data be

organized? – What types of spatial analysis can be done? What are the

prospective benefits and impacts of the GIS application? • It is encouraged that you can bring in some relevant

information systems concepts from BUSB 333 (Business Information Systems).

Course project on GIS Design(cont.)

• The length of the paper is 6-7 text pages, plus diagrams or illustrations. Some references that relate to the paper (trade press, articles, book).

• The student also presents a five-minute report in the final class session.

Course project on GIS Design(cont.)

This project emphasizes the first three steps of systems development

• Planning• Analysis• Design• Implementation• Maintenance

Sections of Project Paper

Student needs to include • purpose of project in the organization• benefits• users• layers and associated attribute tables• types of display and spatial analysis• Diagrams and sample maps are helpful.

Suggestions

• Have student e-mail project proposal in 3rd week of the course for instructor approval. Check carefully on scoping and make certain not too small or too large. Understand at this point, the student might not yet fully grasp what GIS is.

• Student should select an organization he/she is very familiar with.

• Keep reminding students about project due date.• Have students present their most significant findings,

with map and image displays, in 5 min. Open the talks up to questions.

Course Materials

• Powerpoint (for Geo-Business except Chaps 9 and 10). Available from Michelle McBride (after she returns)

Michelle_McBride@redlands.edu

• Magazines frequently referenced by students• Directions Magazine (available at

www.directionsmag.com )• ArcUser (available at www.esri.com )• ArcNews (available at www.esri.com )

Data

• ArcGIS 10 has web links with much more data available than from ArcGIS 9.

• One is ArcGIS Online, which you can access directly from ArcMap’s main menu. ESRI website has other data sets available. Chap. 5 in Gorr and Kurland for ArcGIS 10 gives the background on this. We will explain more in the ArcGIS 10 syllabus, to be available in November.

Questions and Discussion