Meeting & Agendas

Committee Chair Richard Wade welcomed everyone and asked if they’ve had a chance to review the minutes from the previous meeting.

Mr. Moran reviewed enrollment numbers with the committee and noted that those numbers don't include students that were enrolled in the CE program. He mentioned that since ACC’s GIS program started in 2010, it's had a small decline in enrollment because the economy is improving and because students are getting internships after the Intro to GIS class. Mr. Moran explained the differences between GEOG 2470 Introduction to GIS and GISC 1411 Introduction to GIS. ACC has an articulation agreement with Texas State for GEOG 2470 but not for GISC 1411. The lack of an articulation agreement with GEOG 2470 isn't a major concern because most of ACC's GIS students aren't looking to transfer to a university. GISC 1411 was created at the direction of the vice president in an effort to consolidate the program. Sean also explained the different required teaching credentials for each of the Intro to GIS classes. Sean added that the articulation agreements are reviewed every 3 years. Mr. Moran then discussed the number and types of awards in the program's history and how he expects the number to increase. He also discussed the online student enrollment amount vs. the classroom student enrollment amount. He went on to add that the online format has been successful because many of the students are higher level students that persist through the program and stay engaged because there are no intersessions. Faculty members Sally Holl and Stephanie Long then discussed the review process and how it's inconsistent with online students. It's also a system that doesn't notify the instructors if any of their online students have completed the reviews. Sean made the suggestion of using a Google form and as well as providing an incentive for the students to complete it. The topic was tabled for discussion at the next meeting. Sean then discussed the assessment process for capstone students and how they've used the same test since 2013. He mentioned that assessment numbers were low last fall but Stephanie’s and Sally's students brought the numbers back up. Sean discussed changing the assessment process after the summer 2019 semester to make compiling the data easier. Faculty member Sally Holl discussed the service learning project that her Data Acquisition & Analysis students worked on during the Spring 2019 semester. She explained the different types of maps that her students created, as well as the guest speakers she invited to speak to her students. She also discussed the guest speakers in to her Raster-Based GIS class and that her classes had site visits to the GLO and TNRIS. She concluded with discussing the projects that her capstone students completed and noted that they were the best capstone projects she's ever seen. Sean talked about how GIS faculty member Stephanie Long was in the employee spotlight in March.

The committee reviewed the ACC GIS degree map and Sean reviewed the changes that were made since the last meeting. The changes included adding GISC 1479 Intro to Geospatial Data, removing ITSW 1307 Database: Access, discontinuing GISC 1401 GPS Course, and discontinuing GISC 2479 Geospatial Data Management. He also discussed the schedule changes of moving Raster-Based GIS to the fall semester and moving Programming and Web-Served GIS to the spring semester. Committee Chair Richard Wade asked if the GIS department is coordinating with the Computer Science department. Sean replied and said that he’s not currently working with the computer science department but intends to. Theresa Noyes agreed that computer science skills are attractive to an employer. Richard also agreed and added that he’ll lean toward applicants with computer science education or experience in their resume. Richard requested that the topic be discussed in the next Advisory Committee Meeting.

Mr. Moran discussed the background of ACC Inc and explained the NG911 Geospatial Data Assessment project. He discussed the process used to assess the accuracy of the data and how they’ve learned that the data isn’t matching up. CSEC has inquired about additional projects that could be completed by ACC Inc interns.

Committee Chair Richard Wade mentioned that the Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS) is exploring expanding their GIS intern program. TNRIS has a long-established and successful intern program, including an intern agreement with the ACC Incubator for Professional Skills (ACC Inc.). The Committee discussed coordinating future intern needs with the ACC GIS program.

ACC Faculty Sally Holl requested information from the committee regarding soft skills that they look for in employment candidates. She explained that her the purpose of her request was for curriculum integration and workforce priorities. While the committee completed the worksheet Sally provided, she explained how she implements a portfolio in her courses and then requested feedback from the committee about that concept. The committee felt that the portfolio is a great idea as long as it includes a variety of work, but they’d also expressed the necessity to ability for the candidate to be able to work on a team.