Meeting & Agendas

Committee Chair George Strebel welcomed Committee Members and meeting attendees. He also thanked those who were able to attend the preceding ACC GIS SWOT work session. Lastly, he asked that each meeting attendee to introduce themselves.

ACC GIS Department Chair Sean Moran updated the Committee on student enrollment, awards, assessment, and demographics (see slide presentation on the following pages). The Committee followed the program update with a larger discussion on gender balance. Committee Member David Shore initiated the discussion and suggested that the 60/40 male/female distribution was pretty good. A general discussion about gender representation in the GIS profession followed. Committee Members Thomas Brown and Diana Martin and ACC GIS Instructor Sally Holl said that we have to do more, including promoting women to leadership positions. Committee Chair Strebel used this segue to ask Committee Member Richard Wade to speak about the Texas GIS Mentorship Program. Committee Member Wade introduced the new mentor program and complimented Committee Member Kristi Teykl and TNRIS Deputy Geographic Information Officer Felicia Retiz for leading the effort.

Mr. Moran and others attending the preceding ACC GIS Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) work session summarized the results and how they support the strategic planning process. The following slide was not presented at the Advisory Committee Meeting, but later that Spring at the GIS Program Review. Committee Chair Strebel asked faculty what they thought. ACC GIS Instructor Stephanie Long said that the opportunities discussed during the SWOT matched up with her experience. She was also struck by how similar most of the comments were. Mr. Moran stated there were more externally than internally focused comments this time. Ms. Holl said she thought it affirmed her experience at ACC. Committee Member Brown described how his clients want to integrate location-based services into executive decision making. This comment was followed by a more general discussion about higher-education and how universities do not train faculty/staff in GIS and do not use industry-leading software in support of their curriculum. Committee Member Brown stated that ESRI is focusing their attention on educating educators. Ms. Holl asked which type of faculty ESRI is targeting. Committee Member Brown responded Geography and Business faculty.

Ms. Long introduced Committee Members to Competency Based Education (CBE) and our CBE online GIS Level I Certificate pilot program. She reviewed the ACC GIS Online web page and stepped Committee Members through the ACC Online GIS Level I Certificate Application. She also discussed her interview process and the type of questions she asks prospective students. Ms. Long provided Committee Members with the CBE student progress chart shown on the following page. She talked about the difference between self-paced and accelerated, and how we eventually settled on pacing students at a topic per week. Ms. Long walked the Committee through the various technology implemented in support of the CBE program, including: Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Hangouts; Blackboard, and ilos. Committee Member Dr. Nathan Currit asked how ACC distance learning students differed from CBE students. Ms. Long answered that although distance learning and CBE are different, we offer all our distance learning courses in a CBE format. Committee Member Wade asked where students are coming from. Ms. Long answered that most are from the ACC service area, although there are some from outside Central Texas (e.g. Dallas and South Dakota). She closed by stating we are still interested in using the Quality Matters peer review process once we’ve completed the curriculum for all of the courses.

Mr. Moran discussed ACC’s intent to purchase a Robota Eclipse mapping drone and GeoSLAM ZEB-REVO 3D mapper. The mapping drone will allow ACC students to use drone technology to acquire high-resolution aerial imagery and generate orthoimagery and terrain surfaces. The 3D mapper will allow students to use laser scanning technology to acquire high-resolution 3D point clouds and generate site-level 3D features and terrains. Mr. Moran demonstrated how data products acquired using these technologies can make our students more competitive.