Meeting & Agendas

Committee Chair George Strebel welcomed attendees and then called on Sean Moran to provide the ACC GIS Program update.

ACC GIS Department Chair Sean Moran updated the Committee on enrollment, awards, assessment, internship, new hires, and advancements. He highlighted an email from ACC GIS graduate Anthony Stokes thanking ACC GIS “for providing such a great experience.”

Brandon Whatley, Dean of the new Design, Manufacturing, Construction, and Applied Technologies Division (DMCAT) began by mentioning his neighbor, Williamson County GIS Analyst, and ACC GIS graduate Frank Martin had really great things to say about the ACC GIS program. Dean Whatley then provided some background information regarding the ACC’s recent reorganization. He offered that the goal of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s 60x30TX initiative is that 60 percent of Texans age 25-34 will have a certificate or degree by 2030; and the goal of ACC’s Guided Pathways initiative is to create a more direct path to an ACC certificate or degree. Both of these initiatives served as the catalyst for ACC reorganizing our academic and workforce offerings into Areas of Study (AoS). Committee Member Diana Martin asked if GIS would be better if students could experiment outside of their AoS? Dean Whatley responded that students could still take courses outside of their AoS, but by selecting an AoS they will have a clearer path toward their award. Dean Whatley then asked Mr. Moran to talk about how the reorganization has expanded his duties to include the Land Surveying Technology/Geomatics Department (Geomatics). Mr. Moran described how he will now be the GIS and Geomatics Department Chair. He mentioned that the advent of new technologies like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and terrestrial LiDAR are creating synergistic opportunities between the GIS and Geomatics disciplines. He then described how he would need to create an advisory committee for the Geomatics Department and asked the GIS Advisory Committee whether ACC should create a separate Geomatics Advisory Committee or open seats on the GIS Advisory Committee for representatives from the land surveying discipline. Chairman Strebel stated that he works with land surveyors all the time and that there are challenges because the industries are so different...although he did agree that there are opportunities for shared technology. Committee Member Theresa Noyes described how GIS is ArcGIS and surveying is AutoCAD; and that in that in the surveying community GIS stands for ‘get it surveyed’. She felt that merging the two advisory committees would not be a good idea, but that they could be complimentary. Committee Member Martin followed by saying while GIS and land surveying professional tended to be isolated from each other, maybe there is an opportunity for some overlapping skill sets. Committee Member Noyes suggested there is also an opportunity to share data files and Mr. Moran mentioned sharing technology like UAVs. Committee Member Dr. Nate Currit suggested that UAV techs are often GIS professionals. Committee Member David Shore said that he wouldn’t feel comfortable advising ACC on the land surveying curriculum. ACC GIS Associate Professor Stephanie Long said that land surveying is different. Mr. Moran said that he would work with Geomatics Faculty to establish a separate Geomatics Advisory Committee and that possibly we could co-host a GIS and Geomatics Advisory Committee Meeting in the future.

ACC GIS Associate Professor Sally Holl summarized how the ACC Curriculum Committee approved the creation of a GISC 1411 Introduction to GIS workforce course that mirrors our GEOG 2470 Introduction to GIS academic course. She stated that our plan is to offer both GEOG 2470 and at least one section of GISC 1411 beginning in the 2018 Fall Semester. Committee Member Martin asked if students that complete GISC 1411 Introduction to GIS can still receive academic credit that can be transferred to a university. Mr. Moran responded that the courses are articulated and that a student that completes GISC 1411 can receive credit that can be transferred. Committee Member Martin suggested that be stated in the course syllabi. Committee Member Dr. Sonia Arbona asked if we were going to make Geography students aware of the additional sections of GISC 1411? Dean Whatley suggested that we should explore cross listing the courses in the Geography and GIS Course Schedules. Committee Member Martin also suggested that we follow-up with ACC advising so that they are aware of both courses.

ACC GIS Associate Professor Stephanie Long updated the Committee on our our proposal to launch an online Competency Based Education (CBE) GIS pilot program in January. She said that our goal is to start with 16 students through the Spring Semester. We would then evaluate the pilot program and hopefully add more students during the Summer Semester. She said our goal is to accept a maximum of 48 students into the program by next December. At that point, ACC would need to hire additional resources (e.g. Faculty Coach, Adjunct Faculty, or Grader, etc.) to support more students. Chairman Strebel offered that this initiative started when former ACC GIS Professor Dr. Mary Beth Booth created the first online GEOG 2470 Introduction to GIS course in 2010. Committee Member Kyungah Lim asked how students would get support? Ms. Long responded that all course curriculum would be available via the course website, including supporting videos. Students would also be able to contact Ms. Long during office hours or by appointment via Google Hangouts or in-person. Mr. Moran offered that our tutors are available during their assigned slots via Google Hangouts as well and that we would be assigning a tutor to specifically support CBE students. Chairman Strebel asked what other programs were using this model. Committee Member Currit responded that Kucera and maybe Michigan University were using this model and suggested that ACC review their programs. Mr. Moran asked for volunteers to review the CBE course curriculum. Committee Members Lim and Currit agreed that they could review the course websites.

Mr. Moran updated the Committee on the ACC Incubator for Professional Skills (ACC Inc) contract with the Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications (CSEC) to assess the spatial, topological, and geocoding accuracy of 9-1-1 data in Texas. He reviewed the Next Generation 9-1-1 Geospatial Data Assessment Project Summary Report and highlighted that all interns who were not currently employed with ACC Inc have gone on to full-time positions as GIS professionals.