Meeting & Agendas

Steve Schwelling, the ACC GIS Advisory Committee Chair welcomed everyone including two new committee members. Devon Humphrey with Waypoint Mapping introduced himself. He described his activities with Waypoint and the Texas A&M National Spill Control School. Michael Chamberlain with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) introduced himself and described his activities at TxDOT. The rest of the meeting attendees also introduced themselves.

ACC recently completed construction of a new GIS Lab. Dr. Booth gave a brief history on ACC GIS facilities over the years. Mr. Moran followed with a verbal walk-through of the new GIS Lab, CAD Lab, the Open Computer Lab (a.k.a. the Cave), and new office space. Moran explained that GIS will be sharing with CAD for the remainder of this semester and then will have the lab for the ACC Department’s exclusive use.

Moran updated the Advisory Committee on current enrollment and registration for ACC GIS certificates and degrees. Mr. Moran stated the Spring Enrollment total of 124 included some students enrolled in more than one class. The number of unique students is close to 100. Moran and Dr. Booth also noted that the statistics for ACC GIS Certificates and Degrees seem to be missing a few of the graduates. Moran noted that he would follow-up with Tomi Welch to ensure the statistics include all ACC GIS students.

In an effort to ensure our students are meeting the needs of our business and industry, Teresa Moore presented on the Austin Competency Analysis Profile (ACAP) and the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). Ms. Moore described how the ACAP identifies competencies that GIS employers are seeking in GIS professionals. Moore also described how the SCANS identifies core skills and abilities required of students in the workplace. In summary, Moore stated the objective is to link measurable and observable competencies taught at ACC with occupational competencies found in the workplace. She called for the formation of a 6-8 member subcommittee consisting of GIS professionals to develop an ACAP for the ACC GIS Program. She described the need for subcommittee members to be actual workers, not just managers or supervisors. She closed her comments by suggesting that the ACAP might lead to the development of performance exams. Jack Avis asked if the ACAP identified only minimum competencies. Moore responded that the objective is to identify competencies that reflect an entry level position, but that the subcommittee could identify advanced competencies as well. Moore closed by passing around a sign-up sheet for the proposed subcommittee. Dr. Booth collected the completed sign-up sheet and agreed to return it to Jennifer Gray.

Mr. Moran opened this item by describing his and Dr. Booth’s desire to replace GISC 2411 GIS Applications with a special topics enterprise database course, GISC 1125 Concepts and Careers in GIS, or other course. GISC 2411 is included in the award plan for both the GIS AAS Degree and GIS Level II Certificate, and was described by Dr. Booth as a “catch all” course that would allow for the application of GIS and GPS technology in infrastructure management. Dr. Booth and Moran suggested the reasons for requesting the change included: GISC 2411 had low enrollment and had to be ‘saved’ in order to ‘make’ last semester; Students did not enroll because of the ambiguous title and course description; and Once enrolled, students struggled to understand how the course would translate to the workplace. Moran stated that he believed there were other courses that would be more attractive to students and more beneficial to employers. He followed with two options: 1) replace GISC 2411 with a special topics enterprise database course; or 2) replace GISC 2411 with GISC 1125 and another WECM course or two with an equal number of credit hours as GISC 2411. The committee then engaged in an extended and thorough discussion about the merits of the two options posed by Mr. Moran, along with a number of options formed by committee members, including: 1) replace GISC 2411 with a special topics geospatial data management four credit hours course; 2) replace GISC 2411 with GISC 1125 and a special topics geospatial data management three credit hour course; 3) replace GISC 2411 with a special topics geospatial data management course and add GISC 1125 to the degree plan for all GIS certificates and degrees; or 4) leave GISC 2411 in the GIS Level 2 Certificate and AAS Degree and work to improve the course. As the discussion wound down, Committee Chair Schwelling called for a motion. Claire DeVaughan responded by making a motion to “replace GISC 2411 with a special topics course.” Kristi Teykl seconded the motion. Committee Chair Schwelling then called for discussion of the motion. Jack Avis questioned the loss of a course like GISC 2411 that promoted a higher level application of GIS and GPS technology. Hearing no further discussion, Committee Chair Schwelling called for a vote. The motion made by Ms. DeVaughan to “replace GISC 2411 with a special topics course” was approved with a vote of nine in favor and one in opposition. Committee Chair Schwelling then called for a new motion to identify a course or courses to replace GISC 2411. Tekyl responded by making a motion to “add a special topics geospatial data management three credit hour course and a GISC 1025 one credit hour course. Committe Chair Schwelling then called for discussion after consulting with Michael Ouimet on parliamentary procedures. Committee members discussed three options: 1) add a special topics geospatial data management three credit hour course and a GISC 1025 one credit hour course; 2) add a special topics geospatial data management four credit hour course and a GISC 1025 one credit hour course; and 3) add a special topics geospatial data management four credit hour course. Michael Chamberlain then made an alternative motion to “add a special topics geospatial data management four credit hour course.” Stephanie Jensen seconded the motion. Committee Chair Schwelling then called for discussion. After a limited discussion, Committee Chair Schwelling called for a vote. The motion made by Mr. Chamberlain to “add a special topics geospatial data management four credit hour course” was approved with a vote of seven in favor and two in abstention. The committee closed the discussion by suggesting topics to be addressed in the proposed geospatial data management course. Suggested topics included: legacy, field validation, life cycle, change management, integrity, topology, metadata, evaluation, quality assurance and quality control, normalization, scrubbing, workflow, enterprise, and geospatially enabled. Mr. Moran agreed to draft a course title, description, and end-of-course outcomes that capture the spirit of the geospatial data management topics suggested by committee members. Committee Chair Schwelling called for a motion to address the new course title, description, and end-of-course outcomes. Jacquelyn Bilbro responded by making a motion to “finalize and vote on the special topics geospatial data management four credit hour course title, description, and end-of-course outcomes via email.” Ouimet seconded the motion. Hearing no discussion, Committee Chair Schwelling called for a vote. The motion made by Ms. Bilbro to “finalize and vote on the special topics geospatial data management four credit hour course title, description, and end-of-course outcomes via email” was approved by unanimous vote.

Mr. Moran briefly polled committee members to see if they would be including the new ESRI Technical Certification in the list of requirements included in their job postings. Members responded that it was too early and they had no intention of including the ESRI Technical Certification at this time.

Dr. Booth updated committee members on her six-month sabbatical to take a break from teaching and create an online GEOG 2470 Introduction to GIS course. Dr. Booth demonstrated how the new online website works, including interactive lectures and lab exercise demonstration videos. She described this as the first step in an effort to provide online courses for the entire GIS Level I Certificate. Committee members responded positively to Dr. Booth’s online course and efforts to expand the GIS Program online. Committee Chair Schwelling called for a motion to adjourn. Ms. Tekyl’s motion, seconded by Ms DeVaughan, to “close the meeting” was approved by unanimous vote.