Welcome to the Fall 2023 offerings of Geography 882: Geographic Foundations of Geospatial Intelligence. Dr. Michael Thomas will serve as the instructor for the semester. This orientation allows us to become familiar with the online learning environment, and then get to know one another.
In order to help us to better understand your expectations for GEOG 882 please take a few minutes to complete the Initial Course Survey. The survey contains a few questions and should take less than ten minutes to complete. Your cooperation is appreciated. You can access the survey in "Lesson 00: Course and Program Orientation" in Canvas.
Have you looked at our syllabus [1]? This course orientation will complement and expand on the information provided on our syllabus. Be sure to review the syllabus carefully. A link to the syllabus is also located in the main navigation bar.
At the end of this lesson you will be able to:
If you have any questions now or at any point during this week, please feel free to post them to the GEOG 882 - General Discussion Forum in Canvas.
You should complete the Orientation during the first week of the semester if you don't do it in the week prior to the beginning of the semester. To get started with the course, please follow the required steps below. Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. Specific directions for the assignments below can be found within this Orientation.
This course will be conducted entirely online. There are no set class meeting times, but you will be required to complete weekly assignments. Registered students in this course will need to navigate between several environments. These include:
The instructional materials on this site include lessons, plus the Orientation. Each lesson contains an introduction, reading assignments, links, assessments, etc.
Canvas is the learning management system currently being used by Penn State University. In Canvas, registered students may consult course calendars; communicate with instructors, teaching assistants, and fellow students; submit assignments; receive feedback from the instructor and teaching assistant; take online quizzes and surveys; and check assignment scores and course grades. A link to Canvas appears on every page.
This site includes the majority of the instructional materials for this class. There are a few things you should know about this website.
This site uses a "tab" interface to organize content. The tabs are used as follows:
Following is information about Canvas, Penn State's Learning Management System (LMS). In Canvas, registered students may consult course calendars; communicate with instructors, teaching assistants, and fellow students; submit assignments; receive feedback from the instructor and teaching assistant; take online quizzes and surveys; and check assignment scores and course grades. A link to Canvas appears on every page.
If you are new to Canvas, it is strongly recommended that you complete the PSU: Canvas Student Orientation [3].
You may also want to review the Canvas Student Guide [4] to acclimate yourself further, and watch the following video:
Credit: Canvas Overview for Students [5] from Canvas LMS [6].
In this video, you will learn how to navigate your Dashboard, courses, and Global Navigation Menu in Canvas.
When you log in to Canvas, the first thing you see is the Dashboard, which provides a high-level overview of your current courses. The Dashboard can be displayed in three different viewing options.
Card View displays a course card for each of your favorite courses. Each card can include clickable icons for Assignments, Announcements, Discussions, and Files. List View displays an agenda view of graded items from your courses, as well as any non-graded items your instructors designate for a course To Do list. You can also add your own items to the agenda.
Recent Activity View displays a stream of recent notifications from all your courses, including announcements, conversations, assignments, discussions, and peer reviews.
You can also access the course grades page from the Course Card and Recent Activity Views by clicking the View Grades button. The Grades page displays grades for all of your courses. To view grade details for a specific course, click the name of the course.
To view a course, click the Courses link in Global Navigation and click the name of the course you want to view. The course opens to the home page set by your instructor.
You can use the Course Navigation links, breadcrumb navigation, or the sidebar to navigate to different areas of the course.
The sidebar includes a To Do list that displays links to announcements and other items that require action in your courses, such as assignments, quizzes, discussions, and pages.
If your course includes student groups, you can view a list of your groups in Course Groups. Click the group name to view the group homepage. View recent assignment feedback in Recent Feedback. Click the assignment name to view feedback in the Submission Details page.
Canvas displays a Global Navigation Menu that gives you direct access to your courses and other areas of Canvas.
Click the Account link to log out of Canvas, specify your notification preferences, upload and view personal files, modify your user settings, manage ePortfolios, obtain a QR code to log in to the Student app, view global announcements, and enable a high-contrast user interface.
Click the Dashboard link to return to the Canvas Dashboard. Click the Courses link to quickly access your favorite courses and view a list of all your courses. Click the Groups link to access groups in which you are enrolled or view a list of all your groups.
Click the Calendar link to view your personal calendar and course calendars. Click the Inbox link to view and send messages to your instructors and peers within Canvas. Click the History link to view a list of course content and content areas you have viewed within the last three weeks.
Click the Help link to access help resources for your institution.
Thanks for watching this Canvas overview video. To learn more about Canvas, ask questions, or engage with other Canvas users, please visit community.canvaslms.com.
The Canvas Help Center provides extensive, up-to-date documentation [7] on making sure your computer is configured properly for Canvas. Failure to follow these recommendations may result in significant issues while viewing materials, taking assessments, and using drop boxes. Use of unsupported browsers is at your own risk.
Before you begin working through the course content, you need to make sure the computer you are using is configured properly for the multimedia that you will encounter. Below are specifications and tests to help make sure everything is in working order.
For this course, we recommend the minimum technical requirements outlined on the World Campus Technical Requirements [8] page, including the requirements listed for same-time, synchronous communications.
Access to a reliable Internet connection is required for this course. A problem with your Internet access may not be used as an excuse for late, missing, or incomplete coursework. If you experience issues with your Internet connection while working on this course, it is your responsibility to find an alternative Internet access point, such as a public library or Wi-Fi ® hotspot.
This site is considered a secure website, which means that your connection is encrypted. We do however link to content that isn't necessarily encrypted. This is called mixed content. By default, mixed content is blocked in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome. This may result in a blank page or a message saying that only secure content is displayed. Follow the directions below to view the mixed content.
We have YouTube video material in many of the lessons in this course. Chances are pretty good that you already use a Web browser that is configured to view YouTube videos, but to be safe, here is a "test" file that you should try out now to make sure you won't have problems later in the course. If this video (1:42) runs smoothly for you, then you're ready to go. If you can't get the video to play on your computer, then please refer to the steps at the bottom of this page to troubleshoot your issue.
♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ (background music.)
Request Help. If you still have not had any success, then it is time for you to contact the HelpDesk. University Park or Commonwealth Campus students should contact the IT Service Desk [9], and World Campus students should contact the Outreach Helpdesk [10]. It is in your own best interest to be as specific as you possibly can. Vague descriptions of an issue only delay assistance. Try to include information such as:
Canvas supports several modes of communication, including discussions, conversations, and announcements. This course may use a combination of the options below.
Discussions [11] are threaded discussion areas within the course. Everyone enrolled in the class can post messages of their own and can read and respond to everyone else's messages. A series of messages that make up a conversation is called a "thread."
Conversations [12] is the Canvas messaging tool used instead of email to communicate with a course instructor, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. You can communicate with other people in your course at any time.
Whenever you post a message in a forum or send course mail, please entitle every message with a descriptive subject line. Subject lines that include the gist of a question or comment increase the chances that students and instructors can retrieve the messages we're looking for. Poor subject lines, such as "Question" or "Lesson 1," are useless as search keywords.
Announcements [13]are occasional messages from the instructor that appear when you log into your course. It is important to configure your notifications preferences [14] so that you receive announcements where and when you wish to receive them.
Your Canvas Profile and User Settings let you control your personal information in Canvas. Take a few minutes to personalize your Canvas profile and set your Notification Preferences, by following the instructions below.
Task | Instructions |
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Personalize your Canvas Profile |
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If you use PSU OneID |
Students who are enrolled with OneID will not receive emails automatically from Canvas due to not having PSU email access. We advise that students set up a personal email address for notifications.
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Set your notification preferences |
You have the option to select how, when, and for what information you would like to receive notifications. This can be very helpful when keeping track of items such as discussion posts, assignment due dates, and exams. Visit Canvas Notification Preference Support [16] and follow the instructions for setting up your notification preferences. The video below this table provides additional information. To ensure that your Canvas Inbox messages forward to your regular e-mail account immediately, check the "Notify me right away" option (the checkmark) for each item under "Conversations" in Notification Preferences. |
Set your timezone |
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Download the Canvas App | For information on using the app by device, please see the following:
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It is very important that we all get to know each other, despite the fact that we may well never meet in person. Let me share our teaching philosophy. First and foremost, we believe that learning, especially about Geography, should be fun. We will do our best to make this course enjoyable and challenging. We also believe that we are all partners in the educational process. That means that you have to do your part by doing the readings and other activities, participating in online discussions prepared and with a good attitude, and generally being committed to your own success. You will get out of this program what you put into it. We want this course to provide you with knowledge you need to both be successful in the rest of the program, and to make you a better analyst and, more importantly, critically thinking citizen. We are here to facilitate your learning, but we hope that you will learn as much or more from the interaction with your classmates (some of whom are probably Geospatial Intelligence practitioners). Thus, we need to be comfortable with each other in our virtual classroom.
Please read over my Instructor Information [20]. Then we'll ask you to introduce yourself via a Canvas discussion forum.
Task | Instructions |
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Introduce yourself and meet the rest of the class! |
We will use a discussion forum in Canvas to post and read self-introductions. To access the discussion forum:
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Start a conversation. | View other students' postings to learn more about them! Chime in and welcome them to the class! Find someone you have something in common with, or better yet, someone you don't! |
Here are some quick tips to keep in mind when preparing to be successful in an online course:
You should plan to devote at least the same amount of time to your online courses as you would to attending lectures on campus and completing assignments. Other good study habits, such as attending class (logging on) regularly and taking notes, are just as important in an online course as they are in a lecture hall!
You should plan to devote 10-12 hours per week to completing lesson readings and assignments. Your learning will be most effective when you spread this participation out and engage with the course on a daily basis, if possible.
Take every opportunity to interact with the content, the instructor, and your classmates by completing assignments and participating in discussion forums and group activities!
Keep in sync with what's going on in the course and stay on top of deadlines and upcoming assignments.
Ask for guidance when you are in need of clarification. You can also use the Discussion Forum to ask general questions about the course set-up or content.
The links below will connect you with other resources to help support your successful online learning experience:
This website provides links to many resources on everything from taking notes online to managing your time effectively. Please note that you must be a World Campus student to receive some of the support services mentioned on this website.
As a student, you have access to several resources to help you improve your understanding of the course material, or better use technology needed for your courses. This website provides instructions and links for accessing online tutoring, writing help, and assistance with learning technology.
As a Penn State World Campus student, you rely on technology in many ways to complete your courses. If you are comfortable with Web basics such as online shopping, sending email, or posting to social media, you may already consider yourself fairly tech-savvy. But you likely are overlooking some ways to take advantage of technology that can boost your productivity and help you become a more successful online student. This site offers some tips that might be especially helpful.
This blog features posts by Penn State staff and students on a wide variety of topics relevant to online learning. Learn from online students and alumni, as well as staff members dedicated to student success, how you can get the most out of your online course experience.
The iStudy online learning tutorials are free and available to all Penn State students. They cover a broad range of topics including online learning readiness, time management, stress management, and statistics - among many others. Check out the extensive list of topics for yourself to see what topics may be of most use to you!
Many of you have been out of school for a while, and many of you have never gone to school online. You are now "Adult Learners," and the research shows that adults learn differently, especially in online environments. You do not all learn in the same way, either. What I want to do in this section is prepare you for success by helping you understand different learning styles, and what style best suits you. I also want you to understand the different levels of cognitive learning so that you will be successful in the course.
Review the information on the following website so that you understand the characteristics of adult learners, and what motivates adult learners. After you review the website, ask yourself, "How does all of this apply to me as a student?"
Characteristics of Adult Learners [26]
(Last accessed February 26, 2021)
If you want to assess your own learning style and motivation style, then try these two assessments.
You are now doing graduate level work, which demands higher levels of cognitive learning. Benjamin Bloom created his famous Bloom's Taxonomy, where he categorized levels of cognitive understanding. Basic competencies at the knowledge level such as memorizing and recalling facts are inadequate for the geospatial intelligence practitioner and for graduate students. You will be called upon to engage in critical thinking, requiring you to demonstrate higher order thinking skills.
Review Bloom's Taxonomy to ensure you understand the terminology and what higher order thinking skills will be expected in your coursework.
This course will focus on analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Ensure you apply these concepts when asked to do so in assignment instructions. The following website serves as a quick reference with examples of Bloom's Taxonomy. It is worth a moment of your time to review and perhaps print them out.
By now, you realize the learning is different for each individual. However, I as an instructor must standardize the course material to fit the Canvas environment. I try to cater to different learning styles, but ultimately you have to take the course as it is. Learning comes easier for some than others. To help you study "smarter" rather than "harder" the following websites are resources to help you.
Set yourself up for success by developing a study plan. Consider where, when, and how you will study and then make a plan that will work for you. Students who fail to make such a plan often have unnecessary difficulty with what should be a great educational experience.
I do not know about you, but my life is in constant overdrive. Between my job, family, and all the other little extras it seems like I am always on the go. As adult online learners you do not have the discipline or support of scheduled classes in a brick and mortar classroom. It gets so easy to just push studying farther back on your list of priorities. You must be self-disciplined to schedule time (about 10-12 hours a week) for study and assignment completion. I recommend you set aside several standardized blocks of time in your schedule (put it in Outlook and on your Smartphone, then you will have to study). You might think about making a weekly calendar listing all of your activities, and then identify the blocks of study time to which you can commit. This class has assignments due every week. Some of them are group discussions where it will be evident if you are unprepared. Do not let yourself get behind so that you do not let yourself and your classmates down.
The website below from Virginia Tech is an interactive tool to help you figure out how much time there is for study.
Time Management Strategies [32]
(Last accessed February 26, 2021)
Some of you may not have done much graduate level writing lately. Writing is an essential skill both to focus your thinking and to enable you to achieve higher levels of learning, and it is an essential skill for geospatial intelligence professionals to communicate their results and recommendations. Writing clearly and concisely is an essential skill.
Below, you will find several online references to help you write better.
Now that you have checked out the websites above, select one that you think would be the best desktop writing aid and create a bookmark in your browser. You now have a writing guide bookmark that you can refer to anytime you have a question.
This week was fairly easy, but we did some important things. You are now familiar with:
The key things for this week were to master the Canvas environment, get to know your instructor and classmates, and understand how to succeed. This lesson is the foundation on which you can build your future success in the course.
Please view the trailer for the Geospatial Revolution Series for an introduction to the field of geospatial intelligence.
KASS GREEN, American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing: Say you're in California, where I live, and you want to know how susceptible your house is to a wildfire. [SIRENS] So we put sensors, like our eyes, on satellites. We collect information, and then computers create maps. OK, now you have a map, so you want to analyze that map. Well, you'll take the information about the slope. Are you on a dead-end street? Do you have a lot of fuel around your house? You put all that information into a computer. And it can tell you how at risk you are for losing your home to a wildfire.
MARK BRENDER, GeoEye: Ever since the Babylonians etched the lay of the land on clay tablets in BC, mankind has needed accurate representations of the earth.
KASS GREEN Maps used to be made on horseback in the 1800s. They took a long time to make, so we evolved to aerial photography, and that's made a huge difference with how humans understand the earth. [PILOT'S VOICE]
JACK DANGERMOND, ESRI GIS & Mapping Software: In the 60's, people began to think about the notion of encapsulating or abstracting geography in a computer. And people could look at the database and visualizations or analytics. And that was just a magical idea.
[CROWD CHEERING]
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So help you God?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: So help me God.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Congratulations, Mr. President.
CONGRESSMAN JOHN SARBANES: The Obama campaign took to a new level their use of technology with respect to mapping.
KASS GREEN: They knew what voters to target. They knew where the marginal voter was. And, frankly, the ones that use it the most effectively get elected.
MARK BRENDER: After 9/11, US troops went into Afghanistan, and they went in with Russian maps because who would ever think you'd have to have maps of Afghanistan.
VICE ADMIRAL ROBERT MURRETT Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Geospatial intelligence has become really the foundation for just about anything that happens in the military. It has to do with understanding, in a very time-sensitive fashion, things that may be developing in different parts of the world.
HON. JAMES R. CLAPPER Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence It's the ability to enable decision makers, whether they're someone sitting in the White House or someone sitting in the foxhole.
MARK BRENDER: More than half the world's population now lives in urban areas. Thirteen of the largest cities are on coastlines. So, how do you model in potential rise of sea level because of climate change?
RICHARD ALLEY, Geoscientist, Nobel Prize Winner, Penn State: We simply could not know how the earth works without geospatial technologies telling us where things are, how they're related, how it's put together to tell us the story of what really is happening.
SCOTT EDWARDS, Amnesty International: The conflict in Darfur is over five years old now. Somewhere around 400,000 people have died. We wanted to go to the place, collect testimony, take photographs. The Sudanese government had very little interest in having us on the ground. So we purchased satellite imagery, and we saw whole villages destroyed. We took those images to the Sudanese government to let them know that people around the world were watching these villages remotely.
DAVID DIBIASE, Mapping Scientist, Penn State For the insiders, the transition to digital geography has been truly revolutionary. We can navigate our world with much greater confidence than we could have before. It's changed the science agenda. It's changed the technology. It's created new occupations. But for those outside, who may not even be aware that there is a field called geospatial, it has made geography ordinary, which is the most revolutionary thing of all.
Your deliverable this week was to post your introduction in the Lesson 00 discussion area. There are no points assigned this week, but we will all be very disappointed in anyone who does not post—we all want to know you.
Next week, we are going to explore the basics of geography and how and why they apply to geospatial intelligence. In our next lesson, we are going to consider:
You will also learn about online discussions as you participate in Online Discussion Forum 1.
Do not forget to post your introduction before going on to Lesson 1. Enjoy the rest of your week, and I look forward to reading the introductory posts of my new partners in education.
Before you move on to Lesson 01, double-check the Lesson 00 Checklist [38] to make sure you have completed all of the required activities for this lesson.
If you have any questions now or at any point during this week, please feel free to post them to the GEOG 882 - General Discussion Forum in Canvas.
Links
[1] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog882/syllabus
[2] https://psu.instructure.com
[3] https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1780857
[4] https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-4121
[5] https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Video-Guide/Canvas-Overview-Students/ta-p/383771
[6] https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Video-Guide/tkb-p/videos
[7] https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1284
[8] https://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/general-technical-requirements
[9] http://itservicedesk.psu.edu/#
[10] http://student.worldcampus.psu.edu/technical-support
[11] http://guides.instructure.com/m/8470/l/190706-how-do-i-reply-to-a-discussion-as-a-student
[12] http://guides.instructure.com/m/8470/l/40303-what-is-conversations
[13] https://guides.instructure.com/m/4212/l/76772-how-do-i-view-announcements-as-a-student
[14] http://guides.instructure.com/m/8470/l/73162-how-do-i-set-my-notification-preferences
[15] https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1285
[16] https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10624-4212710344
[17] https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1559
[18] https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1666
[19] https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Video-Guide/Notification-Settings-All-Users/ta-p/383690
[20] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog882/resources/l3_p2.html
[21] https://student.worldcampus.psu.edu/academic-support-resources/strategies-to-improve-online-learning
[22] http://student.worldcampus.psu.edu/course-work-and-success
[23] https://blog.worldcampus.psu.edu/9-tech-tips-supercharge-productivity/
[24] http://studentblog.worldcampus.psu.edu/
[25] http://istudy.psu.edu/
[26] https://www.ode.state.or.us/wma/teachlearn/testing/resources/essentialskillreading_hs_level3_characteristicsadultlearners.pdf
[27] http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml
[28] http://www.seemypersonality.com/personality.asp?p=Motivation-Test#q1
[29] https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
[30] http://www.geosoc.org/schools/pass/
[31] https://campushealth.unc.edu/health-topics/academic-success/obstacles-academic-success/avoiding-study-traps
[32] http://ucc.vt.edu/academic_support/online_study_skills_workshops/time_management_strategies.html
[33] http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/
[34] https://writing.wisc.edu/workshops/
[35] https://gwc.psu.edu/
[36] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c1.html
[37] http://geospatialrevolution.psu.edu
[38] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog882/orientation/checklist