Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Welcome 2013 Students


Welcome! 

The purpose of this blog is to share useful resources, tips, and most importantly, to showcase students' work, innovation, and achievements.  The journey for our 2013 group begins here! Find the latest student work from this semester's GIS4043 Geographic Information Systems and GIS3015 Cartographic Skills courses. Return weekly to meet our distinguished students in the Student Spotlight series.

Meet the staff local to Pensacola
From Left: Brittney Markle, Fritz Langerfeld, Leah Lewis,
Tanya Gallagher, Amber Bloechle, and Claire Lacey

What are Students Up to Now? 

The first few weeks of class ease students into ESRI ArcGIS and Adobe Illustrator software to create visually pleasing, honest maps.  Expect to find some of the best maps made by beginners here and on their blogs! Even our students who've worked with GIS before or use it every day are sure to add useful skills to their toolbox.  To find a particular student, look to the right-hand side of the page where students are listed alphabetically by last name.


What's New this Year?

Aside from software upgrades and course material updates (we stay happily busy keeping up with changes in software and industry), this semester, we are excited to provide students with video demonstrations of labs created by our very own Penelope Bishop Mitchell. We just know students will love her insight and witty commentary!

Penelope Bishop Mitchell
@ Salar de Uyuni salt flats, Bolivia


On student's personal blogs, expect to see more blog-like posts.  That is, more details on the student's journey through this program and less details on specific steps taken to reach a final output.

We'd also like to welcome our new Graduate Assistant, Brittney Markle. She comes to us from the University of Memphis, TN where she earned her bachelor's degree in Earth Sciences/Geography. After graduation, Brittney worked as a GIS technician at the University of Memphis Center for Partnerships in GIS. Brittney is currently working towards her Masters of Environmental Science here at UWF.  Glad to have you on the team, Brittney!

Brittney Markle



A Note to Students from your Coordinator: 

Students,
I'm excited to begin the year with a group so eager to learn GIS! As usual, we have a diverse group so, I look forward to learning about what brought you here, learning from your insight within our online community, and watching you progress through the journey towards earning your GIS Certificate.

I hope you'll find the blog to be a beneficial tool to your career in GIS, and in the meantime, fun! Yes, it's required, but you own it. Remember to use the label gadget to label each post with the course name (Cartography or IntroGIS) so visitors will be able to follow your blog with ease. If you've never created a blog before, you aren't alone.

Know that instructors and staff want you to succeed.  We are here to help with every concept, assignment, and related tangent along the way. The camaraderie built among classmates over a year of tackling weekly GIS projects is a benefit during the program and beyond.

Let's get to work!

Best,
Amber Bloechle