Teaching & Learning Opportunities

Faculty Support

We provide support and resources for faculty teaching as well as scholarly research.

Classes

  • Modern and mediated computer lab with 20 workstations, as well as collaboration/discussion space.  The lab can be reserved for classes using mapping concepts or spatial software (whether or not the faculty member is working with SAL staff on their classes)
  • Course consultation and curriculum development. For faculty members who want to introduce a spatial thinking or spatial analysis component to a course but are less familiar with the technology themselves, SAL staff will consult with faculty and develop spatial thinking or spatial analysis exercises tailored to the class material and skill goals.
  • “Guest lectures”: SAL staff will meet with classes, either in the Spatial Analysis Lab or the course classroom, to deliver a guest lecture about one of our areas of expertise that is in line with the course goals. Some examples include:
  • GPS data collection
  • Cartography and using maps to communicate data
  • Spatial statistics
  • Using online maps to explore cultural/socioeconomic patterns
  • Satellite imagery interpretation and analysis

Research

  • We work with faculty members who are integrating GIS analysis or spatial data collection into a research plan, and provide support in using the relevant tools, extensions, and software.
  • We provide cartography support to faculty who need a map or other spatial-data-based figure for a presentation or publication.
  • We hold workshops in GPS data collection, cartography, and spatial statistics each semester for all students, faculty, and staff who would like a better understanding of these topics for their scholarly work.

Student Support

We provide support to students currently enrolled in classes using geospatial technologies and/or the Spatial Analysis Lab, as well as any Smith or Five College students using GIS, GPS, or spatial analysis for an independent class project, thesis, special studies, research assistantship, or internship.
  • We have regularly scheduled “Open Lab Hours”  for students to drop by to consult with SAL staff on coursework, projects, or research.
  • We hold workshops in GPS data collection, cartography, and spatial statistics each semester for all students, faculty, and staff who would like a better understanding of these topics for their projects or scholarly work.
  • We work with students who need instruction or assistance in any of the technologies listed below for an independent class project, thesis, special studies, research assistantship, or internship.
We provide group or 1-on-1 research support and instruction for the following programs: Data analysis:
  • ArcGIS desktop
    • Field-collected data
    • US decennial census data
    • Local college, town, and community datasets
    • Raster datasets such as orthoimagery and LiDAR
    • Spatial Analyst, Spatial Statistics, and 3D Analyst Extensions
  • GeoDa Spatial Statistics software
Field data collection:
  • Trimble GPS units and Pathfinder Office GPS data processing
  • Garmin GPS units and GarminDNR GPS data processing
  • Fulcrum app on iOS and Android mobile devices
  • PDFmaps app on iOS mobile devices
  • ESRI ArcGIS app on iOS mobile devices
Cartography and data visualization:
  • ESRI: ArcMap (industry standard for traditional cartography and map layouts)
  • ESRI: ArcGIS online, including web maps, web mapping applications, and story maps
  • Google Earth
 
updated: January 2014 http://bit.ly/sal_learning