GIS AND COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING IN AN UNDERGRADUATE CLASSROOM

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) represent an important and increasingly popular tool in geology and other fields. Community-based learning is an excellent way for students to gain a better appreciation for the functionality of GIS, while encouraging independent thinking and problem solving. Community-based learning pairs students with local organizations to help the organizations address a need. This relationship is mutually beneficial, as it teaches students to complete a project efficiently and professionally, while allowing them to serve their community in a meaningful way. Community-based learning fosters ties between colleges and their communities through the sharing of knowledge.

Students in Oberlin College’s “Applied GIS” geology course partnered with non-profit and government organizations to complete community-based research projects in northeastern Ohio. Students were required to act independently, gathering data from various sources, planning data processing, preparing data, and performing data analysis. This learning style placed emphasis on both the students’ autonomy in the process, and on the teamwork necessary to complete the projects. Students’ partnership with their community partners paralleled real-world, employee-employer relationships through the completion of a detailed project proposal, consistent communication, creation and presentation of a final poster, and a written final report. Although some problems arose during these projects, most could have been solved or avoided through improved communication with project partners, better time management, and closer instructor supervision. Despite these challenges, each group was able to create a poster and present their findings to community partners at the end of the course.

The students’ technical and analytical abilities in GIS greatly improved as a result of the time and effort expended on their projects. Feedback from the community partners has shown that the projects provided a useful service for organizations that would otherwise have been unable to conduct such research. The community-based research projects proved to be highly beneficial for both the students and greater community, increasing student knowledge while allowing them to give back to the larger community.