Departmental GIS Teaching Conference, co-sponsored by SPLINTUCL

28th June 2007

The Geography of Naming Practice

30th August 2006, RGS, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR

Session Convenors: Pablo Mateos, Richard Webber, Paul Longley

A special conference session at the Royal Geographic Society with the Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference in August-September 2006. 12 experts from different countries presented their research on the geography of naming practice from very diverse approaches. [link]

Profiling for Widening Participation: Universities Under Variable Fees

12 June 2006, A One-Day Conference and Demonstration Session
University College London

This one day conference outlined innovative approaches to the challenge of Widening Participation in the HE sector. The conference appealed to all professionals in Higher Education responsible for meeting government requirements on Widening Participation and for those responsible for promoting and maintaining their organisations position in the higher education premier league. [link]

Keynote Speakers:

Sir Alan Wilson - Director General for Higher Education, DfES
"Widening participation and government policy: implications for your institution"

Virginia Isaac- Director of Marketing and Communications, UCAS
"Employing UCAS data to market your institution and meet your WP requirements"

Dr. David Ashby - UCL
"Geodemographics and postcode lotteries – understanding your current and potential recruitment"

Professor Paul Longley - UCL
Postcodes and widening participation – how do geographical location and subject mixes affect your widening participation initiatives?

Dr. Gaie Davidson-Burnet - Independent Consultant
Institutional and subject geodemographic demonstration: institutional and sector data

The keynote presentations from the conference are now available to download using the links below. These are for download only:

	Sir Alan Wilson - Increasing and Widening Participation (WP): a DfES perspective.
	Virginia Isaac - Employing UCAS data to market your institution and meet your WP requirements
	Dr David Ashby - Postcodes and WP – geodemographic analysis and service delivery
	Professor Paul Longley - University market area analysis for widening participation

The conference addressed the following issues:

How universities and higher education colleges can use their own and sector data to ensure they meet government requirements and remain in the higher education premier league

How sector and institutional data can enable universities and colleges to position themselves within the prevailing policy framework

How available UCAS data can help institutions to design their marketing and student support strategies

Optimal geographical areas from which institutions can attract the best students

How the nature of disciplines offered within institutions affect the types of students they attract

Spatial Literacy in Teaching: Communicating GIScience

24 February 2006, Royal Geographical Society

The conference was held to launch the Spatial-Literacy.org website. 120 delegates listened to speakers presenting a range of recent developments in spatial analysis, software and pedagogy.

The slides from the presentations are available to download as PDF files from the following links.

	Professor Paul Longley (UCL) - www.spatial-literacy.org: outreach for spatial literacy
	Professor Don Janelle, (University of California, Santa Barbara) - GIScience, Learning and Knowledge Transfer in the United States.
	Professor David Maguire (ESRI Inc., Redlands, CA) - Geographic Exploration Systems.
	Professor Michael Goodchild (University of California, Santa Barbara) - It All Starts with a Map: Training and Planning for Disaster
	Professor Richard Webber (UCL) - Teaching GIS concepts by showing how they can inform decisions on topical issues.
	Vice-Chancellor David Rhind (City University) - London’s (GIS) infrastructure
	Dr Nick Tate (Leicester University) - The SPLINT CETL: a resource for UK Higher The SPLINT CETL: a resource for UK Higher Education Education CETL objectives and overview

The Place of GIS in the Curriculum

11 May 2005, University of Leicester

Keynote speaker: Dr Sarah Witham Bednarz

Professor of Geography at Texas A&M University, Project Coordinator for the US Geography Education National Implementation Project (GENIP) and member of the steering committee for the Commission on Geographical Education for the International Geographical Union.

Geospatial technologies (Geographical Information Systems, Satellite Remote Sensing and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have become increasingly important in society and education. They are important tools supporting the search for solution to complex and critical environmental and social problems. As a result, spatial literacy is increasingly demanded by employers in a wide range of occupations, from town planning to mineral extraction and waste disposal.

This event explored the state of practice in teaching spatial literacy and geospatial technologies in different disciplines and fields of higher education in the UK. The purpose of this meeting was to identify areas of good practice and of need. It wasl guided by the aim of enhancing approaches to the learning and teaching of spatial literacy, and developing innovative curricula.

The meeting consisted of plenary and workshop sessions on Wednesday 11 May. For those interested in taking the themes further, there were further discussion sessions the next morning, Thursday 12 May. The aim of these groups was to provide a forum in which to develop a collection of position statements for subsequent publication in the Journal of Geography in Higher Education during 2006 (tbc), and working groups to take forward the use of GIS in higher education in the UK.