Bucknell GIS & Spatial Thinking
Integrating GIS across the curriculum in teaching and research
GIS at Bucknell
Integrating GIS & spatial thinking into courses and research projects often involves a significant investment of time and energy up front - but makes for deeply engaging learning experiences for students and faculty alike. Bucknell faculty identify teaching as their first priority. With small class sizes, extensive student-faculty interaction, and faculty scholarship that often directly involves undergraduates in the research process there are ample opportunities for students to forge close, collegial working relationships with their peers and professors. At Bucknell, the GIS Specialist position facilitates the integration of GIS & spatial thinking by assembling faculty-student-staff partnerships to develop curricular materials as well as advance faculty and student research and scholarship.
Scroll through the slideshow to learn more about Bucknell's approach to integrating GIS across the curriculum in teaching, research & scholarhip - and how our work helps connect campus to the surrounding community.
We locate our campus-wide GIS support in the library in recognition of the broad interest in GIS and spatial thinking across academic departments and with the knowledge that the work we do with faculty and students on GIS & spatial thinking benefits greatly from our ability to call on the expertise of our Library & IT colleagues (including but not limited to: Digital Pedagogy & Scholarship, Research Services, Special Collections & University Archives, Systems Integration, and Institutional Research & Analytics).
Our history
In 2009, Bucknell University created a new staff position, GIS Specialist, as part of the Instructional Technology group in the Library & IT Division. This new staff position was the result of growing interest in GIS and geospatial technologies across campus, stoked and sustained for many years by Professors Ben Marsh (Geography/Environmental Studies & Sciences), Carl Kirby (Geology) and Duane Griffin (Geography). The mandate for the new position was to integrate GIS & spatial thinking across the curriculum in teaching, research & scholarship. The GIS Specialist was hired in summer 2009 and set to work getting a site license of ESRI software as well as dedicated server space for faculty and students to store GIS projects. Instead of having GIS software installed in a few specialized labs on campus, the decision was made to ArcMap to the classroom/lab software image - meaning that faculty and students could access GIS software on any Windows machine on campus.
By 2012, the number of faculty, students, courses and research projects integrating GIS at Bucknell had grown dramatically and it became clear that a different staffing model was needed - in part because of the huge interest in GIS, but also in recognition of the need to support a wider variety of digital pedagogy and scholarship technologies and methods including text encoding/analysis, digital video projects, podcasts, data visualization, etc.
Clockwise from top left: GIS Day Cake (2010), Civil Engineering students working in the GIS lab, summer research student Amber McDonnell working with GIS Specialist Janine Glathar, summer research students Daniel Dougherty, Robby Holler, Darin Rockwell and Daniel Ladd setting up the Total Station GPS for a data collection project, poster for the GIS & Spatial Thinking Conference hosted by Bucknell in November 2012, GIS Day Cake (2012).
After hosting the Bucknell GIS & Spatial Thinking Conference in November 2012 with more than 150 attendees from 54 universities, Bucknell made the decision to invest in creating the Digital Pedagogy & Scholarship group at Bucknell - adding 3 new staff positions to help with project coordination, web app and data development - including GIS & spatial thinking, but also a much broader range of digital pedagogy & scholarship integrations. Having this support structure in place over the past fourteen years has proved invaluable for helping faculty from across the university integrate GIS and other digital tools/methods into their teaching and research and has created opportunities for innovative projects and partnerships to emerge. The leadership and vision of Param Bedi, Bucknell’s Vice President of Library & IT from 2008-2023 and now Bucknell’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, was instrumental in creating and growing this program and we are deeply grateful for his ongoing support!
Teaching & Learning with GIS at Bucknell
Visit our teaching & learning with GIS at Bucknell page for a comprehensive look at how we integrate GIS & spatial thinking into the classroom at Bucknell. Browse through the materials below for an overview of key metrics, classroom-based projects and curricular materials.
Key Metrics
When the GIS Specialist started at Bucknell in 2009, a key goal was to reach as broadly across campus as possible in terms of the range of academic departments, learning contexts and student colleges/majors. Over the last 14 years, the number of course integrations has steadily risen and we have broadened our impact to reach students in a variety of contexts over their time at Bucknell - with many students having multiple opportunities in different courses to work with GIS and spatial thinking in labs, assignments or projects. The immersive section below includes a series of visualizations showing the number of courses, departments and students involved in GIS and spatial thinking over the last fourteen years, including a detailed look at the type of learning contexts (e.g. 1st year seminars, major requirements, study abroad, etc.) and range of students being exposed to GIS & spatial thinking during their time at Bucknell
The number of faculty integrating GIS into the courses has risen steadily, broadening out from its initial strongholds in the Civil & Environmental Engineering, Geology, Geography and Environmental Sciences departments across the curriculum in the three colleges.
As faculty have become more familiar with the range of services we provide for GIS and spatial thinking support, we have had success integrating GIS broadly across different learning contexts. Increasingly we see students having multiple GIS-integrated courses over their four years at Bucknell (and that doesn't include any exposure they might get to GIS on either a faculty-sponsored or independent research project)
The number of distinct courses integrating GIS and the total number of students enrolled in those courses has risen significantly over the last four years.
Looking at the number of courses and student enrollment by academic year highlights the large leap in the number of courses integrating GIS from around 20 each year AY2019-20 through AY2021-22 to almost twice as many in AY2022-23.
A first semester-first year student might do a storymap project for their foundation seminar and then find that their second semester or second year major requirement course includes a GIS assignment. They may find themselves in a major that also includes a GIS project in a qualitative or quantitative methods course. They may encounter another storymap project in a study abroad course. Or they might use GIS in a culminating experience like an honors thesis or capstone project.
Teaching Showcase
Enter search terms or use the filter to find examples of student projects, storymaps and course materials from GIS-integrated classes at Bucknell. Currently the showcase features material primarily from academic years 2019-20 through 2022-23, but we will continue to backfill additional, older material as we have time.
Teaching Showcase - Student Work
Please note - this showcase is a work in progress and currently only has material for a few courses. We will add more soon!
Teaching Showcase - Course Materials & Pedagogy
Please note - this showcase is a work in progress and currently only has material for a few courses. We will add more soon!
Research & Scholarship
Visit our GIS Research & Scholarship at Bucknell page for a comprehensive look at how Bucknell faculty and students are using GIS for a wide range of research and scholarship projects.
Research & Scholarship Showcase
Enter search terms or use the filter to find examples of GIS-integrated research and scholarship from Bucknell faculty and students. Currently the showcase features material primarily from academic years 2019-20 through 2022-23, but we will continue to backfill additional, older material as we have time.
Scroll through the showcase below to see examples of GIS-related independent research projects done by undergraduate students at Bucknell. Please note - this showcase is a work in progress and currently only has material for a few courses. We will add more soon!
Campus & Community
Visit our connecting campus to community with GIS page for a look at how Bucknell faculty and students integrate GIS into collaborative projects with community partners.
GIS Support at Bucknell
Software
Bucknell has a site license for ESRI’s suite of GIS software products. ArcGIS Pro is installed on all classroom and lab Windows computers at Bucknell and ArcGIS Online is available to anyone with a Bucknell login. The site license includes unlimited use of any of ESRI’s software products by Bucknell students and faculty for academic purposes. The site license also provides one-year time-out license of fully-functional ArcGIS desktop software (with all of the extensions) for Bucknell faculty and students to use on their own personal computers. You are allowed to renew the license every year you're at Bucknell.
Labs
- ArcGIS Pro desktop software is installed on all Windows classroom and lab machines on campus and is also available via remote access.
- GIS Lab (Academic West 209)
- GIS Underground Lab (Bertrand Library Lower Level 1 Room 020)
