WebGIS For K12

THE PROPOSAL

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR K12 TEACHERS IN USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY

$2 Million Targeted To Improve The Digital Skills Of California K12 Student In The Use of Location Based Technologies

Allocates $2 million in the California K12 education budget to support K12 teachers and teachers credential students in the use of geospatial technologies, in particular WebGIS, as an instructional tool that enhances the quality of instruction and better prepares K12 students for the increasingly digital workplace.

This funding will be used to bring awareness and train teachers and teacher credential students in the basic skills and how it can improve instruction.  In recent years WebGIS as a tool in the use of geospatial technology has become increasingly accessible and applicable to the K12 classroom.  With may of the WebGIS interfaces being free and of high quality, teachers will not need special equipment to apply the new skills learned in this training.

Link to Summary Fact Sheet

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PXyFAP0rGSJm0AAN_6pP_zR91XWaKCukec4zMTcK9k0/edit?usp=sharing

To make this request a reality, there is a need to provide letters of support. The optimum time to get letters into the key Legislative office are during the early part of the session (January - March) Letters need to be sent to these key Legislative offices being concentrated on for this effort:

Senate Budget Education Subcommittee

California Senate

State Capitol, Room 5019

Sacramento, California 94249

Senator John Laird, Chair

Budget Subcommittee on Education

State Capitol

Sacramento, California 94249

Assembly Budget Education Subcommittee

California Assembly

State Capitol, Room 6026

Sacramento, California 94249

Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, Chair

Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance

State Capitol

Sacramento, California 94249

What Should Be In The Letter

Letters should open with a simple introduction sentence: I would like to support the budget line-item request to fund the Humboldt State Geospatial program to provide professional development to K12 teachers and teacher credential students in WebGIS.

Second sentence is to identify your role: I am a GIS professional working for xxxxx. You may also want to include how many years you have worked in GIS and something about the types of products you create.

Third sentence/section is to tell something of why you are in support of this request: The use of GIS is becoming increasingly important in our society. Ideas and themes for this could be:

1. With the development of WebGIS the technology has become much easier to use and applies to K12 course work.

2. WebGIS, in particular ArcGIS Online contains a substantial amount of geographic data and interactive maps that are useful for teachers in creating lessons.

3. In my position as xxxx, we provide geographic data layers and interactive maps to the public through ArcGIS Online. These would be very valuable to teachers and students in xxxx classes.

4. The use of WebGIS and access to digital interactive maps would be much more interesting to students than flipping through multiple maps.

Link to Story Map showing the use of WebGIS in K12 as compared to other states. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/337351598d2e434383f18cc51c0682da