Picture it. Students simulating actual wildlife migrations from their fingertips or evaluating the distribution of mass wasting in the urban and suburban areas of a county from the comfort of their classrooms or even developing a model for land stability on which planning decisions might be based.

Such will be the norm at Wittenberg thanks to the National Science Foundation’s three-year grant of close to $100,000, which will extend the university’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology across the curriculum.

“GIS has the capability of revolutionizing the way students in targeted courses acquire, think about and communicate knowledge,” said John Ritter, associate professor of geology and director of environmental studies. Ritter also serves as the project’s director.

GIS technology, which allows students to analyze complex data over space and time, has traditionally been used in field-oriented disciplines such as biology, environmental studies, geography and geology.

According to Ritter, however, it can also be used to study problems in economics, political science, sociology and urban studies, and modeled as a teaching aid in education.

“The ability to visualize data offers unprecedented opportunities for learning in the liberal arts,” Ritter said.Currently, students studying in GIS-intensive fields incorporate GIS into their research.

Students in the course, Geographic Information Systems, taught by Olga Medvedkov, professor of geography and department chair, for example, have analyzed crime patterns in Springfield using GIS technology.

In addition, Tim Lewis, associate professor of biology and department chair, has incorporated some aspects of the technology into his ecology classes.

Present attempts to extend GIS across the curriculum, though, have been limited largely by technology and training.

Departmentally operated computer labs, already taxed with disciplinary demands and outfitted with different levels of technology, have precluded a thorough implementation of GIS as has a lack of proficiency in the technology.

The NSF grant, along with matching funds from Wittenberg, will allow the university to equip a centralized learning laboratory with sufficient computer hardware and peripheral equipment so that students will be able to take full advantage of campus GIS technology.

“The grant provides a physical facility to use the premiere software in the industry,” Lewis noted. “It will also allow us to teach students to think spatially in lots of different areas and do meaningful research.”

The lab will be located on the first floor of Science Hall and will be available for use by August 2001.

Once in place, the lab will be equipped with sufficient student and faculty workstations supported by a dedicated server and will include the latest technology in large-format printing and scanning, digitizers, video projectors, electronic whiteboards, and global positioning systems.

It will also utilize the most advanced line of ArcGIS software, including ArcInfo and ArcView, and additional software, including Image Analysis, Tracker Analyst and RiverTools.

The NSF grant will also train lead faculty members in the use of GIS software and enable them to revise existing curricular materials and create new ones as needed.

“Training of lead faculty will occur during the first year of the grant,” Ritter said. “Workshops will then be held on campus during the summers of 2002 and 2003 to provide instruction for the extended GIS faculty.” Lewis and Medvedkov will join Ritter in serving as initial leaders in faculty training.

“Receiving this grant is easily one of the most exciting things to have happened in my 11 years of teaching for me and my students,” Lewis said. “It’s too cool for words.”

The funding will also allow Wittenberg to extend the use of GIS across the curriculum by providing mentoring opportunities to a self-selected group of faculty that have identified a need and interest in incorporating GIS into their coursework.

“Lead faculty will be paired with three to four faculty with needs that are consistent with their defined areas of expertise in order to facilitate the development and use of the laboratory and/or equipment for instruction,” Ritter said.

“By project’s end, students and faculty alike will have a laboratory facility in which to learn, apply and share GIS-related skills and techniques, providing for a community of learners from different disciplines but utilizing a common technology,” Ritter said.

“It will promote active inquiry.”

—KG