Teaching Interests
My education is mainly in Physical Geography and Geographic Information Science. Although I consider myself to be primarily a Physical Geographer, I’m not afraid to use my skills to tackle problems in Human Geography, as I did for my PhD. All areas of the discipline can make use of geospatial technologies, however there are different levels of preparedness and acceptance for technological innovation throughout the discipline.
GIS Applied to a Human Geography Problem: Determining the cumulative sense of place in a city park, as expressed by 239 study participants.
I love taking a tough geographical problem and using geospatial technologies to provide better understanding of the nature of the problem. Often, this involves “mapping the invisible” — taking an amorphous concept such as place attachment, and mapping it to make it more real. Though a single methodology can rarely “solve” a problem, it’s fun to see just how effective GIS can be when applied to different types of problems.
Many of the problems that I have encountered over the years have made their way into my lectures and lab assignments. These serve to illustrate the capabilities of GIS, explore the range of possible applications, and show some of the difficulties that are encountered when reducing the infinite complexity of the real world to a relatively simple model.
Course Subjects
I have taught many introductory GIS courses and almost all of the 500 -level courses in the Advanced Diploma in GIS Applications at VIU. I particularly enjoy the following course components:
- 3D Modelling (DEMs, TINs, Terrains, LiDAR data, Surface Modelling, Draping Imagery)
- Overlay Modelling (Binary, Index, Weighted)
- Spatial Analysis
- Cartography
- Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou)
In future, I would like to develop the following courses:
- Glacial Geomorphology
- Planetary Geography and Geology
- Artificial Intelligence use in GIS (GeoAI) (once the technology is more mature).
Course Formats
Face-to-Face Courses
Although most of my face-to-face teaching has been in standard lecture format, my classes have typically been small, so I have had a chance to get to know most students quite well.
Students work on assignments with the assistance of Brad Maguire, October, 2008. (Photo: Sara Homer)
Although I prefer smaller numbers of students, I have taught large classes, such as GEOB 270 that I taught as a sessional instructor at UBC Vancouver in 2012 (4 tutorial sections, 100 students). I enjoyed being able to work with the two talented TAs that I had, rather than alone, as is the usual case with my courses.
In 2017, I taught an introductory Geomorphology course (Geog 376), which had a strong field work component to it. I enjoyed this course, and would have liked to add a weekend field trip to view glacial and fluvial landforms, which we covered only through airphoto interpretation work.
Online Courses
I have also taught a lot of online courses, particularly in recent years. My online students are mostly professionals with busy lives outside school, so they tend to be reluctant to participate in anything that doesn’t have a grade associated with it.
In recent years, I’ve been having some fun posting theoretical questions in the course discussions for students to mull over. This is working quite well, since I designed the questions to have no clear answer, so students can come up with points and counterpoints to move the discussion forward. When the discussion closes, I post my thoughts on the matter and why I answered as I did, but I make it clear that there is no single answer to the problem.
The most challenging online course I ever developed was Geog 525, Global Positioning Systems and Survey Analysis. This course had to be a technical tour de force, since it was simply not practical to lend every student (some in foreign countries) tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. The course evolved to have introductory exercises with inexpensive recreational GPS units (purchased in lieu of a textbook), and more advanced virtual exercises dealing with differential GPS correction, mission planning, and tablet usage.
Working With Students
Teaching is intense work, but for me, it’s worth all the effort when I see a student’s face light up when they “get it” and see how to solve their problem.
It is sometimes the students in introductory classes who come up with the wildest applications for GIS, simply because they haven’t learned the limitations of the technology. If it’s extremely difficult, I’m not shy to practice “expectation management”, so that we can come up with a more manageable project that is still of interest to the student. Most advanced students are self-directed, but when they do run into a problem, it can be quite significant, requiring significant work to solve. Some dedicated time, a large whiteboard, and a fresh box of markers are usually sufficient for us to brainstorm a solution.
Overall, I’d have to say that I have no preference for the level of student that I teach. There are excellent students at all levels, and if I can help them to use geospatial technologies, then I’m satisfied with that.
In terms of personality, I prefer students who are motivated, but not driven. Manners matter. While it’s great to deal with students who know what they want, there’s a point at which the added stress of managing those with unrealistic expectations can make the instructor-student connection very one-sided. Once again, expectation management and patience are the keys to keeping the connection positive.