Services

Academic Technology Services

Assisting faculty with the design, development and delivery of high-quality instruction is the mission of the Academic Technology Services unit within the Center. ATS provides direct consultation with faculty on all aspects of instructional design, helping faculty to determine the best pedagogical tools for use with their students, regardless of whether this tool is a chalkboard or a computer. However, the ATS staff do specialize in the integration of computer and multimedia technology into instruction, providing faculty with knowledgeable partners as they work to leverage the power these newer technologies bring to the learning environment. The Coordinator of ATS is Kevin Creamer. 

GIS

Integrating Faculty Research, Student Learning and Community Problem-Solving Through GIS 

Opportunity Statement 

The University of Richmond promotes the innovative use of technology in teaching, maintains a strong network infrastructure and supports excellent computer facilities. We believe that combining the strong liberal arts traditions of critical thinking and problem solving with exposure to the latest in technology, best equips our students for the challenges and opportunities of today’s world. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is just one of these technologies, but fits us well since its applications span the disciplines. 

GIS is a tool that allows data to be mapped and analyzed spatially, providing detailed community information for government officials, policy makers, non-profit organizations, law enforcement officers, business owners, and many others. Many leading research universities have GIS Centers focused on problems of national and international significance, but the University of Richmond prefers to see GIS as an opportunity to better integrate our faculty and student body with the greater Richmond community, while teaching our students a method of data analysis that has broad applications. The University’s Strategic Plan states that its central goal is “for students and faculty to interact at the highest levels of teaching and research, discover new insights and deeper questions, and integrate their learning experiences across the curriculum, both inside and outside the classroom.” Cultivating faculty and students with GIS expertise on our campus and developing/executing a plan for applying these skills to assist community-based organizations operationalizes the intent of this central goal. 

Current Resource Assessment 

Many faculty have expressed an interest in using GIS and experience tells us they are quick adopters of instructional technology innovations. We recently adopted BlackBoard, a software tool that allows faculty to put their course materials online and to hold group discussions outside of normal class hours. Eighty courses had an online component in the first semester of use, 125 in the second semester, and 250 in the third, equating to about 50% penetration of our faculty. A recent study in the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that the national average for courseware penetrance is 25%. 

While we have had great success with many technologies, GIS has raised the bar. The analyses that can be performed using GIS are quite sophisticated and, not surprisingly, learning how to properly use the tool is complex. Our faculty and students need: a) time to learn the tool, b) higher end computer equipment, and c) a highly trained, committed support person to lead the way. Presently, we have only one faculty using GIS and he was hired specifically to begin teaching spatial analysis to our students. The University has, however, purchased a site license for ArcView, the primary software used in GIS analysis and it is available on all university computers. We are confident that our faculty will relish the opportunity to learn how to utilize GIS in their teaching and research programs, but we must have an appropriate support structure in place that will allow them to succeed. Our expectation is that 10% of our faculty will be using GIS in their research and teaching by the end of this grant, increasing to 20% by 2005. 

City, county and state governments are collecting population, financial, and real estate data in forms that can be mapped and spatially analyzed. While the government provides some GIS synthesis of these data, the analysis is limited by time and interest. Many community organizations would make great use of these data if they knew how to frame the questions and interpret the analyses. University of Richmond faculty and students with GIS expertise could establish valuable partnerships with community organizations to help them develop the expertise and to work together to answer important local questions. 

Connect Richmond, an established university outreach program, will assist us in making the proper connections to the community throughout the grant activities. Connect Richmond is a direct descendent of a previous Jessie Ball DuPont Foundation grant that sponsored community-based research projects. 

Project Objectives 

To increase the integration of University of Richmond faculty and students with the greater Richmond community 
To develop an effective method of providing support to faculty who use GIS in their research and teaching 
To teach students in a broad range of disciplines how to analyze data spatially and apply this analysis to community concerns 
Activities

Initially, we will competitively select five faculty members to participate in the GIS implementation project. They will be selected using three criteria: a) evidence of having formulated their research question in partnership with a local community organization, b) the importance of GIS analysis in answering their research question, and c) their plan for utilizing GIS in their teaching program. We need to be certain that our investment in these faculty will also help the community and that these faculty will transfer and multiply their new knowledge through the students in their formal classes. 

Each selected faculty will receive a one-semester course release, wages for three student research assistants, and the assistance of a GIS support specialist. Each faculty will be expected to partner with a community organization, complete a formal course on the basics of GIS, incorporate GIS into their teaching, and discuss their experience with other campus faculty and community leaders. 

Faculty will have formal opportunities to discuss their activities with other faculty through lunches sponsored by the Program to Enhance Teaching Effectiveness and Faculty Forum and participation in the annual Teaching & Learning Symposium. Students will present at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium and one student from each research team will be funded to present at an appropriate professional meeting. 

The GIS support specialist hired by this grant will assist the selected faculty, but will also offer instruction in the application and use of mapping and spatial analysis to the non-profit community. This will help us to broaden the impact of this grant outside of the direct faculty-community partnerships. 

Community Outreach

Community representatives will partner with faculty from the inception of the research question through the dissemination of findings. Community/research team luncheons will provide a forum for presenting preliminary (end of Year 1) and completed (end of Year 2) findings, as well as providing an avenue for community leaders to give input to the research projects and also serve to broaden the knowledge base of the community. 

The actual research findings will be made available to the community through the Connect Richmond website and published by the faculty in appropriate peer-reviewed journals. We will discuss program replication with other higher education institutions in the city through Connect Richmond and nationally by presenting our findings at Educause, the premier meeting on the integration of technology in teaching. The President of Educause, is a member of the Board of Trustees, University of Richmond. 

Evaluation

1) Will faculty find the mix of professional staff, student assistants, and building their own skills an appropriate mix of support to learn and use GIS in their teaching and research? We will be successful if: a) these faculty continue to use GIS in their research and teaching, b) these faculty provide positive reviews of the process to their colleagues, and c) we are able to recruit a second group of faculty to repeat this process. 

2) Will students in a variety of disciplines be exposed to GIS? We will be successful if: a) the student research assistants come from a broad range of majors, b) faculty incorporate GIS into the teaching of a wide range of courses, c) students begin to utilize their GIS knowledge in assignments for courses without a GIS component. 

3) Is GIS an appropriate vector for fostering integration of our faculty and the greater Richmond community? We will be successful if: a) the research project has had an impact on the activities of our partner community organizations, b) the faculty member continues their work in the community, and c) community organizations are incorporating spatial data analysis into their decision making process. 

4) Will the non-profit community find the training in spatial mapping and data analysis we provide useful? We will be successful if: a) we are able to recruit community leaders to participate in our instructional sessions, b) these organizations are able to better extract useful information from state and local governments after instruction, and c) these organizations continue to work with our faculty and students in research projects. 

Continuation of Funding 

The University of Richmond has an annual process that allows for continued funding of valuable programs. This project is in direct line with the University’s central goal as articulated in the recently approved 10-year Strategic Plan, it furthers our interest in providing students with technologically sophisticated training, and it allows faculty and community organizations to work together towards a common goal. We are confident that this program will meet the criteria for institutionalization at the end of the grant period.