Teaching Geography for the 21st Century
lead by Dr. Joseph Kerski, ERSI Education Manager and Geographer
eNetLearning Certified Facilitators Provided for Each Course
DATES, TIMES, NUMBER OF SESSIONS: Check the course catalog for dates at https://www.enetlearning.org/course-catalog-and-descriptions/.
Teaching Geography in the 21st Century from Joseph Kerski on Vimeo.
As the COVID-19 situation makes sadly and abundantly clear, geography is more relevant now than ever before. Furthermore, the maps and dashboards that you and millions of others have been looking at were created using powerful web based mapping tools. You have access to these same tools as an instructor, and so do your students!
How should modern geography be taught? What approaches, tools, readings, activities, and data should be used to foster engagement with the geographic inquiry process? Join me through an online Teaching Geography in the 21st Century Course through enetlearning. This course will include discussion, videos, readings, short assessments, and hands-on activities with interactive 2D and 3D maps, infographics, field surveys, storymaps, and more.
Geography in the 21st Century Syllabus
COURSE CONTENT: Fundamental to geography is the study of issues surrounding land use, natural hazards, population, economics, and political issues, topics that will be emphasized in this course. However, as geography encompasses all that is in the world, at multiple places, scales, and time periods, it is impossible to cover its breadth in the short time that our course will run. Therefore, this course will touch on these issues focusing on how to use 21st Century perspectives, themes, and tools to teach to these issues.
- Rural, Urban, Economic, Land Use, and Population Issues: In this 5 week course participants will deepen their understanding of and ability to effectively teach population dynamics (including such concepts as settlement, land use, age, birth rate, growth rate, and human-environment interaction), land use issues (such as zoning, sense of place), urban issues (such as historical and current development of cities, site vs. situation, and challenges facing cities), and economic geography (including industrialization, employment, measures of development).
- Core Geography Themes: Embedded in studying these issues are core geography themes such as considerations of scale in patterns and processes, interpreting maps and analyzing geospatial data, understanding and explaining the implications of associations, networks, and interconnections among phenomena in places, defining regions and the regionalization process, and understanding the nature of and limitations of geographic data.
- Spatial Perspectives and Tools: The spatial perspective is critical to understanding geographical content and processes. Being competent and confident in the application of the spatial perspective to geographical understanding enhances and strengthens our ability to communicate and teach about human geography. A number of powerful web mapping and related tools are now available for the geography instructor. This course builds familiarity and confidence in using these tools through a series of hands-on activities.
Upon completion, you will receive a certificate for 30 continuing education units. Two graduate hours from Adams State University can be purchased for an additional $110 paid directly to ASU.
For additional questions, please contact Joesph Kerski at jkerski@esri.com or Carolyn Gardner at carolyngardner@enetlearning.org.