Interested in being able to collect, manage, display and analyze data geographically? Gain new skills through the online Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) course that the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) is offering this summer.
This three-credit course is not only an excellent opportunity for a graduate student to pick up some valuable technical experience, it also offers professionals who want or need to learn about GIS the chance do so in a flexible, convenient format.
Regardless of where you are on your educational or professional journey, this class promises to offer effective and concrete skills for a career in public policy and administration. The course is designed for those interested in public policy and administration in general, with an emphasis on natural resource policy and management.
Students will learn to construct, manipulate, display and analyze spatial information. Along the way, they will become familiar with georeferencing concepts, online digitizing, GPS mapping and gathering data from the Internet, especially data offered by the Massachusetts Office of Geographic Information. Course participants will also learn the difference between Raster and Vector data and get exposed to fundamental relational database theory.
This course is a great opportunity to learn from a team with both practical and research experience in applied information management as it relates to environmental policy. Charles Schweik is an associate professor of environmental conservation and public policy at UMass Amherst, who has taught classes like this for more than 12 years. He is also the associate director of the National Center for Digital Government and is an affiliated researcher with the Science, Technology, and Society Initiative; both projects are housed within CPPA. Later this year MIT Press will publish Schweik’s first book, Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software Commons. Lead instructor Walter Jaslanek is an environmental conservation Ph.D. candidate at UMass Amherst who has more than a decade of hands-on professional experience working with GIS and related technologies.
This distance learning course will run from June 5 through July 10. Enrollment information is available here. Sign up today!