Instructor: Dr. Peter Linehan
Office: 220 Science-Technology Building.
Telephone: 717-749-6089.
Email:
pel2@psu.edu
Course Intern: Mr. Aaron Cook, Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Email: amc339@psu.edu
Office Hours:
Email or telephone for an appointment.
Stop by when I am in the office.
Course Objectives: In this course, students will acquire the basics of spatial data analysis using geographic information systems technology. The course will cover acquiring data, manipulating databases, and displaying the results to solve spatial analysis problems. Problems will come largely from natural resources sciences and forest management. GIS is rapidly becoming a standard technology in many disciplines that use data having a spatial component. Students with knowledge and experience in GIS may improve their job prospects significantly.
Meeting time:
The class will meet from 1:15 to 3:05 pm on Tuesday and Thursday in the 108 General Studies Building computer lab. (These odd start and stop times were chosen to accommodate students in calculus.) Students will be expected to work outside of class to complete projects and assignments.
Class Website:
Materials for this course can be found on the ANGEL course management system located at http://cms.psu.edu . If you are registered for the course it will appear when you log in to ANGEL.
Academic credits: 3
Texts: GIS
Fundamentals: A First Text on Geographic Information Systems
by Paul Bolstad (Third Edition. Second is ok, too.). Getting to Know ArcGIS
desktop. Ormsby, T. et. al. (Second edition for ArcGIS 9)
Materials: Most of the work can be done on the lab computers. It will be very helpful for students to have a USB portable hard drive. Blank CD’s may also be necessary. If you want to work at home on your own computer a broadband internet connection is helpful, but not required.
Software Used: The course will use ArcGIS 9.2 installed in the computer labs. We will also use online data sources and resources. Much of the data we will use will come from the Pennsylvania Geospatial Data clearinghouse: http://www.pasda.psu.edu
Evaluation:
With a small group such as this I prefer to run the course as workshop rather than a formal course with tests. You will work on projects that will include the projects at the end of the chapters of the book and analysis projects using outside data. You will be graded on four projects and my evaluation of your effort.
|
Test 1 |
20% |
|
Test 2 |
20% |
|
Test 3 (comprehensive during finals week) |
20% |
|
Class Projects |
25% |
|
Academic Festival Project |
15% |
Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
Grade Percentage earned
|
A |
91 - 100 |
|
A- |
89 - 90 |
|
B+ |
87 - 88 |
|
B |
81 – 86 |
|
B- |
79 – 80 |
|
C+ |
77 - 78 |
|
C |
71 – 76 |
|
D |
65 – 70 |
|
F |
< 65 |
Academic Fair: This year Penn State Mont Alto will again be holding a Student Academic Festival on April 15. The deadline for project submissions is February 27. The purpose of this new tradition is to highlight student work and research projects. Given that one of the main goals of GIS is to communicate findings to the public, all students will present a project at the festival. This may be a poster presentation or an oral presentation. More information will be presented later.
Class Policies:
General Philosophy
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR REACHING YOUR EDUCATIONAL GOALS. This means that class attendance, completion of assignments, reading the text, studying for and taking tests etc. are all your responsibility. The instructor cannot help you if you don’t ask for help.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend all class sessions. However, attendance is not part of the calculation of your grade. Please inform the instructor by email or telephone if you must be absent from class. Following Commonwealth College policy, your attendance will be reported during the fourth week and you attendance and progress will be reported during the seventh week of the semester.
Academic Integrity
Cheating and plagiarism is wrong. A reduction of grade or a zero may be given for plagiarized assignments.
Here is the University College Academic Integrity Policy that we will follow: https://teamworks.campuses.psu.edu/uc/Academic%20Programs/UCpolicies.pdf
The College of Agricultural Sciences has a helpful website on this topic: http://academicintegrity.cas.psu.edu/
Class Preparation
It is your responsibility to come to class prepared. This includes reading the assignments and being ready to ask and answer questions.
Late assignments
Completed assignments should be handed in on time unless the instructor postpones the due date or you make prior arrangements. If you find that you cannot complete an assignment on time then you should send the instructor an email explaining how much you have completed and what is your problem with the assignment. Include specific information on the difficulties you are having, not just that you couldn’t do it. The instructor reserves the right to give late assignments a lower grade or zero.
Inclement Weather
In this class we will follow campus policies in case of delayed or cancelled classes. http://www.ma.psu.edu/inclement.html For commuting students, if you feel you can safely come to class during a storm, just call my office or send me an email. I will be happy to work with students who must miss class due to adverse weather conditions to cover any material missed.
Computer Usage
Computer systems have become very powerful and indispensable tools in all our lives. It's becoming hard to remember how we did things before the computer age. As with all good things there are also negative uses of this new technology, including software piracy, network hacking, and the creation of viruses. In this course we will follow the University's computing policies which can be found at http://cac.psu.edu/policies/
Tobacco Usage
There is no smoking allowed in Penn State buildings. Also, please do not chew tobacco during class. Students who chew in class will be asked to leave and will get a zero for that day's assignment. On most days there will be periodic breaks during class, where you can go outside to satisfy your cravings. During outdoor labs do not use tobacco products when we are together in a group.
Official Academic Policies
The official academic policies for Penn State are listed on the Faculty Senate website: http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/
Services For Students With Disabilities:
Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. If you have a disability-related need for reasonable academic adjustments in this course, contact the Disability Contact Liaison, Kendra Wolgast, located on the first floor of the General Studies Building in the Student Success Center. She can be reached at 749-6045 or mailto:kmw24@psu.edu. For further information regarding the Penn State Office of Disability Services, please visit their web site at www.equity.psu.edu/ods/. Instructors should be notified as early in the semester as possible regarding the need for reasonable academic adjustments.
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