COALITION FOR CHRISTIAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
GLOBAL STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE
NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE
INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATION OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY IN GLOBAL STEWARDSHIP: A PROPOSAL
FRED VAN DYKE AND ERIC ELDER
Fred Van Dyke, Assistant Professor of Biology, and Eric Elder, Associate Professor of Business and Economics, with the help of the Northwestern College Task Force on Environmental Stewardship, submitted the following grant through the Global Stewardship Initiative in October 1995:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies provide extensive and diverse computer databases for mapping world wide areas according to specified variables of interest. Integration of multiple-variable map overlays permit the investigator to explore relationships between different variables at local, regional, and continental geographic levels.
Historically, the earliest applications of GIS technology were centered in exploration of ecological variables that helped to explain organism distribution, such as relationships between temperature, rainfall, soil and plant distribution. However, the technique was subsequently and rapidly applied to geographic analysis of socio-economic variables such as income distribution, political affiliation, religious belief, population density, and many others.
The ease and speed with which GIS technologies can display and relate diverse databases over the same geographic areas has made the technology a powerful and indispensable tool in primary research. Still more recently its obvious benefits in teaching have been exploited through the preparation of courses, support materials, and software specifically designed for education. Such material both teaches students how to use the GIS technology itself and presents large volumes of data in ways that can be understood, managed, and investigated by students individually.
The Global Stewardship Initiative (GSI) Task Force of Northwestern College sees GIS technology as an indispensable foundation for teaching themes of Global Stewardship across the curriculum. Northwestern's educational objectives in global stewardship include the development of global stewardship units in a variety of courses representative of all major subject areas of liberal arts education. The accessibility of GIS to all students through an already advanced college computer network, its flexibility in data selection and investigation, and its marketability as a skill of value to future employers of Northwestern graduates in a variety of fields make its acquisition a necessary precursor to achieving other short- and long-term goals inherent in Northwestern's approved GSI proposal.
Major educational objectives of the GIS technologies at Northwestern College would be to: (1) provide students with skills necessary to use GIS; (2) use GIS databases as a means of presenting and understanding current, quantitative information on worldwide levels of environmental data; and (3) apply GIS analysis to ongoing research in animal movement, home range use, and habitat selection currently being conducted in the Environmental Science program at Northwestern College. To achieve these objectives, we propose the acquisition of three complementary GIS systems and appropriate licensing agreements for the Northwestern College computer network for immediate use in biology and economics courses and subsequent integration with courses in other disciplines to explore issues of global stewardship. The desired systems are the IDRISI system (a detailed GIS mapping system of environmental variables, which combines geographic information with environmental information including temperature, moisture, and plant community distribution), the ATLAS GIS system (a GIS system mapping economic and sociological data), and the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis GIS support literature and software, including purchase of their course in teaching GIS technology, complete with text, lecture outlines, and teaching software.
Immediate opportunities for application of GIS technology exists in several disciplines, particularly in biology and economics. Newly designed, advanced courses in Animal Ecology and Plant Ecology within the Environmental Science major require detailed, world-wide data bases of environmental data to teach students relationships and investigative techniques in animal and plant distribution. A non-majors course in Biology, Man and Nature, also is in need of similar databases to demonstrate the global nature of environmental issues and problems. Additionally, ongoing primary research projects of faculty and students on animal movement, home range use, and habitat selection would be greatly enhanced through GIS analysis.
In the fields of business and economics, GIS technologies will enable faculty and students to relate global patterns of economic variables to environmental conditions and to display such relationships to students in accessible and understandable form. GIS technologies also could be used to help develop greater sensitivity to global and cross-cultural issues inherent in economic activity and development, as well as to their ethical implications. In sociology, ability to relate sociological variables to environmental condition would permit students to understand connections human society and its physical environment at both regional and global levels. In historical inquiry, ability to correlate human-induced environmental changes over time would add important dimensions to historical analysis in both teaching and research.
All GIS systems would be installed under the direction of Rob Robinson, Director of Computing Services, Milo McDowell, Academic Systems Manager, and Harlan Jorgensen, Information Systems Manager, into the existing Northwestern computer network and accessible by menu or DOS commands from any network terminal. Additional support for development of classroom audio-visual systems will be supervised by Barry Lawrensen, Northwestern College Media Specialist. Integration of GIS systems into existing courses in biology would be directed by Dr. Fred Van Dyke, Assistant Professor of Biology. Similar integration in business and economics courses would be directed by Dr. Eric Elder, Associate Professor of Business and Economics. Inclusion of GIS applications in other subject areas, particularly sociology and history, would be developed subsequently. Potential offerings of GIS applications to off-campus sites will be coordinated by Dr. Richard Reitsma, Reference Librarian. Dr. Robert Zwier, Vice President for Academic Affairs, would supervise subsequent evaluation of the teaching effectiveness of the GIS technologies, coordinate recommendations for improvement, and develop efforts to incorporate GIS databases across the curriculum. GSI funds would be used for purchase of computer programs and supporting materials, site license agreements, and travel of the authors to appropriate professional conferences to gain further expertise in GIS applications.
IMPLEMENTATION AND DISSEMINATION OF PROJECT RESULTS: Techniques and strategies of teaching environmental science curriculum through GIS technologies will be documented in a manuscript prepared for and submitted to The American Biology Teacher for consideration for publication. Biblical and ethical dimensions of both biological and socioeconomic applications of GIS at the Christian college will be explored in a manuscript prepared for and submitted to Faculty Dialogue and The Christian Scholar's Review.
Implementation of GIS technologies in classroom settings would begin in the fall semester 1996. Biology courses using the GIS systems would be Botany, Plant Taxonomy, Plant Ecology, Man and Nature, Animal Ecology and Ecology. Business Administration and Economics courses using the GIS systems would be Principles of Marketing, Business Ethics, Agricultural Marketing, Current Economic Problems, International Economics, and Intermediate Microeconomics.
GIS applications also would be immediately implemented in ongoing research in the Environmental Science program on relationships between animal movement, home range use, and habitat (vegetation) selection. In addition to primary academic research, GIS applications also would fulfill contractual service obligations of data analysis and interpretation to government organizations and agencies such as the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently funding Northwestern research studies. Because a Northwestern College GSI Task Force already exists at Northwestern College, and because short- and long-term goals of Northwestern's GSI proposal have been approved previously by Dr. Robert Zwier, Vice President for Academic Affairs, no special additional approvals are required for the above implementation plan.
READINESS FOR THE PROJECT: Fred Van Dyke received his Ph.D. from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry-State University of New York-Syracuse in environmental and forest biology. His publications on animal and plant ecology, all areas of application for GIS technology, have appeared in several international peer-reviewed journals and in the book, The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Redefining America's Wilderness Heritage. His approaches to biology teaching have been featured in The American Biology Teacher, and his approaches to integrative learning in the Christian college have been published in Faculty Dialogue, Christianity Today, Perspectives On Science and Christian Faith, The Evangelical Review of Theology, and in the book, The Best in Theology. As a former wildlife research biologist of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, he has had training in the use and applications of GIS technologies for wildlife and habitat management. He currently holds faculty appointments at Northwestern College (Iowa) as an Assistant Professor of Biology and at the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies (Michigan) as an Associate Professor of Natural History.
Eric Elder received his Ph.D. from Washington State University in natural resource economics. He has published research concerning the economic feasibility of implementing irrigation projects and on the application of input-output methodology in such research. His publications in the Church Herald have examined the integration of economics and Christian faith. He is currently employed at Northwestern College (Iowa) as Associate Professor of Business and Economics.
AMOUNT REQUESTED: $3000
CURRENT STATUS OF GIS TECHNOLOGIES AT NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE
The Northwestern Task Force on Global Stewardship oversaw the development and submission of a mini-grant proposal by Fred Van Dyke and Eric Elder for the purchase and installation of Geographic Information System technologies for Northwestern College. Rob Robinson, Director of Computing Services, and Milo McDowell, Academic Systems Manager, attended meetings of the task force, as appropriate, to provide consultation and expertise relative to purchase, installation, use, and support of the GIS system. The grant was successful, and the college received $3000 through the Global Stewardship Initiative toward the purchase of GIS systems. Additional contributions from the Departments of Business, Biology, and Computer Science, and from the college's Division of Computing Services, helped to purchase 10-site user licenses, with technical support, for the ATLAS GIS system, with primary application in business, economics, and the social sciences, and for the IDRISI GIS system, with primary application in the biological sciences. Dr. Ray Grizzle, Assistant Professor of Biology, Taylor University, Upland, Indiana, generously provided an excellent set of laboratory exercises to aid in teaching GIS techniques. GIS applications are expected to be included initially in courses in biology (Botany, Animal Ecology, Plant Ecology, and Plant Taxonomy) and in courses in business and economics (Principles of Marketing, Business Ethics, Agricultural Marketing, Current Economic Problems, International Economics, and Intermediate Microeconomics). Both the ATLAS and IDRISI systems have now been ordered and will be installed during the 1996 Fall Semester and are expected to begin implementation in courses in the 1997 Spring Semester.
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