Teaching
Teaching Statement
We all have had teachers who stand out in our memories because of their love for the material they teach and their infectious excitement and passion. When I read student evaluations of my teaching and I see similar words used to describe how I have taught the class, I know that I accomplished one of my goals for the classroom. To convey my love of science and commitment to the environment, and to inspire the next generation of researchers. I primarily teach about the use of geospatial technologies to quantify and understand our environment. I have taught 17 different courses at 3 different universities in Washington. I am always learning, evolving, and adapting as students and I explore GIS applications in ecology as well as quantifying our human impacts on the environment and understanding environmental justice issues through a geospatial lens.
My initial goal in any classroom is to establish a safe and inclusive environment built upon mutual respect. Learning can’t happen if the classroom isn’t welcoming. This includes acknowledging that students are adults who are in the classroom of their own choosing. I emphasize to students that they must take responsibility for their learning with me as a facilitator. Additionally, I take time to check in about access needs and I strive to offer a flexible space to support diverse learners. Respect for the needs, decisions, and autonomy of students is key to establishing a positive relationship and fostering a productive learning environment. I spend time with students emphasizing the importance of metacognition and I provide students with tools to analysis their own learning success through repeated formative assessments. Examples:
- Classroom Assessment Techniques such as think pair share where small groups take time to develop an answer to a question and then we as a class come to a consensus about the most appropriate proposal to how to address a geospatial question
- In class real time polling where I can determine what core concepts are still unclear so we can spend more time discussing them.
- Weekly short quizzes that allow multiple attempts.
I employ ever-evolving universal design elements to my materials, so students have flexibility in how they engage with course materials while making course expectations extremely transparent. I actively create multiple learning pathways where students can engage with course material in a manner that is most effective for them. All materials for courses I have developed are presented in a multimodal manner:
- A combination of readings and videos for all background information in a teaching module.
- Recordings of all lectures (captioned) are available on the course website.
- In-class, hands-on exploration of geospatial topics without the use of a computer.
- Lab instructions provided as a detailed writeup with an accompanying tutorial video.
- Highly organized LMS websites for all classes so there is never any mystery about what is due when and where the materials are.
For summative assessment there are larger lab projects where students have the time to demonstrate what they have learned with the opportunity (or requirement) for personalized final projects. Rubrics and examples are provided as feedback for all assignments with opportunities to make up points included within the feedback forms. Examples of past student works are provided to show the level of work expected in the class. For most classes I teach, I have started “mock journals” where students peer review final projects and through this process, a few projects are selected to be included as examples for future classes. It is a low stakes experience with a peer review process similar to submitting work to a scientific journal. While assessment methods and course requirements vary, I do believe that there are unifying characteristics for all successful classes. Chief among these are clearly articulating course expectations and having a solid and well-designed LMS platform for delivering course materials. This is critical to support a diversity of student learners. Every class I teach I have a document where I record what went well and what needs to change. This is true for new classes, and courses I have taught multiple times. Education is always evolving and as educators, so must we.
Teaching Experience
GIS: Introduction and Principles
Introductory course on the use of GIS. The course primarily used ArcGIS online for sourcing and mapping environmental, built environment, and demographic data. Topics covered map symbology, 2D and 3D web applications, animations of time series data, and the use of graphic design programs for map production.
GIS: Analysis with ArcGIS Pro
Weekly lectures and preparation of 8 weekly labs. Focus of the class is working with basic and advanced GIS concepts such as coordinate reference systems, Vector and Raster data management, and complex joins and relates. Culminating in a final project from each student.
GIS: StoryMaps and Apps
Weekly lectures and preparation of 8 weekly labs. Labs had weekly focus on ESRI web applications. StoryMaps, WebApp Builder, Insights, Business Analysis Web, Dashboard, and Arcade Expressions. Culminating in a final project from each student.
GIS: Remote Sensing
Weekly lectures and preparation of 8 weekly labs. Core remote sensing techniques such as photogrammetry, orthorectification, spectral signatures and use of field spectral radiometers. Pixel and object-based classification both supervised and unsupervised. Basic lidar processing.
GIS: Field Data collection
Weekly lectures and preparation of 8 weekly labs. Labs had weekly focus on ESRI applications Survey123 & Field Maps. Active use of GNSS receivers and differentially corrected location data. Culminating in a final project from each student.
GIS: Field Research Project
A capstone GIS class where students showcased their skills from the previous sequence to create a compelling storymap and web apps summarizing historical change analysis and current field data collection. Partnered with local conservation organizations to give students real-world experience.
College of the Environment Speaker Series
Weekly organization of speakers on environmental issues. I coordinated 30 speakers for the year from multiple agencies, colleges, and organizations across Washington State. Talks were open to the public with a class component where students composed weekly essays discussing the speaker’s presentation.
https://cenv.wwu.edu/environmental-speaker-series
Lidar Special Topics class
A weekend immersive class on using lidar data within an ArcGIS Pro framework. Locating and downloading lidar data both lidar derived DEMs and point clouds to look at hydrology and forestry applications
Environmental Studies: A Scientific Approach
An introduction to environmental studies which stresses a scientific approach toward understanding the nature and scope of contemporary problems in the human environment. The course reflects application of physical, chemical, biological and geologic principles to define ecological change, both natural and human-made.
Intro to Remote Sensing
(Instructor of Record) Responsible for twice weekly lectures on topics such as radiation transference, imaging satellites, aerial photography and lidar. Developed 6 labs that were submitted as written reports in a peer review format. Labs heavily used ArcGIS Pro with elements in ENVI and CloudCompare.
School of Forest and Environmental Sciences (SEFS)
Intro to GIS in Forest Resources
(Instructor of Record) Applications of GIS technology to forest science and management. Fundamentals of GIS systems: data sources, preprocessing, map analysis, output; remote sensing as a source of GIS data, image analysis, and classification.
Lidar Remote Sensing
(Instructor of Record) Developed the course and created 10 labs dealing with the processing of lidar data. The focus was on using R to process point cloud data, but other programs used were ArcGIS, CloudCompare, and Fusion.
Lidar Remote Sensing
(Teaching Assistant & Lab Instructor) Recorded detailed lab instructions for each lab with the transition of school to an online environment.
Remote Sensing of the Environment
(Teaching Assistant & Lab Instructor) Redeveloped the course with Dr. L. Monika Moskal where I rewrote / created 10 labs to use ArcGIS Pro and CloudCompare. Course covered basic photogrammetry, spectral analysis, image classification, and lidar. I also created the online accompaniment to the class including detailed instructional videos for each lab.
Climate Change in the PNW
University of Washington & Nanjing University
A special workshop with students from Nanjing University where we traveled across Washington State to discuss climate change impacts on the pacific northwest.