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World Campus graduates first students 17 complete on-line program in Geographic Information Systems By Andy Norton
“We created the World Campus for people like these — busy professionals who want access to a Penn State education, but who need it at a time and place that are convenient for them.” — Dr. Gary E. Miller	Seventeen students — all professionals pursuing varied careers in scattered locations across the United States — have completed the Certificate Program in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. They are the first to graduate from the Penn State World Campus.   Hundreds of students currently pursue their education through the World Campus, which uses information technology to deliver more than a dozen of Penn State’s most highly regarded academic programs to adult learners worldwide.   “We created the World Campus for people like these — busy professionals who want access to a Penn State education, but who need it at a time and place that are convenient for them,” Dr. Gary E. Miller, associate vice president for Distance Education and executive director of the World Campus, said. “Our first graduates demonstrate the power of the Internet to help motivated adults achieve their personal educational goals.”   The Certificate Program in GIS consists of four 10-week courses designed to help students master the principles and practices of a geographic information system — mapping software that links a landscape’s geographic features with its physical, environmental, cultural, economic or political attributes. Each course is offered entirely on-line. Course work may include independent weekly lessons and collaborative group projects. Upon successful completion of the program, students earn 16 continuing education units and a certificate from Penn State’s top-ranked Geography Department.   Long used by government agencies and utility companies, geographic information systems are now finding increasing application in such fields as marketing, transportation, education, agriculture and even law enforcement. The World Campus program in GIS is endorsed by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) as a sponsored education program for its members. The 12,000-member AICP is the professional institute of the American Planning Association, the largest organization of planners in the country.   Unlike many software-based training modules available on-line, Penn State’s World Campus program offers an instructor-led education in GIS. Students learn not only how to manipulate the latest technology, but they also work together and with their instructors to become skillful and knowledgeable users of geographic data.   “The World Campus program takes a developmental approach to GIS education,” David DiBiase, faculty coordinator for the Certificate Program in GIS and Geography Department faculty member, said. “We start with the fundamental concepts of geographic information science and integrate those with the latest software technology. The final course is a virtual internship, in which students work together to address a real-world problem using GIS.”   For their final project, the program’s first graduates used GIS to quantify impacts on ground and surface waters using data from an actual watershed in southwestern Pennsylvania.   GIS and other World Campus programs are supported by Penn State student services, including library access, advising and assessment. For more information about the World Campus and the Certificate Program in GIS, visit the Web site at www.worldcampus.psu.edu or call 1-800-252-3592.
© 2002 Outreach Communications,   Outreach & Cooperative Extension,   The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108,   fax: (814) 863-2765,   e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu