The goal of the proposal is the enhancement and improvement of the recently developed and approved Minor Program in Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing. This goal will be accomplished by course content changes and the development of "across discipline" laboratory exercise manuals for the introductory courses in GIS and Remote Sensing. Through enrollment in workshops, conferences, and courses in GIS and Remote Sensing, the Principal Investigator will be able to continually improve the course content and subsequent syllabi of the two courses in GIS and one in Remote Sensing. Consultants with expertise in these fields will be used as information source and as evaluators. The second goal, the development of an "across discipline" laboratory exercise manual each for Introduction to GIS and Introduction to Remote Sensing that includes exercises and case studies for the various disciplines (the sciences, business, sociology, criminal justice and others) targeted for these courses will be accomplished through several means. The expertise gained in attending the above workshops, conferences and courses will be an important resource that will be taken advantage of. The use of consultants, and the review of existing laboratory exercises from various institutions, and organizations such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) will be some of the methods that will be used for producing these lab manuals. The resulting curriculum and laboratory manuals will hopefully be used by other institutions that have these general introductory courses in their programs that attract students from various disciplines.
