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Using Professional Credentialing Exams within Academic Contexts
Tuesday, December 11, 2018, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
Category: Webinars

Registration:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4874477388258009858

This event will be recorded and registrants can access the recording afterwards.

Panelists:

  1. Bill Hodge, Executive Director, GISCI
  2. Camelia Kantor, Director of Academic Programs, USGIF
  3. Karen Schuckman, Managing Director, ASPRS; and Penn State University
  4. Jeremy Mennis, Professor, Geography & Urban Studies, Temple University

The field of Geographic Information Science & Technology (GIS&T) as it is taught and learned in formal academic and professional contexts is broad and diverse. People are free to pursue their own individual professional credentials, such as 1) the GIS Professional (GISP) credential that the GIS Certification Institute manages, 2) the Technical Certification program that Esri oversees, or 3) the collection of ASPRS Certification programs that the Imaging and Geospatial Information Society manages to designate a range of “Certified” professionals, or 4) USGIF’s GEOINT Certification Program designed for individual GEOINT practitioners.

As components of these professional Credentials, several of these programs have developed exams as evaluative measures of skills and knowledge, and several universities are interested in having their own students take these exams as part of their coursework in pursuit of their geospatial degrees. For example, by spring 2019 students in USGIF-accredited GEOINT degrees and programs will be offered an opportunity to take a new “Essentials” Exam, which upon passing would also allow students to hold an entry-level certification.

If a well-designed exam exists that covers the content that students within an academic program are learning and has been shown to measure the geospatial competencies valued by the employing community, why not use the exams within those academic programs? What are the implications for students, instructors, the academic geospatial community, and the industry? Could student performance on the exam provide useful feedback for the academic programs? What will be the logistics when the exams themselves are also being used by others, world-wide? Join us as we discuss these questions and answers.