Detailed Agenda

Higher education is in the middle of a cultural demographic shift. Students who speak English as a second or third language are in many regions of the country the majority demographic of community colleges and first generation college students overall. The question then becomes: how are dual enrollment first generation college students introduced to college-credit bearing coursework that is accessible, inviting, rigorous, and boosts their confidence? The answer: The GIS partnership with LCPS and JMU allows students to be exposed to GIS technology and combine many of their interests

The Geospatial Semester (GSS) is a dual-enrollment offering for high school students that introduces them to GIS and spatial thinking. Traditionally, we have offered the class face-to-face in the students' schools. We are piloting an online offering this year. In this short talk, we'll talk about the pros and cons of offering the GSS online and how this could impact efforts to scale it more broadly.

This session highlights a joint initiative between a public high school CTE GIS pathway and the University of Redlands to align secondary instruction with university expectations and industry practice. Through a structured progression from ArcGIS Online to ArcGIS Pro, students develop spatial reasoning and apply data-driven decision making to authentic challenges. The model emphasizes CTE pathway continuity, academic rigor, and sustained collaboration between K–12, higher education, and workforce partners.

UM- SOE Preservice teachers engage in critical discussions about poverty and social justice using ESRI tools to help them visualize data about partner school communities, fostering understanding, empowerment, belonging, and advocacy for all students.