Office Hours...

This semester my office hours will be:

Monday and Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00.

At this time you should be able to contact me either via email, telephone, or (hopefully) elluminate session and receive nearly immediate response.

I am also (and we shall see how this goes - just note it is subject to flexibility) going to try to check the discussion board consistently at 10:00 am each day. Therefore if you post a question on the board the night before and have not heard a response back from me, you should just anticipate hearing one around mid-morning the next day.

That being said, please do not wait until the night before the assignment is due to write pressing questions that you have about the lab on the discussion board. The earlier you work through these labs, the better. Those who wait until the last minute often end up receiving limited response for their questions, and are more apt to having to submit items to the late dropbox. Be sure to set aside ample amounts of time for these labs!

Welcome GIS Class of 2012...

Hello New Students!

Welcome to the University of West Florida’s Online GIS Certificate Program! My name is Tanya Gallagher. I’m in my last semester of graduate school at UWF, pursuing my master’s degree in Environmental Science with specific focus on urban climatology in the southeastern United States. I soon hope to be accepted to a PhD program in Marine Science/Ocenography. (I find out this semester, so keep your fingers crossed for me!!). I am a native to Pensacola, Florida and grew up enjoying the area’s lovely white beaches. I received my undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and my GIS certificate from UWF in May of 2010. During my time as an undergraduate I had several internships in which I used GIS to help further understand the dynamic of coastal environments. GIS is a wonderful tool to supplement the study of not only environmental concerns, but issues in most any field of research.  

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING!

I’m looking forward to a great semester with you! I will be handling the lab portion of the Intro to GIS course this semester. If you have any issues regarding the lab assignments, please feel free to direct your questions to me. Any questions regarding the lecture material and assignments should be directed towards your course instructor, Amber Bloechle. This will increase the likelihood that your question will be answered in a timely manner.

It may seem a little overwhelming at first, so please make sure to read all the orientation materials and to read through the labs carefully. Many of your questions are already answered in those materials. Also, check the discussion boards for commonly asked questions and answers. If you still need assistance, post a new discussion question. It is likely that some of your classmates have the same question and would also benefit from the answer. I will be checking the discussions as often as possible, but I don’t recommend waiting until the last minute to complete your lab because your question may not be answered before the dropbox closes.

ALSO, when submitting to the dropbox: please save your maps and illustrator files as JPEGs. This dramatically reduces the size of the file, the length of time it takes me to open it, and a lot of frustration. If you submit a different file type, I will ask you to resubmit it as a JPEG. To do this, simply go to File – Export… and change the Save as Type to JPEG.

LATE DROPBOX: In the event that you ever submit an item to the late dropbox, please make sure to include the Assignment Title in the comments sections on the upload page. I will grade all late dropbox items at the end of the semester and this will help to ensure that you receive credit in the gradebook for those specific lab items.

Lastly, as indicated in the lab instructions, you must submit your completed maps to the dropbox and post them to your blog for full credit.

Best of Luck!

Tanya Gallagher

Email: tlg19@students.uwf.edu

How to Upload Files to the Dropbox

Students,

Remember, you do need to submit both your jpeg map and your process summary to the eLearning dropbox in addition to posting it on your blog.

To upload your jpeg and process summary to the dropbox you can submit them as two separate files.
To submit an item to the dropbox:

First, click Dropbox tab at the top of the eLearning page. Next, click on the Own Your Map link. This will take you to a page that says Files to Submit. Under Files to Submit click on "Add a File" From there hit "Browse" and navigate to the folder on your computer that contains your jpeg. Double click on your file (you can upload more than one file at a time by hitting the add button to add another file) and then click the "Upload" button in the bottom right corner of the screen. In the comments section put your name and the title of the file you are uploading.

Also, don't forget to check out the grading rubric. This will give you an idea of what we're looking for in your work.

Hope you find this helpful! - If you have any questions post them to the discussion board for the weeks lab.
                      Tanya