You might not realize it, but the typical Geographic Information Sciences classroom at EIU contains quite a diverse group of students. While geography and mapping are at the heart of the field of study, it pulls from a broad range of disciplines that embodies the university’s commitment to integrative learning opportunities.
“Any one class might be geologists, geographers, biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, political scientists, et cetera,” said Steve DiNaso, a Department of Geology/Geography faculty member and an instrumental figure in the GIS program’s installation in the early 1990s.
Dr. DiNaso says these “multicultural” classrooms allow students of various backgrounds to learn from each other’s expertise and enhance the overall experience of studying GIS at Eastern.
“This very diverse environment of students lends itself to a very positive learning experience in the classroom, whereby the students virtually are able to pick the topics that are related to their discipline,” said DiNaso. “As such, I find that students who are in my classroom engage with me and engage with the geospatial sciences in a very different manner than a simple textbook would offer.”
Look at the faculty listing on the GSI website and you’ll see the point further illustrated; representatives from a half-dozen different academic departments contribute.
“Generally speaking, the diversity in the classroom is a reflection of all the disciplines inside and outside of the College of Sciences, of people who have a need for maps,” continued DiNaso. “So, basically, GIS being interdisciplinary simply means we are going to have diversity in the classroom; that is reflective of all of the people and the disciplines who are using the software in general.
“And it's above and beyond software. It's an amalgamation of hardware, software, peripherals … it's people, maps, and data, and that, holistically, is what GIS is all about.”
