GIS Core Course Assessment - 2014
At the very beginning of each semester, an assessment test will be distributed within our
Intermediate GIS – Geog 306. This assessment is not a formal test. The purpose of the
assessment is to begin a process of assessing how well students are learning the
fundamental concepts of GIS in Introduction to GIS course. This assessment then will be
used as an efficient tool for the instructors, to better redesign the review contents on
fundamentals of GIS in Intermediate GIS class and also will be used to redesign the content
and material of our Introductory GIS – Geog 206 course. The assessment quiz contains 20
questions on fundamental concepts of GIS that are being taught within Introduction to GIS
course. The questions have been carefully designed to assess and measure the underlying
concepts and techniques of GIS at an introductory level relative to department SLOs and
course objectives.
In Fall 2014, assessment quiz was given in our Geog 306 – Intermediate GIS. In a class of
23students, 21 students were presented for the assessment quiz. The result of the
assessment is as follows (in some cases questions have been combined):
1. Majority of our participating students have taken Introduction to GIS at CSUN (only
one student took Intro to GIS at a community college). Majority of the students had
Introduction to GIS [Geog 206] in Fall 2013, only one student had Intro to GIS more
than a year ago. In the Department of Geography, we highly recommend that
students take GIS core courses (Geog 206, Geog 306 and Geog 406) in consecutive
semesters.
Person
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Where did you take Intro. to GIS? Instructor How long ago did you take Intro to GIS?
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
Antelope Valley College
Pesses
Fall 2013
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2012
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2013
CSUN
Boroushaki
Fall 2013
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2013
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2013
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2013
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2013
CSUN
Kahn
Fall 2013
2. On the question of defining a Shapefile only 24% of the students selected the right
answer on a multiple choice question. This was primarily due to the fact that there
are two options very close among the options to select from. We have addressed this
in our revised Geog 206 curriculum to emphasis the definition and usage of
Shapefiles in GIS. Moreover, this concept is been reviewed in our Intermediate GIS
Geog 306.
Shapefile
Correct
5
Wrong
16
Percentage of correct
24%
3. Majority of the participating students could define a Geodatabase [the native file
format for ArcGIS].
Geodatabase
Correct
12
Wrong
9
Percentage of correct
57%
4. 48% of the students correctly identified the definition for projection. This could be
due to the fact that most of the excersices emphasized on hands-on skills dealing
with projections rather the definitions and theoretical background. A whole chapter
in our new Intro GIS lab manual (in eText format) has addressed projection.
Projection
Correct
10
Wrong
11
Percentage of correct
48%
5. A strong majority of the students defined the term “GIS” correctly:
Correct
Wrong
Percentage of correct
GIS
20
1
95%
6. A majority of students could name correctly a Coordinate System.
Correct
Wrong
Percentage of correct
Coordinate System
15
6
71%
7. 57% of the students could correctly explain in short sentences the difference
between two main data models in GIS, raster data model and vector data model.
Correct
Wrong
Percentage of correct
Raster versus Vector
12
9
57%
8. Most of the student could identify the main components of ArcGIS Software the min
GIS package used in our labs.
Software Components
Correct
13
Wrong
8
Percentage of correct
62%
9. Geodatabase creation and organization is the core part of GIS data management. A
solid majority of the students (81%) could describe a Geodatabase.
Geodatabase
Correct
17
Wrong
4
Percentage of correct
81%
10. One of the most used capabilities of GIS is geospatial data visualization, by creating
different types of maps and symbolizing them. Majority of the students could
identify the main elements of a map. However, only 33% of the students could name
at least two different types of the maps.
Correct
Wrong
Percentage of correct
Maps
15
6
71%
Types
Symbolization
Correct
7
Correct
11
Wrong 14
Wrong
10
Percentage of correct 33% Percentage of correct
52%
11. Although only a quarter of the students could define a Relational Database,
however 86% of them correctly defined and explained joining data attributes in
GIS.
Correct
Wrong
Percentage of correct
RDB
5
16
24%
Correct
Wrong
Percentage of correct
JOIN
18
3
86%
12. Only one third of our students could correctly explain the process of geocoding. We
addressed this by adding a separate module emphasizing geocoding lecture and lab
assignments in our Geog 306 Intermidiate GIS.
Geocoding
Correct
6
Wrong
15
Percentage of correct
29%
13. Majority of the students could give examples of geoprocessing techniques including
Buffer in GIS.
BUFFER
Correct
15
Wrong
6
Percentage of correct 71%
We revised our Geog 206 curriculum. In summer 2013, Dr. Maas and Dr. Boroushaki
redesigned Geog 206 curriculum to address the shortcomings of our Introduction to GIS
and create a better core understanding of GIS concepts and techniques. The eText is now
ready in its initial format and partially will be used in our Geog 206 in Fall 2014. We are
expecting to use the eText in its full capacity by Fall 2015.