---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 16:15:10 -0500
From: Angela Lee <[log in to unmask]>
To: "GIS for Libraries (E-mail)" <[log in to unmask]>,
     "ARL-GIS (E-mail)" <[log in to unmask]>,
     "maps-l (E-mail)" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: GIS in Education Conference Update

Hi all,

Just wanted to let you know the International Conference on GIS in Education
last week was a great success!!  About 275 people from 40 states and 8
countries attended workshops and presentations and enjoyed five days of
beautiful weather in San Bernardino, CA.

The conference focused on the use of GIS in research, teaching and learning
at all levels of education, and covered issues such as pedagogy, curriculum
development, coordinating GIS efforts across campus, sharing data, and many
more.

Pre-conference workshops were held Saturday & Sunday to provide hands-on
software training and intensive discussions about implementing GIS in
libraries and in classroom settings.

On Monday, Dr Barbara Buttenfield's keynote address discussed the of
importance of visualization in understanding many types of information.  One
of the examples featured a visual interface to a library catalog where items
are organized in a 3-D 'landscape' - similar items are located near one
another, while dissimilar items are further apart in space.

The afternoon plenary speaker, Dr Mary Marlino, discussed the DLESE (Digital
Library for Earth System Education) Program, an effort to build a digital
library including data sets, instructional materials and a community center
to support Earth System Education.

Tuesday and Wednesday featured papers and technical sessions in several
tracks - K-12 Education, Higher Education, School Administration, and
Libraries.  We had presentations from research libraries and public
libraries on a variety of topics on Tuesday.  Dr Karen Kemp led the 'town
meeting' closing session on Wednesday.

Materials (speaker hand-outs, etc.) from the conference are being published
through ESRI's Education Discussion Forum
(http://forums.esri.com/forums/Main.cfm?CFApp=41).

Mark your calendar for next year's conference, July 6-8 in San Diego, CA.
This is immediately preceding the ESRI User Conference, July 9-12 in San
Diego.  Hope you can join us for both!!

For more information about the conference, feel free to contact me
([log in to unmask]).  If you have suggestions for next year's conference, please
let me know - I need your help in shaping the program and covering topics
that interest you!

Angela Lee
ESRI Schools and Libraries Program
1305 Corporate Center Dr, Suite 250
St Paul, MN 55121-1204
651-994-0823 x.8329
www.esri.com/libraries
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