Course Syllabus

Contact Information

This table includes information about how to contact your instructor and other important details about your class

Contact: Email: selena.feng@ou.edu  Student Hours: Tuesdays 6:00-7:00 PM CT (or by appointment) Class Meeting (Live session): Tuesdays 7:00-8:00 PM CT  Zoom link:  https://oklahoma.zoom.us/j/3181500913?pwd=RC9YTVVEQityN3Q4K0srRXhYamozUT09 Meeting ID: 318 150 0913 Password: 69698973   Teaching Assistant: Nastaran Abdoli (Ph.D. Student) Email: nastaran@ou.edu Student Hours: Wed 5-6 PM CT (or by appointment) Zoom link: https://oklahoma.zoom.us/j/94717400961?pwd=g1t6Zrtz9y6qIAaBIYGofLCXrJio1n.1 Meeting ID: 947 1740 0961 Password: 04156384

Dr. Selena (Xin) Feng Assistant Professor Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability

 

Course Details

Course Purpose

This course is intended to help students learn intermediate concepts of spatial analysis and build problem-solving and critical thinking skills in GIS. Course topics are related to the fields of urban geography including demography, transportation, and planning.

Course Prerequisites 

As this course focuses on intermediate topics in GIScience, it is intended for students who already have acquired basic GIS knowledge and skills, including familiarity with the fundamental operations in ArcGIS Pro and successful completion of GIS 5013: Fundamentals of GIS (or equivalent) is required to take this course (a completion grade of C or higher is recommended).

Course Materials

There is no required textbook for this course. Instead, three optional textbooks are listed below for purchase at the discretion of the student. Students are strongly encouraged to use online ArcGIS Pro Support from the link below. Other readings will be provided through the Canvas Modules and found in lab assignments. If you wish to work the course materials on your personal computer, please visit OU IT ArchGIS page and follow the instructions to download ArcGIS Pro to your desktop or laptop. 

Suggested Texts:

• ArcGIS Pro Support: https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-pro/resources  

How to be Successful in this Course

Establish a Routine

Staying current with the pace of this course is important, and you will have a hard time catching up if you fall behind. Thus, each week, you should allow:

• 4-8 hours to complete the assignments.
• 1-2 hours to watch video lectures and take notes.
• 2 hours to participate in the weekly discussion write-up and the Live Sessions on Zoom.

You should allow a total of 10-12 hours per week (or about 2 hours per day). Please note that you will be required to submit all labs before midnight on Thursdays. Items for the weekly discussion need to be posted to the discussion board by noon on Tuesdays.  You are encouraged to discuss any questions with the instructor during student hours on Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. or at another time by appointment. Don't wait until the last minute to finish everything. Pace yourself. Research indicates that distributing your study throughout the week, and regularly reviewing learning materials, can lead to better recall and improved learning gains over students who opted for fewer, more intensive study sessions.

Course Expectations

• I welcome your questions about course materials, assignments, and your project and offer several ways that you can ask them: live sessions, my office hours; and the discussion page on Canvas. Students should use these various channels to address their questions. 
• GIS software is very powerful in what it can accomplish, and it is fun to work with. But things frequently go wrong with GIS work - software crashes, data files do not open, functions fail for lots of unexpected reasons. Students should anticipate unexpected problems and start your assignments and projects early. I offer help for dealing with unexpected problems with live sessions, office hours and discussion pages. But I cannot reasonably help solve problems if you wait until just prior to the deadline to do your work. So, start your assignments as early as possible. The time required for each assignment will vary.
• Life is full of surprises. You should keep your data secure. To do this, you should back up often and keep your data files organized. 
• It is often said that students can perform best if they follow along closely with course-related news and announcements. 
• Communication is key. Students who are struggling with lectures, assignments, or the project are highly encouraged to reach out to me for an appointment at selena.feng@ou.edu. You should feel welcome to visit me during my office hours even if you don’t have a question or concern specifically about the class - come by to introduce yourself, to ask about career advice, or simply to chat.

Grades

Breakdown

Course activities and grades listed for each activity

Activity	Description	Points
Attendance	15 live sessions (10 X 15)	150
Lab Exercises	6 lab assignments (50 X 6)	300
Final Project Proposal	Two-page technical memorandum	50
Final Project Presentation	5-minute presentation	50
Final Project StoryMap	ArcGIS StoryMap	150
	Total	700

Scale

Grades will be assigned using the following grading scale based on percentage. Note, I will not round grades for any reason so please do not ask. It is not fair to the students who legitimately earned the same grade. The grading scale is as follows:

A: 90% or more

B: 80-89%

C: 70-79%

D: 60-69%

F: less than 60%

Course Components

Lectures

The lecture will be a series of short videos posted each week on Canvas. I expect students to view these lecture videos before attending the Live Session each week.

Attendance 

We will meet every Tuesday from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. In each Live Session, we will address the focus topic of the week, questions that you have posted to the discussion board, and additional discussion questions. Prior to each live session (by noon CT on Tuesdays), you will be asked to submit one or two discussion questions associated with the material for the week. 

There are two ways in which you can participate in the Live Session.

1. Participate in Live Session: This option should be your preferred choice. When possible, you should attend and participate in the Live Sessions in real-time.
2. Make-Up (Watch Recording and submit a written summary): In the event, your work or personal schedule makes it impossible for you to attend, please review the recording of the Live Session then write a paragraph summarizing the Live Session from your perspective (email me and CC our TA). Be sure to utilize option 1 or 2 for each of the Live Sessions to receive full points (10 per week, for a total of 150 points of your grade). You will have until the next Live Session to submit your summary.

Lab Exercises

There are six lab exercises. All labs will be discussed on Tuesday in lab and will be due on Thursday two weeks later. The purpose of lab exercises is to get you familiar with the spatial analysis techniques that should be used in your final project. Late labs will receive reduced credit (2 points a day to 40% of the value of an assignment).  

Assignment Table

Assignment	Description	Points
Assignment 1: Creating Thematic Maps	You will create thematic maps of your interest in socio-economic variables using downloaded census data.	50
Assignment 2: Dasymetric Mapping	You will use a dasymetric mapping technique in ArcGIS to create a population distribution map and will be asked to answer questions regarding your exercise.	50
Assignment 3: MCDA	You will perform a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA).	50
Assignment 4: Pattern Analysis	You will measure Moran’s I and perform hot spot analysis.	50
Assignment 5: Spatial Interpolation	You will perform spatial interpolations by various methods.	50
Assignment 6: School Transitsheds	You will create a map of school transitsheds and will be asked to answer questions regarding your exercise.	50
Total		300

Proposal

The Final Project Proposal is due on Thursday in week 8 (by 11:59 PM). The purpose of the proposal is to get you thinking at an early stage about the project in its entirety and to help you anticipate some of the challenges you will face. It is intended to help you clarify your goals and get some feedback from me. You should prepare your proposal and work plan in one document, written in memorandum format. Further details will follow, but the memorandum is designed to be very narrow in scope, tailored to each student’s individual GIS interests, and completed in a relatively short period of time.

Final Project

You will have a final project due by the end of the course, and it consists of two components. 

1. Presentation: You will present your project during the live session of the 15th week. This 5-minute presentation is intended to help you further develop your ArcGIS StoryMap and receive constructive feedback. 
2. ArcGIS StoryMap: This is due by 11:59 PM on Sunday of Week 16, December 8th. 

The purpose of the project is for you to demonstrate your ability to complete a GIS project independently and produce a final product that communicates your results. Further details will follow, but the project is designed to be very narrow in scope, tailored to each student’s individual research interests, and completed in a relatively short period of time. The instructor expects students to complete the final project on his/her own by the allotted deadlines. Additional assistance from the instructor and TA will be available via Zoom during office hours.

Course Policies

Communication

Students who are struggling with lecture or lab requirements are highly encouraged to reach out to me for an appointment at selena.feng@ou.edu. I always aim to respond to your email within 24 hours on weekdays, but this might be longer on weekends. Please remember that I have a life besides the University and will likely not respond to your email at 2am. 

Late Policy

It is important to me that you carry out all the work assigned. As a result, I will allow late lab assignment submissions.  Late work will be penalized by 2 points per day, up to 40% of the value of the assignment.  Therefore, a lab that is submitted 10 days late will only be able to earn 30 points. 

 

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University Academic Policies and Student Support

Religious Observance: It is the policy of the University to excuse the absences of students that result from religious observances and to reschedule examinations and additional required classwork that may fall on religious holidays, without penalty.

Reasonable Accommodation Policy: The Accessibility and Disability Resource Center is committed to supporting students with disabilities to ensure that they are able to enjoy equal access to all components of their education.  This includes your academics, housing, and community events.  If you are experiencing a disability, a mental/medical health condition that has a significant impact on one or more life functions, you can receive accommodations to provide equal access.  Possible disabilities include, but are not limited to, learning disabilities, AD(H)D, mental health, and chronic health.  Additionally, we support students with temporary medical conditions (broken wrist, shoulder surgery, etc.) and pregnancy.  To discuss potential accommodations, please contact the ADRC at 730 College Avenue, (ph.) 405.325.3852, or adrc@ou.edu.

Dishonesty Policy: All members of the academic community at the University of Oklahoma are expected to practice and uphold standards of academic integrity. Academic integrity means representing oneself and one’s work honestly. Plagiarism and cheating are strictly prohibited (see guidelines about avoiding plagiarism https://guides.ou.edu/plagiarism).

Title IX Resources and Reporting Requirement: For any concerns regarding gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, or stalking, the University offers a variety of resources. To learn more or to report an incident, please contact the Sexual Misconduct Office at 405/325-2215 (8 to 5, M-F) or smo@ou.edu. Incidents can also be reported confidentially to OU Advocates at 405/615-0013 (phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week).  Also, please be advised that a professor/GA/TA is required to report instances of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or discrimination to the Sexual Misconduct Office. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies can be directed to University Equal Opportunity Officer and Title IX Coordinator at 405/325-3546 or smo@ou.edu. For more information, visit http://www.ou.edu/eoo.html. Adjustments for Pregnancy/Childbirth Related Issues: Should you need modifications or adjustments to your course requirements because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related issues, please contact your professor or the Disability Resource Center at 405/325-3852 as soon as possible. Also, see http://www.ou.edu/eoo/faqs/pregnancy-faqs.html for answers to commonly asked questions.

Final Exam Preparation Period: Pre-finals week will be defined as the seven calendar days before the first day of finals. Faculty may cover new course material throughout this week. For specific provisions of the policy please refer to OU’s Final Exam Preparation Period policy (https://apps.hr.ou.edu/FacultyHandbook#4.10).

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