What VISIT Is

Project VISIT (Virtual Immersion in Science Inquiry for Teachers) is a professional development program for teachers in grades 5 - 12, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Teacher Enhancement program to the Institute for Geographic Research and Education at the Eastern Michigan University.. Between February 2000 and August 2003, 215 teachers, 31 teacher leaders, and experts in GIS participated in the VISIT online Collaboratory. The purposes of this program include the following:

advancing teachers' understanding of geospatial data and information systems (GIS),
applying these tools and applications in classrooms and curricula, and
conducting real-world investigations that take advantage of these technologies.

Participants included teachers of chemistry, physics, earth science, geography, history, environmental science, biology and life sciences, mathematics, technology, Integrated Natural Science, social studies, library/media, and English. The online discussions among these participants resulted in a collection of over 11,000 messages, in addition to products such as a structure for collaborative discussions, a one-semester syllabus for a teacher development program, lesson plans, hands-on tutorials, data sets, documented investigations, technical manuals, assessment rubrics, and a guide to sources of geo-referenced data. These products are available for anyone to use, at the VISIT web site at http://ceita.emich.edu/visit.

Educational Leaders and GIS Professionals Using this VISIT Web Site

Educational leaders, such as staff developers, technology coordinators, State and School District curriculum supervisors and coordinators, and GIS professionals may use this VISIT web site as a resource for designing and implementing professional development programs for teachers in their schools. You might use this VISIT site in one or more of the following ways:

Use the VISIT Collaboratory design as a guide to developing your own online Collaboratory with teachers in your own state or district or professional organization;
Adapt the VISIT pedagogy to use in a series of face-to-face workshops with teachers, using small groups in the workshops as a substitute for the online Collaboratory Forums;
Use the "Teachers' Investigations" section of VISIT in an awareness workshop or a GIS Day presentation, to show other educators some examples of the kinds of GIS applications teachers have developed for their own schools and communities.
Some combination of the above.
Use the VISIT collection of syllabus, weekly Collaboration assignments, and/or GIS lessons and Teachers' Investigations in your own professional development program for teachers.
Use the Educator's Forum here in VISIT to create your own online Collaboratory with your teachers.

VISIT's project leaders will be available to you online in the "Educator's Forums" to discuss with you how to adapt VISIT to your situation and requirements, from November 15, 2003 to January 30, 2004.

Teachers Using this VISIT Web Site

If you are a teacher in grades 6 - 12 and are interested in learning more about GIS and how to apply these tools and data to your own curriculum, classroom, or community, you can take advantage of the sequence of learning activities offered here. In addition, you can participate in the Educator's Forums to exchange ideas and questions with other teachers. The VISIT staff will be able to provide some technical assistance through the Forums up until January 2004.

You might like first to take a look at the investigations and lessons that other teachers developed in VISIT. Go to http://ceita.emich.edu/visit/investigation/Investigations.htm or click the "Teachers' Investigations" button under the Educators' Resources section of this web site. If this gets you hooked, go to "What You'll Need" to get started, then work your way through the sequence of learning activities on the menu in the Educator's Resources section.