- About
- Events
- Support
- Project Archive
- Amundsen Fellowship Program
- Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching Program
- Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments Program
- Inquiring into Your Multilingual Classroom Projects
- New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning
- Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
- Scholarship of Teaching + Learning Projects
- Programs
- SoTL 101: Introduction to SoTL and Teaching + Learning Inquiry
- SoTL 102: Formulating an Inquiry Project
- SoTL Thoughts
- Coffee + Conversation
- Tools for Inquiry: Conducting Inquiry Using CES
- Amundsen Fellowship Program
- Decolonial Teaching + Learning Seminar Series
- Decolonizing and Indigenizing Curricula
- Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching Program
- Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments: An Integrated Seminar Series + Grants Program
- Inquiring into Your Multilingual Classroom: An Integrated Seminar Series + Grants Program
- New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning: Supporting Learning in Online Environments
- Teaching and Learning Development Grant Program
- Conferences
- 2026 Global Students as Partners Roundtable [October 01-02, 2026]
- Cfp: 2027 B.C. Open Education Summit [Deadline: October 18, 2026]
- 2026 SoTL Symposium Conference [October 22-24, 2026]
- Digital Learning Forum [Deadline: October 27, 2026]
- 2026 ISSOTL Conference [October 28-31, 2026]
- 2026 STLHE Virtual Conference [November 13, 2026]
- Call for chapters - Making up time: Towards a pedagogy of living and resisting the economization of time [Deadline: November 30, 2026]
- For Research Personnel
- News + Stories
Identifying the skills and support students and teaching assistants need to succeed in GIS courses
Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)
Grant recipient: Shivanand Balram, Department of Geography
Project team: Suzana Dragicevic, Department of Geography, and Sreelalitha Sarojni, research assistant
Timeframe: April 2018 to July 2019
Funding: $6000
Courses addressed:
- GEOG 251 – Quantitative Geography
- GEOG 255 – GIS I
- GEOG 351 – Multimedia Cartography
- GEOG 352 – Spatial Analysis
- GEOG 451 – Spatial Modeling
Final report: View Shiv Balram's final report (PDF)
Description: This project will identify what specific support Geographic Information System (GIS) undergraduate students and graduate teaching assistants need to succeed.
Questions addressed:
- What challenges do students face when taking GIS courses?
- What supports do students currently use to meet these challenges?
- When and for what do students refer to their teaching assistant for support?
What course challenges do students feel are not being met with the supports available to them? - What other supports would students like to see put in place?
- Do students feel that teaching assistant support is important for their academic success?
- Are there particular student profiles related to challenges cited, supports needed and teaching assistant use?
- What specific knowledge, skills and support do teaching assistants need to function effectively in GIS courses?
Knowledge sharing: It is possible that other units or departments would be interested in finding out about the types of support their undergraduate students need, and so this project can serve as a template for those interested.
The strategic plan of our department (Geography) has always been to improve the student learning experience and as such this project directly contributes to that vision.
Keywords: GIS Employment, GIScience, Graduate Degrees, Graduate Teaching Assistants, Knowledge and Skills, Teaching and Learning, Undergraduate Students