Instruction

Personal/Point of Need Instruction:

The nature of manipulating and analyzing GIS data for such a wide range of purposes is such that it creates instruction needs for several hundred different tasks. It would be impossible to teach every task that meets everyone's research needs in one or even many classes. Patrons will get the most mileage out of timely instruction that addresses their specific needs to complete a particular data search, conversion, process, analysis, or output.

The GIS Service at the Map Collection provides this type of personal or point of need instruction to patrons to assist in their research. For example, if an patrons needs to learn how to georeference and image, covert coordinates, perform map algebra, convert meters to feet for a grid, summarize attribute fields, etc., the GIS Service will assist the patron in learning how to utilize these tasks for their research. Since no one person can know every task that can be done with GIS, the GIS Service may be limited to its own scope of knowledge. However, efforts will be made to help the patron figure out the best way to go about solving their GIS problem. The personal/point of need instruction service is only provided for particular tasks and will not be used to teach a whole general course. Patrons should attend one of the workshops or enroll in a Yale College GIS course or ESRI Virtual Campus course to get general overview instructions.

Most personal/point of need instruction will center on performing tasks within ArcView software. However, the GIS Service often provides searches that produce applicable scripts or extensions that may solve problems limited by the standard software. The GIS Service also provides point of need instruction for GIS-related software such as WiseImage (a raster to vector conversion software).

The goal of the instruction program for the GIS Service at the Map Collection is to eventually create online tutorials for each particular GIS task. This will provide access to multimedia GIS instructions to a wider group of users at any time. This will enable patrons to access instructions immediatly without waiting to make an appointment. For those who have instruction needs that are not covered in the online tutorials, the personal/point of need instruction service will still be available from the GIS Service at the Map Collection.