Vincent A. DiNoto Jr., Director and Principal Investigator of the National Geospatial Center of Excellence, Jefferson Community and Technical College, Louisville, KY
In response to COVID-19 restrictions on in-person gathering, the National Geospatial Technology Center of Excellence (GeoTech Center) has modified its conference and regional professional workshop delivery for the remainder of the year. This year, GeoTech will hold its annual GeoEd’20 Conference on June 9th and 10th in a virtual format for the first time in conference history, while keeping many of the features of past conferences. There will continue to be sessions on a variety of topics in geospatial technologies. Over the two days multiple concurrent sessions will be offered in two-hour blocks through interactive desktop video. While the conference is entirely virtual, it will still have valuable content and pedagogy presented, cutting edge technologies discussed and times allocated for networking. In addition to the learning sessions, there will be keynote speakers during “a virtual luncheon” and a “virtual happy hour” session designed for participant networking.
While two of the scheduled GeoTech Center workshops have been cancelled, three regional workshops will be presented virtually, thus available to anyone from their home location. They will continue to be three days in length, but with somewhat shorter days. The host location and topics for the three workshops are:
- Harper College Jefferson Community and Technical College (hands-on experience teaching with technology for interactive, cloud-based solutions, UAV and earth imagery)
- Harrisburg Area Community College (remote sensing and technology for interactive, cloud-based solutions)
- Northland Community and Technical College in conjunction with the National Center for Autonomous Technologies (VR technology and offer topics in autonomous and geospatial technologies).
During these very fluid times, the GeoTech Center continues to produce high-quality, professional development and a time for educators to interact. These workshops and the GeoEd’20 conference are free to participants. All the information shown by the instructor and a recording of the sessions will be available for participants to download from the workshop website. The registration for the events is currently open. Postponed workshops will be offered next year.
To learn more about the virtual conference and workshops, visit http://www.geotechcenter.org/
