Michael Solem

Skills in Professional Geography: An Assessment of Workforce Needs and Expectations

This study compares the skills of professional geographers and the needs of employer organizations across major sectors of the U.S. workforce. Following a series of focus groups, two surveys were developed to explore: (1) the extent to which specific skills were performed by geographers in different professional positions, and (2) the value of and anticipated demand for those skills from the perspective of employers. Overall, respondents in the focus groups and both surveys emphasized the need for general skills ranging from time management and writing ability to information management and computer literacy. Employers also cited many geographic skills as being vital for enhancing the work of professionals in all types of organizations. Competency in field methods, the ability to work across disciplinary boundaries, and spatial thinking were three skill areas that characterized the work of geographic professionals irrespective of specialty.

Concerns, Attitudes, and Abilities of Early-Career Geography Faculty

Abstract Professional experiences during graduate school through the first few years of an academic appointment shape patterns of work and social behavior that prefigure the long-term success of new faculty members, including prospects for tenure and promotion. We explore these experiences through interviews and surveys with a sample of early-career faculty in postsecondary American geography. Our analysis reveals that teaching is the primary source of anxiety among new professors, many of whom begin their first academic positions with little or no preparation in learning theory, course design, or pedagogy. Many new faculty members struggle to maintain healthy personal and family lives, while adjusting to unfamiliar norms of their new institutions. New professors benefit from support offered by their department chairpersons and from working in collegial environments. Among women, we found a greater sense of self-doubt about their scholarly abilities and futures despite having records comparable in accomplishment to their male peers. Many women cope with this sense of marginalization by forming supportive mentoring relationships with other women faculty on campus and through disciplinary specialty groups. Networking with colleagues on campus and at academic conferences enhances the job performance and satisfaction of all faculty members irrespective of gender. Our findings underscore the importance of examining the social, professional, and disciplinary contexts of higher education to acquire a broader understanding of faculty development. This knowledge can help departments prepare new faculty for successful and satisfying academic careers.

Using the Internet to Support International Collaborations for Global Geography Education

This paper reports the results of a pilot study that evaluated a prototype instructional module designed to support international collaborative learning in the World Wide Web. The module, Migration, was tested at four higher education institu tions in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Students valued the opportunity to learn global geography by collaborating electronically in multinational teams, yet many students complained about confusing instructional procedures and uncooperative team members. The results of the module evaluation provide useful suggestions for managing pedagogical issues related to the process of online international collaborative learning.

Geography on the Web: Changing the Learning Paradigm?

Abstract Computer technology has a rich history in geography education. The Internet represents the latest in technological advancements that continue to have important effects on geography curriculum and instruction. Many geographers are involved with Internet-based instruction, which some educators believe has potential to facilitate changes in how we teach and even what we teach. This article describes how the Internet is being used by some geographers for instructional purposes and discusses opportunities for improving teaching and learning with the Internet.

Experiencing Graduate School: A Comparative Analysis of Students in Geography Programs

This article focuses on the role of departmental culture and academic climate in shaping the experiences of masters and doctoral students in geography. Structured logging of experiences at nine geography graduate programs over six months reveals the types of support provided to graduate students; how students cope with emotional, academic, and financial challenges; and ways students become integrated (or not) in department communities. Analysis of log data considers variation by subgroups (gender, citizenship, program type, full- or part-time status, race, and ethnicity). For all students, the findings indicate the importance of unplanned, spontaneous, and other informal events, as well as relationships of a more formal nature with advisors and faculty in the department and beyond. Students also noted the importance of having access to resources, professional development opportunities, and support from peers as factors affecting their sense of progress and belonging in a department community.

Achieving Human Potential Through Geography Education: A Capabilities Approach to Curriculum Making in Schools

This article provides the theoretical underpinnings for an innovative international collaborative project in the field of geography education named GeoCapabilities. The project attempts to respond in new ways to enduring challenges facing geography teachers in schools. These include the need to find convincing expression of geographys contribution to the education of all young people and coping with the apparent divergence of geography in educational settings and its highly disparate expression as a research discipline in university departments. The project also hopes to contribute to the development of a framework for communicating the aims and purposes of geography in schools internationally, because here, too, there is great variety in definitions of national standards and even of disciplinary allegiances (including, e.g., the social studies, humanities, and biological sciences). GeoCapabilities does not seek to flatten such divergences, for one of geographys great strengths is its breadth. The long-term goal is to establish a secure platform for the international development of teachers’ capacities as creative and disciplined innovators. The project encourages teachers to think beyond program delivery and implementation and to embrace their role as the curriculum makers.

Career goals, pathways and competencies of geography graduate students in the USA

This study examines the motivations and career goals of geography graduate students and the extent they are prepared in transferable skills. Women and students specializing in geographic information science and technology are primarily motivated by career opportunities in the private sector, whereas doctoral students express a preference for academic career paths and their goals are more influenced by faculty and departmental prestige. Students in Masters programs and those specializing in physical geography are more likely to seek positions with government employers. Masters and doctoral programs are providing opportunities for students to develop competency in a wide-range of transferable skills. However, there are many organizational and business-oriented skills that employers value but which are not commonly taught in graduate curricula in geography programs.

Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education in Geography: A Disciplinary Project in Professional Development

This paper describes the development, implementation, and preliminary outcomes of Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education (EDGE) in Geography, a multiyear project begun in 2005 to study the process of professional development in graduate geography in the U.S and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. As a research and action project responding to the needs of graduate geography programs, EDGE seeks to provide academic geographers with an empirical perspective of disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary and generic skills that M.A./M.S. and Ph.D. students develop as a result of graduate education. Related objectives are to understand how disciplinary skills are applied by geography graduates once they enter the professional workforce in both academic and nonacademic professional settings, and to gauge the extent graduate programs are sufficiently preparing geography graduates for those careers. We begin by summarizing the research goals and design of EDGE, highlighting the roles and contributions of geographers and educational researchers, and noting the interplay and synergy between disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies and practices. To date, research has focused on: (1) assessing contemporary workforce competencies in professional geography and (2) examining the role of department climate and culture on student experience and faculty development within masters and doctoral programs. Although the EDGE research efforts are still underway, we present some preliminary research findings and discuss the implications of those outcomes for professional development in geography and related social and environmental sciences. Also discussed is the complementary nature of disciplinebased and interdisciplinary professional development efforts.

Developing and Enhancing International Collaborative Learning

This paper is concerned with the role of international collaboration in the learning and teaching of geography in higher education. The dual aims are to provide a brief and selective review of the nature and range of international collaboration and to contextualize such observations within the internationalization project. It is argued that despite the growing interest and literature concerned with the internationalization of higher education, discipline-specific illustrations of pedagogy and practice require further attention. Several forms of collaboration in the geography arena are introduced and the factors influencing the establishment, maintenance and enhancement of international collaboration are discussed.

Gauging Disciplinary Engagement with Internationalization: A Survey of Geographers in the United States.

As higher education institutions worldwide seek to internationalize academic programmes, questions arise as to how institutions can effectively involve and support faculty in that process. The present study rests on the premise that professional development can play a decisive role in advancing two important components of internationalization—specifically international collaboration and the teaching of global perspectives by geography faculty. To explore this proposition, the AAG conducted a survey to determine how and why American geography professors have (a) pursued international collaboration in their work, and (b) incorporated global learning outcomes into the undergraduate geography curriculum. The analysis presented shows that faculty members who practise international collaboration and support global perspectives in their courses are more likely to do so when those practices are perceived to enhance the quality of teaching and research. Geographers who practice international collaboration also benefit from access to international networks and professional development activities that offer opportunities to gain experience in collaborative teaching and research. It was also found that departments and institutions play an important role in creating an academic climate that provides incentives for faculty to participate as agents in internationalization.