Bringing school teachers together with GIS

2018 was a big year for Eagle Technology and the New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers (NZBOGT).

We were contracted by the Ministry of Education to provide teacher-to-teacher support in geography specific professional development during 2019 and 2020.

The idea behind the contract is to establish an official Ministry of Education sanctioned network of teachers throughout New Zealand that know how to use GIS as part of the New Zealand Geography curriculum in the secondary school classroom. 

To put that in more education specific language...

NZBOGT and Eagle Technology aim to:

• Support all NCEA teachers in their geography pedagogy, curriculum and assessment practices with a focus on equity & excellence;      
• Distribute leadership at regional levels by providing Professional Learning and Development for, and by, teachers at different stages of their career;      
• Develop and disseminate resources for teachers with high utility value, that support quality teaching and learning.

​Eagle Technology already has a number of resources freely available at https://www.eagle.co.nz/gis-schools to support this aim.

Twelve GIS champions (teachers who want to diffuse effective Geographic Information Systems teaching and learning in their region) have already been selected to start the Network of Expertise. It is hoped by the middle of 2019 that this number will have increased to 20, two champions for each Ministry of Education region.  To meet the current GIS champions read the New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers Newsletter #3.

As a GIS Professional there may be a number of opportunities to support schools and teachers who are involved in the GIS Network of Expertise. If offering assistance to teachers is something that you would like to do please contact Eagle Technology at gisinschools@eagle.co.nz.