Education summary of takeaways from the lesson.” Group activities have been added. “There’s a greater focus on student-to-student interaction,” Page said. “When you pair people up and they start learning from each other and sharing their experiences, the knowledge transfer increases.” Stewart, who began teaching at Esri 14 years ago, said that combining short interactive lectures, hands-on exercises, brainteasers, and demonstrations keeps people alert and learning. “You are causing the brain to shift gears,” he said. In general, adults have short attention spans. Page observed that when she listens to a lecture that drags, she starts mentally compiling a grocery list or thinking about her unanswered e-mails. “By engaging students and interacting with them in a variety of ways, students will learn more,” she said. “They’ll also retain more. And more importantly, they will be able to quickly adapt and apply what they have learned when they get back to their jobs on Monday morning.” tors hope to stimulate using the new course design and delivery style. Donley, a fire captain and GIS manager for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire) assigned to Riverside County said Stewart’s class was fun, inclusive, and drew on the experience of GIS professionals. “Instead of it being a lecture, there are more questions and answers,” Donley said during a break. “He throws [a topic] out there and lets you speak up. We have almost as much input as he did.” Fillingame, who uses GIS to map gas lines and other utilities for the U.S. Navy in San Diego, California, said she enjoyed the interactive aspects of the class. “It was a lot more fun than sitting and listening to a lecture,” she said. “You got to hear what other people thought—their experiences. And Mark is a crack-up. He made it fun with the bit with the fortune cookies.” She also said a brainteaser he gave the class after lunch one day was just the ticket to get them back in a learning mode. “It got us moving and thinking,” she said. Though handing out fortune cookies in the online classroom isn’t possible—yet— students can laugh using emoticons. Instructors also host small group activities in virtual breakout rooms that include writing on group whiteboards, chatting, and polling. Students can interact with each other and the instructor during virtual lectures, demonstrations, and exercises. Instructors can even peer into students’ computers to monitor progress during individual exercises or check in on groups and facilitate discussion. Instructor Colin Childs, who teaches in the online classroom, said he now e-mails students in advance so he can find out a bit about their experience level using GIS software so he can—to a certain extent—tailor what he teaches to the individuals in the group. “You want to fill in the gaps of what they don’t know,” Childs said. Continued on page 66 A New Teaching Style Before class began in earnest, the 12 students in Stewart’s class learned he wanted to hear from them rather than just listen to his own voice for the next three days. For each lesson, Stewart lectured for 15 or 20 minutes. Then he showed the students a demo, organized a group exercise, assigned a hands-on exercise using GIS software, then recapped and discussed with the students what they learned. He drew people into a conversation by gently working questions into the lesson. Stewart never likes to put anyone on the spot, so he usually poses questions to the entire group. “We want to challenge students and keep the learning environment a safe and comfortable place.” During one lesson, Stewart broke the class up into small groups based on where students sat and handed out several maps for them to study. A map of the Gulf of Mexico after the oil spill that displayed various layers of data, including the locations of debilitated turtles and injured marine animals, generated a lot of interest. “What would you guys do with this map?” Stewart asked. One student offered that it would give an idea of where to focus rehabilitation efforts. “It would help you be able to find out which specific industries were affected by the spill,” said Donley. More ideas followed, fast and furious. This is the type of conversation instrucesri.com New Student Workbooks Complement Interactive Learning Approach New single-course workbooks complement Esri’s new teaching style. According to many educators, adults learn best when they can actively participate and solve problems in class and clearly understand how what’s being taught relates to their jobs. Esri instructors have incorporated these ideas into a new course design and delivery system as described in the accompanying article “More Interactive Learning, Less Lecturing: Esri charts a new course in training.” Esri’s content group, which develops course curriculum, has updated course materials to incorporate these adult learning principles and support the new teaching methodology. A new single workbook for each class replaces the separate lecture and exercise books previously supplied to students. The new workbook supplies supporting information related to all concepts, topics, and exercises included in each lesson with ample space for note taking. Depending on the concept or topic, supporting materials might be content from a slide the instructor presented, a workbook activity that reinforces a concept or topic such as a scenario-based question, a graphic representing a concept or topic, or text that summarizes key points. “We refer to it as a workbook because learners will actually work in it while taking their course,” said Patty McGray of Esri’s Educational Services. ArcUser Winter 2011 65