Creating critical thinkers in Geographic Information System (GIS) workshops

GIS Services in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries has a long tradition of hosting short, one-session GIS workshops that are open to the entire MIT Community. Because GIS support is not available in most departments, many students, faculty, and staff turn to GIS Services to learn software and mapping skills for the first time. Based on workshop feedback and a new vision for the Libraries as a whole, we recently transformed our introductory workshops from software-centric to focusing on the critical skills necessary for participants to become thoughtful map makers and GIS users. We developed and executed a process to incorporate data literacy, cartography skills, and critical cartography values into the workshops. This presentation will discuss the reasons we decided to revamp our workshops, the process we used to develop them, and the techniques we used to teach both critical thinking skills and software skills in one, three-hour workshop. Attendees will learn how to modify their own teaching from software-focused workshops to those that emphasize critical thinking and data literacy skills. The presentation will also provide specific examples of how to do so in GIS instruction.