GIS in the Community: Giving Students Practical Experiences While Making Meaningful Community Connections

Community-engaged learning courses expose students to challenges facing local community organizations. Students work collaboratively with the organizations, using their expertise and drawing on their collective understanding of interdisciplinary perspectives to plan, develop and implement a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) project that satisfies the needs of a community organization. Community partners include a variety of state and local agencies, as well as non-profit organizations and research groups. Students have used a wide variety of GIS products to create Story Maps, Dashboards, Hubs, Geo-Inquiries and more to help community organizations continue their services. This chapter will aim to explain the importance of community engaged learning as part of the educational experience of any student and how GIS software and products assist to achieve meaningful connections with local community organizations.