Thomas MacMullen
Eastern Illinois University, USA
Title: Implementing GIS Laboratory Practices: Migration to a distance learning based Instruction
Biography
Biography: Thomas MacMullen
Abstract
Traditional learning environment laboratory practices related to GIS is aimed towards learning to use the software in a dedicated lab located in a room on campus. The need to be physically present at pre-scheduled hours, often with an instructor limits the possibilities of many non-traditional students wanting to take GIS courses. The need to design viable alternatives that allow students to access laboratory facilities remotely without losing most of the educational objectives, typically achieved in a face-to-face environment, is increasing by the day. This paper proposes a solution already implemented and tested in order to move a traditionally taught GIS course, to an ONLINE based instruction. The design requires remote access authentication via the VMWare View system which is composed of three servers: The secure server, the composer server and the administrative server. The seservers have been virtualized and reside on the hardware allocated for the project. The VMWare View system is housed on a cluster of two Dell Poweredge R720 blades with Teradici graphics accelerators. Each blade serves as a VMWare ESX 6.0 host. Within the administrative server, a pool of virtual computers is created. Any student with internet access enrolled in the course can authenticate to the VMWare View secure server which checks them for password validity and for access authorization. Once access is granted, the user is assigned to a random virtual computer in the pool. Upon logging off, the virtual computer that the user was logged into will be deleted and re-copied from the snapshot so that the next user who logs in to it will get a clean copy and will not be able to access the previous user’s data. Once student is granted access to a virtual machine they can first perform GIS mapping within the virtual server environment using the ArcGIS or qGIS. Once thes tudents gets proficient with a simulated laboratory environment, which mimics the real set-up of the laboratory facilities, a specially created secure proxy-firewalled network allows then to take control of the laboratory real GIS server facilities, which are prewired for the specific practice in place. Students then are allowed to manage and program real GIS mapping and perform laboratory practices as if they were inside the laboratory. In case they need assistance, instructors with remote access to the facilities can be reached online within the laboratory hours.