Scott Freburg

Bio: Scott Freburg is the GIS Administrator for the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and MN.IT Services. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Geography (Remote Sensing) from St. Cloud State University and earned his Master of Arts in Geography (GIS/Remote Sensing) at Indiana State University. With thirty years of experience in the GIS technology field, he has worked with the Montana Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Geospatial Information Office and MDE. He manages all aspects of enterprise GIS at MDE and is also the Primary Contact and coordinator for GIS Licenses for school districts in Minnesota. He has volunteered inside the GIS community for many years. He is currently appointed to the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council and is chair-elect of the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Board. Scott's passion is education! Helping K-12 teachers get GIS software, learn how to use it and then bring that learning and passion to students is our future.

GIS in the Classroom: What Minnesota is doing to help Teachers grow Technology

Since 2013 Minnesota has been part of an Extended License Agreement with Esri to provide ArcGIS desktop/server products AND ArcGIS Online organizational accounts to Minnesota public and nonpublic Districts and Schools.Over the past three years 500+ teachers have taken half-day, full-day or multiple day GIS workshops. Recently, the Minnesota Dept of Education has partnered with the MNGIS/LIS Consortium to promote mentoring, workshop instructors and substitute reimbursement for workshops. The 2015 statewide GIS conference in Duluth last October included a full day of K-12 GIS workshops. This session will highlight workshops, mentoring and collaboration that is taking place in Minnesota to promote the use of GIS in classrooms across the state.

K-12 instruction, K-12 GIS