Education Projects

Education is something that just happens and is not something that we always capture in a short paper, particularly when your main research focus lies elsewhere. Since taking on the role of programme director of a Master's programme that needed some changes I used this as an opportunity to capture some of the things we were doing so that others, who might find themselves in a similar situation can think about how to start to bring about innovations and transformations in their education programmes

Transforming education

We are living during times of change where technological advancements are transforming societies. With this we also need to rethink how we teach and what we teach. We need to take into consideration

new ways to be inclusive and equitable using Geospatial information and technologies
develop new learning that are multi-modal and go beyond the classroom
include access to a wider range of geospatial technologies that include desktop, cloud, or high-performance computing
EdTech for enhancing learning and accessibility of courses
change and risk management

Creating education programmes fit for the future

To help us understand where to start and how to start bringing about change in our programe we developed the 5-phased approach for transforming and transitioning our education.

The five phases include: Inventory, Analysis, Evaluation, Design and Implementation. For further details see Blanford and Verplanke (2023); King et al., (2024), Primera et al., (2025))

The framework allows us to evaluate our curriculum and enables educators to design sustainable, flexible educational environments relevant for multi-modal learning environments while remaining at the forefront of educational needs.

The 5-phase approach allowed us to evaluate progress during each phase, enabling us to make any necessary adjustments throughout the process.

Storyboarding courses

We developed a curriculum design process, based on the ABC Learning Design method, to help teachers (re)design courses quickly and collaboratively. (see King et al., (2024)).

Outcomes of this was a digital overview of the course topics and technologies in use. This helped with quality checks in the programme ensuring programme learning outcomes were being met as well as identify knowledge gaps.

Co-creation of curriculum

Through a series of workshops led by KADEN DESIGN we brought together staff to work through the co-creation process of curriculum redesign. For more information see this image.

Integrated education systems: enabling student learning pathways

Bringing the pieces together to maximize efficiency while also providing students with flexible learning pathways relevant for varied career choices. For more information see Primera et al., (2025).

Erasmus+ Digital education: resilient BLENDED learning environments

We have designed a course that takes a multi-model learning approach. Our goal is to bring together geospatial educators in higher education and provide an opportunity to reflect on education in the past two years, share experiences and learn new skills. The course has been designed to provide participants with opportunities to reflect on different learning activities and modes of delivery and how this relates to learning from a student perspective. During the course we encourage participants to test new methods and share their experiences. We have balanced activities around synchronous and asynchronous activities. All course activities will be conducted in English.

Building Geospatial skills and Competencies

Building Geospatial Skills & Competencies

The geospatial field is predicted to become an $80+ billion dollar industry if it hasn't already surpassed this already.

Geospatial data skill requirements are captured in the varied skills summarized in the geospatial competency model (as shown in the image adapted from (DiBiase et al. 2010; ETA 2014))

As geospatial data and technologies evolve so too are the skillsets required by geospatial data scientists. This requires identifying and incorporating new technologies as well as how to analyze, interpret and use new data types and a variety of methods.

see publications Blanford et al.. 2019

Making GIS accessible for health

As a GIS analyst who works in applying GIS and spatial analysis to better understand health inequalities, risks and outcomes, I am interested in breaking down barriers to make GIS accessible to health professionals for Health Intelligence.

John Snow's 1854 Cholera map has become a universal example of how maps can be used to understand disease distribution, yet GIS and geospatial intelligence are still absent from many health sciences curriculum.

I bring together key spatial analysis methods with health in my book - Geographic information, geospatial technologies and spatial data science for health and offer courses and training so that health professionals can develop the necessary skills.

For more information about my book visit this page.

Blanford (2024) Geographic information, geospatial technologies and spatial data science for health. Pp376. CRC Taylor & Francis.

Making stats fun with geography

Blanford, J.I. (2025) Temperature variations across space and time: making statistics fun with geographic information and spatial analysis. Primus.1-21 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511970.2025.2477280

Building Communities and Leaders for Tomorrow

The number of women in the geospatial industry are low (30%) and the numbers are even lower in leadership positions (Hawkey & Heazlewood, 2018).

Where are the women leaders of tomorrow?

The number of women in the geospatial industry are low (30%) and the numbers are even lower in leadership positions (Hawkey & Heazlewood, 2018).

We are currently identifying challenges women geospatial scientists face in the workplace, particularly in our universities with the goal to provide recommendations that can help build and retain women leaders in the geospatial sciences.

For more information visit our website

Women are doing it for themselves

Bringing women together to enhance awareness about work-life integration, talk about obstacles, conflicts, mentoring and coaching. This was building on the TRELIS principles.

Women in GISciences

Many women have been at the forefront of geospatial innovations. Let's continue to build this from around the world.

Check out our Wall of Fame we have compiled to view who some of these women are and the impact they have had.

Dawn Wright

An American geographer and oceanographer

Dr. Gladys B. West (1930–2026)

A mathematician who worked on complex geoid modeling that laid the foundation for modern GPS technology.

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_West

Sources

Frazier, A., Nelson, T., Kedron, P., Shook, E. Dodge, S., Murray, A., Goodchild, M., Battersby, S., Blanford, J., Claramunt, C., Holler, J., Koylu, C., Lee, A., Manson, S., Salap-Ayca, S., Wilson, J., Zhao, B., Bennett, L., Cabrera-Arnau, C., Franklin, R., McKenzie, G., Miller, H., Oshan, T., Rey S., Rowe, F., Shook, E., Spielman, S., Xu, W., (2025) Evolving Curriculum for GIScience in an Age of Disruptions. Transactions in GIS. 29:e70048. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/tgis.70048
Nelson, T., Frazier, A., Kedron, P., Dodge, S., Zhao, B., Goodchild, M., Murray, A., Battersby, S., Bennett, L., Blanford, J., Cabrera-Arnau, C., Claramut, C., Franklin, R., Holler, J., Koylu, C., Lee, A., Manson, S., McKenzie, G., Miller, H., Oshan, T., Rey S., Rowe, F., Salap-Ayca, S., Shook, E., Spielman, S., Xu, W., Wilson, J. (2024) A Research Agenda for GIScience in a Time of Disruptions. IJGIS
Blanford, J.I. (2025) Temperature variations across space and time: making statistics fun with geographic information and spatial analysis. Primus.1-21 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511970.2025.2477280
Primera, R., Blanford, J.I., Lemmens, R., Ronzhin, S. (2025 accepted) A Comprehensive Approach to Curriculum Development: Integrating a 5-Phase Redesign, ABC Learning Design, and GeoCourseHub Ontology for Multi-Modal Geospatial Education. SEFI Conference
King, J., Primera, R., Verkroost, M.J., Verheij, L.,Cray, L., Blanford, J.I. (2024) Collaborative course (re)design: adapting learning design to support curriculum transformations. Paper presented at SEFI Conference, Lausanne, September 2024
Blanford, J.I. and Verplanke, J. (2023) Transforming curriculums for an age of multi-modal education: a 5-phase approach. Paper presented at SEFI conference, Dublin September 12th 2023
Blanford, J.I. Bowlick, F., Gidudu, A., Gould, M., Griffin, A.L., Kar, G., Kemp, K., de Róiste, M., de Sabbata, S., Sinton, D., Strobl, J., Tate, N., Toppen, F., Unwin, D. (2021) LOCKDOWN LESSONS: an international conversation on resilient GI science teaching. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. 10.1080/03098265.2021.1986687
Blanford, J.I., Kennelly, P., King, B., Miller, D., Bracken, T. (2020) Merits of capstone projects in an online graduate program for working professionals. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. DOI: 10.1080/03098265.2019.1694874

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