Instructional Development Award Recipients

Several undergraduate instructors who attended the 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007 SPACE workshops were awarded funds to continue their efforts in integrating spatial analysis into their course curriculums. These pages showcase their achievements. See the full recipient list.

Rajrani Kalra

Affiliation: University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR / currently at California State University, San Bernardino
Workshop Attended: Spatial Analysis in the Social Science Curriculum: Enhancing Undergraduate Learning, UCSB, 2007
GIS and Spatial Modeling for the Undergraduate Social Science Curriculum, OSU, 2005
Accomplishment: Developed GeoDa-based exercises to introduce spatial thinking in undergraduate courses and worked on the organization of a campus-wide workshop on Thinking Spatially in the Social Sciences.

Notable Achievements in Her Own Words

I learned immensely from both the SPACE workshops in 2005 and 2007. It did not only shift my focus on thinking spatially but had a great impact on developing teaching philosophy and curriculum.
Rajrani Kalra

I have introduced spatial thinking in all the courses that I teach at the University of Central Arkansas. During my first semester (Fall 2007) at UCA I taught the following three courses: Geographic Information Systems, Introduction to GIS, and Urban Geography. During the current semester (Spring 2008) I am teaching the following two courses: Spatial Analysis and Modeling and Economic Geography. In both these semesters I have focused upon spatial thinking and have used GEODA software. The exercises were based upon spatial concepts such as spatial visualization and spatial analysis of data.

Course Materials

Syllabus for Map Interpretation: 201 Fall 2008   (87kb)

Syllabus for Spatial Analysis and Modeling    (58kb)

Syllabus for Spatial Analysis and Modeling   (123kb)

Syllabus for Geographic Information Systems   (72kb)

Context for Achievements

The SPACE workshop 2005 had an impact on my dissertation work since I used GEODA for my PhD dissertation at Kent State University. My dissertation is titled High-Technology and Intra-urban transformations: A case study of Bengaluru, India. The SPACE workshop 2007 at Santa Barbara taught me new techniques with R software and helped me create exercises with GEODA (e.g. spatial autocorrelation, cartogram, creating weights and spatial regression). This training prepared me well for my new position as an Assistant Professor in Geography at the University of Central Arkansas. I am also in the process of writing a new course proposal for Urban Information Systems in which I am planning to include several exercises based on spatial concepts such as local, regional and national scales, proximity, distance, direction, density, spatial interaction, connectivity, urban form, location, accessibility, spatial diffusion, spatial pattern and spatial processes.

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