GETSI Teaching Materials

Materials Available

The GETSI teaching materials feature geodetic data and quantitative skills applied to societally important issues (climate change, natural hazards, and water resources). They are designed to maximize student engagement and learning through analysis of real data and clear connections to critical societal challenges. The materials are created through a rigorous development and testing process, spearheaded by the InTeGrate Project, to ensure that they meet high standards for student-centered learning outcome achievement, instructional strategies, resource content, and assessment effectiveness. Modules are coauthored by two instructors and pilot-tested by a third instructor so that the materials are broadly usable in a range of different institutions and courses. Published modules have completed the development, testing, and revision process.

Each GETSI learning module is comprised of four to six "units" and takes about two weeks of class time when done in its entirety. For instructors with less time available, guidance is provided on how a subset of units can be selected instead. All modules include "Instructor Stories" that showcase how the materials can be used in different educational settings (example Instructor Stories). A community input forum is available for each module to facilitate exchange of ideas between materials adopters. Modules are available for both introductory and majors-level undergraduate courses.

The Guiding Principles that all modules must satisfy are:

  • Address one or more geodesy-related grand challenges facing society (e.g., climate change, managing water resources, and mitigating hazards);
  • Make use of authentic and credible geodesy data to learn central concepts in the context of geoscience methods of inquiry;
  • Improve student understanding of the nature and methods of geoscience and developing geoscientific habits of mind;
  • Develop student ability to address interdisciplinary problems and apply geoscience learning to social issues;
  • Increase student capacity to apply quantitative skills to geoscience learning.

Using GETSI Modules for Your Course About the Project

Available Modules

Introductory-level modules

Eyes on the Hydrosphere module banner. Farmer in a field of yellow flowers with irrigation water spraying.

Eyes on the Hydrosphere: Tracking Water Resources

Jonathan Harvey (Fort Lewis College)
Becca Walker (Mt. San Antonio College)

Ice Mass and Sea Level Change module banner. Greenland GPS Network (GNET) station with ice sheet in the distance.

Ice Mass and Sea Level Changes

Becca Walker (Mt. San Antonio College)
Leigh Stearns (University of Kansas)

Measuring Earth w GPS module banner. GPS station on a mountain top with sunset.

Measuring the Earth with GPS: Plate Motion and Changing Ice-Water

Karen M. Kortz (Community College of Rhode Island)
Jessica J. Smay (San Jose City College)

Monitoring Volcanoes module banner. Lava spewing from a opening.

Monitoring Volcanoes and Communicating Risks

Kaatje Kraft (Whatcom Community College)
Rachel Teasdale (California State University-Chico)

Surface Process Hazards module banner. Oso Landslide covering a neighborhood.

Surface Process Hazards: Living with Landslides

Becca Walker (Mt. San Antonio College)
Sarah Hall (College of the Atlantic)

Majors-level modules

GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes banner. Yellow vectors show GPS-measured movements in western USA. Much greater rates near the coast and slower more inland.

GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes

Vince Cronin (Baylor University)
Phillip Resor (Wesleyan University)

San Andreas Fault LIDAR

Imaging Active Tectonics with InSAR and LiDAR data

Bruce Douglas (Indiana University)
Gareth Funning (University of California Riverside)

Measuring Water Resources module banner. Folsom Lake reservoir dam site during a major drought. Water levels are very low. Much exposed land and little water are visible.

Measuring Water Resources with GPS, Gravity, and Traditional Methods

Bruce Douglas (Indiana University)
Eric Small (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Modeling Flood Hazard module banner. Flooded neighborhood in Houston from Hurricane Harvey. All streets and yards are flooded and house roofs are sticking up above the waters.

Modeling Flood Hazards

James McNamara (Boise State University)
Venkatesh Merwade (Purdue University)

Landslide Analysis module banner. Landslide hazard map of Puerto Rico with higher hazard areas in the mountainous interior as higher probability landslide hazard. Numerous white dots show landslides that were triggered by 2017 Hurricane Maria.

Planning for Failure: Landslide Analysis for a Safer Society

Stephen Hughes (University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez)
Bobak Karimi (Wilkes University)

Our Changing Climate module banner. Panorama of a glacial lake in Iceland. Broken ice floating in blue-gray water with glacier and rocks in the distance.

Understanding Our Changing Climate: Data Behind Melting Ice and Changing Sea Level

Bruce Douglas (Indiana University)
Susan Kaspari (Central Washington University)

Field modules

High Resolution Topography module banner. Students and teaching learning to do TLS surveying. Crumbling rocky cliff in the backgroun.

Analyzing High Resolution Topography with TLS and SfM

Bruce Douglas (Indiana University-Bloomington)
Kate Shervais & Chris Crosby (UNAVCO)
And other contributors

High Precision Positioning module banner. Students and instructor in the field and learning to do GPS surveying. Dry Idaho landscape in the back.

High Precision Positioning with Static and Kinematic GPS/GNSS

Benjamin Crosby and Ian Lauer (Idaho State University)

TLS GETSI Field

Prepared and Existing Data Sets from Field Geodesy


Find more teaching resources that feature geoscience learning in the context of societal challenges on the InTeGrate site »

Find other geodesy teaching resources on NAGT's Teaching Geodesy site »


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