EVSC 3020

As a biology with pretty minimal experience with software or coding (I am pretty bad at computers in general) this course intimidated me- but I ended up with an A! I have to say the lecture portion of the class was super dry and did not feel helpful but the lab portion where we actually learned to use ArcGIS was amazing. I feel like I learned so much about GIS through our lab assignments, and that is where most of the grade in the class comes from anyways (tests are about 10% of the grade). The TAs were very helpful, I recommend making a groupme for the class and heavily using piazza because some of the lab assignments can be tricky. All in all I would recommend this class because GIS is a very good skill to have!

This class is a must for EVSC majors, and can be helpful for other disciplines as well. Learning how to use ArcGIS is a very useful skill to have. That being said, this class itself is not really the most engaging, but it gets the job done. Professor Porter is very funny, approachable, and accommodating, but the theory behind GIS is pretty dry. The exams are all take-home, but they're not open note and I found them to be somewhat tricky and memorization-based, since they covered very specific points of the material. The lab assignments can be a bit time-consuming, but the manual makes them very easy to follow. If you're good at following tutorial-type instructions, you can probably breeze right through them. At the end of the course, you can do a GIS project on any topic you want, which is interesting and really helps you integrate the material and everything you've learned. Overall, I'd definitely recommend this class, but you might be gritting your teeth a bit throughout the semester.

I came into this class really excited about learning to make maps (and the lab section with Amy Ferguson was awesome for that), but the lecture portion of this class was pretty much useless. You are tested on information that you can Google if you ever needed to know it later on in life. Professor Porter is really nice but, because of the overload of information on powerpoint slides, the lectures get long and dry. If you want to learn arcGIS, I recommend just renting a tutorial book and doing it on your own - don't take the class!

I'm a Civil Engineering major; I took this course to get some experience with GIS because it's a good resume booster and I thought mapmaking would be cool.

I'd recommend the course--the lectures can be dry (75-minute PowerPoints), but Porter is a very knowledgeable person and the labs are really cool. If you have an interest in mapmaking, you'll like this course.

Labs are once per week in four-hour blocks, but the work normally takes two hours max and you can leave the lab anytime you want. Tests are a little challenging, but normally aren't too bad. You finish the semester with a Final Project, and if you have something map-related you're interested in it can be a cool experience. You don't need to buy the textbook--I never opened it once and I still got an A.

Decent class. Lectures are insanely dry, but Porter is a good professor.

Exams can be difficult, but the lab is easy, and it's worth 50% of your grade (midterm and final are both 25%). Lab tutorials and assignments are time-consuming but fairly straightforward. Just be sure you don't lose silly points over details.

There's a textbook, but I didn't buy it, and still got an A. Just study the powerpoints for the exams, and you'll do fine.

I'm not really sure why this is a 4-credit class; it was the least time-consuming class I took all semester. But if you do well it can boost your GPA, and if nothing else, it looks good on a resume. I'd recommend it.

The class can be a little dry as far as the lecture goes (and the reading can be even more dry), but the lab pojects are all really interesting. Plus, at the end of the semester, you do a small group GIS project on any subject you want. The class is really practical fo jobs and internships, and overall the information is fairly interesting and extremely usful.

GIS is a highly practical and hireable skill, and this class gives you a hands-on introduction to the software and concepts. Also, Prof. Porter is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. However, the lectures are hopelessly boring because they are broad in scope and, more importantly, are not directly helpful in completing the time-consuming and frustrating lab assignments. I think the software is fairly straightforward to the computer-literate, but going through the text-book labs is a real drag. I think I'd learn faster just watching youtube tutorials (which is true of most software).

the class is a little boring but i really enjoyed the labs. you learn alot and its a good class overall.