Geographical information system (GIS) technology is an interdisciplinary tool used extensively throughout the fields that typically comprise a public affairs education. However, to date GIS has not been pedagogically integrated at the program level. This article makes a case for a programmatic approach to GIS inclusion within the curriculum that fully integrates GIS within and between courses of a public affairs program with a focus on the NASPAA competencies that govern student learning and program outcome assessment. This is supplemented with an example from Indiana University Northwest that drove the impetus of this research, the changes the program led to in creating a GIS-based course, and the realistic limitations to full implementation in many programs.
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