Online Surveying Courses Provide Flexibility
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| Surveying Instructor Terry Cleaver with a class. |
“We’re trying to give individuals who are already working in
the field an opportunity to get an A.A.S,” said Terry Cleaver, a surveying instructor.
“But we also want to offer this option to conventional students.”
Like any online education, those offered in the surveying
program allow students to work on their own time schedule within the framework
of the class. Cleaver noted that several students—largely in upper level
classes—are already working for surveying firms and can benefit from doing some
classwork completely online. Many travel across the state to conduct their job;
however, attending a class in person and then going to work can be difficult
for some.
The need for online courses began when the Arkansas State
Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Surveyors raised
the requirements to take the Fundamentals of Surveying Exam, the first exam
required towards licensure. Today, aspiring surveyors must at least have an
Associate of Applied Science degree, which is offered at UACCM, to gain a
license. As the demand for more education grows, so does the need to provide
students with options.
The courses include Legal Principles and Boundaries, the
study of rights and interest in land ownership and transfer of property;
Boundary Evidence and Procedures, which covers laws pertaining to the location
of land boundaries described by writings and to apply the law when locating
deed boundaries; and Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a
computer-based data processing tool used to manage and analyze spatial
information.
Cleaver felt that these make good classes for online
learning, as all three are required in the UACCM surveying curriculum for the
A.A.S. and will maintain a path toward licensure. Surveyors research titles and
deeds as part of their daily work, and understanding the law behind marking
boundaries is critical. “Even students already working in the field are using
this,” he said. “They may just not realize it.”
The first online surveying course occurred in the summer of
2019 and resulted in success. Cleaver, who taught it, even received interest
from working professionals from out of state.
Go here
for more information about the surveying program.
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