University of Redlands, California

LEarNing Spatially (LENS) is a campus-wide initiative promoting spatial literacy as a foundational component within an undergraduate liberal arts curriculum. LENS harnesses the integrative power of geography with technologies to help faculty and students visualize knowledge, solve problems and understand relationships through a spatial lens. We create opportunities for faculty and students from diverse liberal arts disciplines to use maps, mapping and spatial perspectives in order to develop new understanding and insights for their teaching and research. Our approach targets faculty development through fellowships and workshops, student opportunities through internships and collaborative research, and enhancements to existing technical support and infrastructure. We emphasize graphicacy skills among students, adding “critical viewing” expertise to the other competencies in writing, reading, speaking and thinking that are cultivated during higher education. LENS moves beyond teaching simply a tool or suite of technologies; it represents a global first for how 21st century geospatial technologies can be linked to the greater pedagogic objectives of critical thinking and problem-based learning.