GIS Professionals Sought to Help Schools Enrich Learning with ArcGIS Online

Redlands, California — May 28, 2014—One of the priorities identified in President Obama's  ConnectED Initiative is the support of teachers to advance digital learning. With Esri's recently announced commitment to donate ArcGIS Online accounts to every public and private K–12 school in the United States, GIS professionals are needed to help local teachers learn the foundational science.

Esri has joined forces with the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) to recruit Certified GIS Professionals (GISPs) to serve as  GeoMentors, who will work with local schools to help them set up and learn to use their ArcGIS Online accounts.

GISCI is the leading certification body for the GIS profession. Over 5,500 GISPs have demonstrated the requisite education, experience, contributions to the profession, and commitment to competent and ethical practice since the certification institute was founded in 2004.

GISCI is urging current and aspiring GISPs to volunteer as ConnectED GeoMentors. Through this volunteer project, they  will earn points toward initial GISP certification or renewal. GISP GeoMentors will be required to help set up ArcGIS Online accounts at local schools and tutor teachers on ArcGIS Online use and administration. Esri will provide training and other educational resources to prepare GeoMentors for their work with local schools.

Esri established the GeoMentor program in collaboration with the National Geographic Society in 2009. For more information, visit  www.geomentor.org.

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About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at  www.esri.com.

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Jim Baumann, Esri
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