PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
December 2017
807
SECTOR
INSIGHT:
.
edu
E
ducation
and
P
rofessional
D
evelopment
in
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G
eospatial
I
nformation
S
cience
and
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echnology
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ommunity
By Jared Ware,
United States Military Academy
Teaching with Drones: The Challenges and the Opportunities
T
here are several academic institutions embracing
the proliferation of drone technology. What many
are learning is that properly integrating drone tech-
nology into inquiry-based learning presents chal-
lenges as well as opportunities. One of the main drivers for
the implementation of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs), into academic is the economy. In a 2013 report, the
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems Interna-
tional
forecasted that by
2025 the UAV industry would
generate more than 100,000 new jobs and realize an econom-
ic impact of $82 billion. This forecast includes education on
learning to fly UAVs and teaching everything from engineer-
ing better vehicle design to analyzing the science from sen-
sor output. This requires educators to focus on a dedicated
approach to developing a viable educational program. For re-
search institutions, it requires a comprehensive understand-
ing of how to craft relevant research proposals that support
the growth and vitality of the UAV industry.
At the United States Military Academy, our team of professors
have worked over the past two years to integrate drones into
an existing geospatial information science program. We spent
a considerable amount of time determining how our students
would end up using drone technology in the field. We wanted
our students to quickly move past the “cool factor” of operat-
ing drones and delve into the science and technology because
that is where the real learning occurs, the skills are developed,
and the possibilities are explored. We wanted to determine
if drones could improve the geospatial workflow. We also
wanted to learn if new hardware and software would provide
unique experiences that allowed our students to gain new per-
spectives towards solving problems. We wanted to implement
drones into real-world projects and determine if performance
improved within an established timeline and finite budget.
Using drone hardware and software, our students created
geospatial products from the information collected by the
drone’s sensor packages. We also learned that the workflows
and the datasets matter more than delving into specifics
such as the intricacies of hardware components or software
programs. It helped us change our curriculum for the better.
Speed - of development, of processing, and of implementa-
tion- is now the key factor in how students will embrace the
possibilities stemming from drone education.
The ability to truly plan a project provided experiences with
mission planning in a real-world setting and the application
of drone technology provided the best learning opportunity
for our students.
As a military academy, we focused on incorporating drones in
the curriculum where it created career options for our gradu-
ates. Our graduates utilize the geospatial skills they learn in
our program in the Army, and also when they leave military
service. Some students go into public and private industries
after they complete their mandatory military commitment.
They might work in various government organizations like
the Department of Defense and Department of Transporta-
tion. Others students use their talents and experience to
work for hardware and software companies in the geospatial
industry.
The Future of Drones in the Classroom
The drone sector rapidly changes, so does the policy govern-
ing it. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 has
opened up countless opportunities for professionals to take
advantage of drone technology, and those same opportunities
are being realized in the classroom. Until Part 107 became
official in 2016, filing for and receiving a
from the FAA had been the only way to legally operate a
drone for commercial purposes in the United States. Today,
the advantageous technological and legal landscape allows
more colleges and universities to explore a drone curriculum.
Academic institutions and their departments see how drone
technology is employed on construction site surveys, environ-
mental assessments, hurricane relief efforts, infrastructure
inspections, and utilities planning, and want to educate their
students in a rapidly proliferating field of study.
A current challenge we are dealing with is based on a recent
Army directive. In August 2017, the United States Army is-
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 83, No. 12, December 2017, pp. 807–808.
0099-1112/17/807–808
© 2017 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.83.12.807
