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Overview: ESRI Virtual Campus online GIS training courses are available to IHL affiliates (students/faculty/staff) at no charge. The Virtual Campus subscription for The University of Southern Mississippi and its surrounding campuses are administered by the department of geography at USM..

An alternative learning tool is ESRI Digital Books, which are the user manuals that ship with ESRI software.

Index:

What is ESRI Virtual Campus?

Who may use the Virtual Campus subscription?

What courses are available?

How many courses may I take?

What software do I need?

How do I sign up?

How do I get started?

If I want to take more than two courses, how do I show that I've completed earlier courses?

What if I have questions?

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1) What is ESRI Virtual Campus?

The Virtual Campus courses consist of self-paced, Web-based GIS instruction modules built around either specific ESRI GIS software packages (e.g., ArcView Spatial Analyst or ArcInfo 8) or specific disciplines (e.g., Forestry and Hydrology). Individual courses typically require 18-24 hours to complete. USM holds a campus license for ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) software. Read this .pdf file from ESRI to see what courses they offer for your application or interests.

2) Who may use the Virtual Campus subscription?

students, faculty and staff.

3) What courses are available?

There are currently 65 courses available. Click HERE for a listing of currently available courses. Several more courses are in development. Consult the official course description list on the Virtual Campus Web site at: http://campus.esri.com/ for more information. The GIS Technology Courses authored by ESRI are the only courses available through this agreement. ESRI now allows students, faculty and staff to enroll in their online web workshops. For more information on workshops, visit this ESRI press release article.

4) How many courses may I take?

There is currently no limit on the total number of courses taken over time. Users may not enroll in more than two free courses concurrently. Arrangements can be made for special circumstances.

5) What software do I need?

Consult the Required Software sections of the individual course web pages at: http://campus.esri.com/. Some courses may be completed with the free ArcView Virtual Campus Edition which may be installed on any computer (including home computers). Courses involving ArcView extensions will require access to a fully functional version of ArcView. ArcGIS courses will require access to either a licensed copy of ArcGIS 8.1.x or the ArcGIS 8.1 trial version. ArcInfo 7.x courses require access to a licensed copy of ArcInfo 7.x.

ArcView Virtual Campus Edition: This version of ArcView 3.1 may be installed on any computer (including home computers). This software will time out after 120 days and extensions are not supported. See software details.

ArcView Student Pricing: There is a student price of $250 available for ArcView. Contact ESRI Telebusiness at 1-800-447-9778 for details on how to qualify.

ArcGIS 8.1 Trial version: The trial software is not available through the Virtual Campus subscription. Users may acquire this software in combination with the Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop book available from ESRI, see http://www.esri.com/library/esripress/gtkarcgis.html. The trial software has a 180-day timeout. See software details.

Campus Access: ArcView, ArcInfo and the major extensions are under campus license and can be run on most campus workstations, in some departmental computing labs, and in individual offices (installation media is available from the campus ESRI license administrator: George Roedl at msci@usm.edu or 266-5238).

XP support: The ArcView Virtual Campus Edition and the trial version of ArcGIS 8.1 are not compatible with Windows XP. ArcGIS 8.1.2 will support XP.

6) How do I sign up?

Create an ESRI Virtual Campus account, select the course you would like to complete, and e-mail me for access codes. Be sure to provide a usm.edu email address in order to receive your registration code.

7) How do I get started?

You will be provided with a registration code which will be good for one specified course. These codes may not be passed on to other individuals. Follow the registration instructions under the 'Registration' link on the Virtual Campus site at: http://campus.esri.com/

8) If I want to take more than two courses, how do I show that I've completed earlier courses?

Course completion will be verified from regular reports sent by ESRI to the subscription administrator, or from the completion information available on the Virtual Campus Web site. Note: In many cases it will be possible to waive the two course limit.

9) What if I have questions?

Please contact:

George Roedl
Department of Geography
Box 5051
Hattiesburg, MS 39406
phone: 601-266-5238
email: msci@usm.edu