State University of New York at Morrisville

Dr. Walid H. Shayya
School of Agriculture, Business, and Technology



Course Outline of AGSC 132 

Fall 2023

Brightspace Access of Course Material On-line (for students enrolled in the course)


INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. Walid H. Shayya

Instructor's Contact Information


GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION:

AGSC 132 introduces the student to site-specific crop management and precision farming. The course also involves the application of selective computer software and hardware in site-specific crop management. In addition, the course focuses on providing the student with an overview of the basics of global positioning system (GPS), an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS), and an introduction to remote sensing. Students enrolled in AGSC 132 will be introduced to these important systems through lectures and laboratory exercises. At the successful completion of the course, the student will be expected to have gained practical knowledge of GPS, GIS, and remote sensing technologies and their potential applications in precision agriculture and site-specific crop management.

Course Format: Lecture (Asynchronous Online), Laboratory (Face to Face)
Meeting Times/Locations: Lecture (recorded by 5:00 PM on Sundays), Laboratory (Thu. @ 2:00-4:00 PM for 01L and 11:00 AM-12:50 PM for 02L in Bicknell 208)
Semester Start Date: August 28, 2023
Semester End Date: December 8, 2023

2 credits (1 lecture hour, 2 laboratory hours), fall semester


EXPECTED COURSE OUTCOMES:

At the successful completion of AGSC 132, the student is expected to have:

  1. Developed an understanding of precision agriculture and its major components including yield monitoring, soil sampling on site-specific basis, and variable rate applications.

  2. Gained an understanding of GPS technology and its potential applications on the farm, including site-specific crop management and precision agriculture.

  3. Gained an understanding of the concepts of GIS and the important role GIS plays in the overall management of the farm as well as site-specific crop management and precision agriculture.

  4. Considered the importance of remote sensing and digital orthoimagery and how critical these may be for farm management and the implementation of a site-specific crop management system.

  5. Recognized the importance of computer technology and how computers can be applied effectively in agriculture management and precision farming.

STUDENT HOURS:

The instructor has the following designated student hours per week:

  • Mondays: 10:00 to 10:50 AM
  • Tuesdays: 10:00 to 10:50 AM
  • Wednesdays: 10:00 to 10:50 AM
  • Thursdays: 10:00 to 10:50 AM
  • Fridays: 8:00 to 8:50 AM

Students are also encouraged to make appointments to see the instructor at other times if necessary. 


CONTACT HOURS AND CLASS SCHEDULE:

AGSC 132 is a two-credit hour course. It includes three contact hours per week (one for lecture and two for laboratory). One section of the lecture and two sections of the laboratory are offered during the 2023 Fall semester. The schedule of the offered sections is as follows:

  • AGSC 132 - Section 1 Lecture:  Meets asynchronously online on Brightspace (the recorded lecture must be viewed weekly before the scheduled laboratory meeting time on Thursdays).
  • AGSC 132 - Section 01 Laboratory:  Meets on Thursdays (2:00 to 3:50 PM) in Room 208, Bicknell Hall.
  • AGSC 132 - Section 02 Laboratory:  Meets on Thursdays (11:00 AM to 12:50 PM) in Room 208, Bicknell Hall.

TEXTBOOK(S):

Each student must purchase the following two course manuals which are available from the campus store.

  1. Shayya, W.H. 2023. Introduction to Computer Applications in Precision Farming (16th Edition). XanEdu Publishing Inc. (ISBN: 979-8-82278-444-4).

  2. Shayya, W.H. 2023. Introductory Exercises Using QGIS Desktop (10th Edition). XanEdu Publishing Inc. (ISBN: 979-8-82279-198-5).

The first manual includes the instructor's PowerPoint presentations (printed in handout format), pertinent reading material, material for homework assignments, and printouts of some laboratory exercises. The second manual includes the GIS exercises to be completed during several of the course laboratories. Course material is also available online under Brightspace, accessible only by the students enrolled in the course. Numerous resources are available online on the course's main topics of precision farming (www.precisionag.org), geographic information systems (GIS.COM, USGS), and the global positioning system (Trimble). Students are encouraged to be actively involved in acquiring some pertinent knowledge from these and other resources available on the world wide web.


CLASS POLICIES:


GRADING/EVALUATION OF STUDENT:

Evaluation is a shared responsibility between the teacher and the student. The purpose of the evaluation is to demonstrate how well the professor has taught and the student has learned specific course materials, the principles, concepts, and terms relevant to the covered topics.  Evaluation is also intended to assess the student's ability to utlize the acquired knowledge in problem-solving.

The breakdown of grading in this course will be as follows:

The distribution of grades in this course will be based on the A-F College grading scheme. The letter grades correspond to the following percentage scale: A (90-100%), A- (87-89.9%), B+ (83-86.9%), B (80-82.9%), B- (77-79.9%), C+ (73-76.9%), C (70-72.9%), C- (67-69.9%), D+ (63-66.9%), D (60-62.9%), and F (<60%).


STARFISH EARLY ALERT SYSTEM:

This course participates in the Starfish Early Alert System, an early intervention system designed to enable academic success, student persistence, and graduation. When an instructor observes student behaviors or concerns that may impede academic success, the instructor may raise an alert flag that notifies the student of the matter, requests an individual contact to discuss the issue, and (in most cases) refer the student to the academic advisor. If you receive an email notification of an early alert, you must contact the instructor as soon as possible to discuss the issue. The purpose of the contact is to determine the severity of the issue, accurately assess its potential impact on your academic success, and plan actions to prevent negative consequences and enable academic success. For more information about the Early Alert system, contact your academic advisor.  


OUTLINE OF TOPICS:

Week - Date Lecture Topic*
(lectures will be recorded and made available on Brightspace)
1 - Aug. 27 Precision Farming: An Overview
2 - Sep. 3 An Overview of Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
3 - Sep. 10 GPS Operation
4 - Sep. 17 An Overview of Differential GPS (DGPS)
5 - Sep. 24 Overview of GIS (GIS.COM, USGS)
First Exam Study Guide
6 - Oct. 1    Progress Examination 1 - Tuesday, October 3 (online)
7 - Oct. 8    October Break (no lecture)
8 - Oct. 15 Unit Conversion and
Topographic Maps
9 - Oct. 22 Working with Scale
10 - Oct. 29 Measuring, Monitoring, and Mapping Crop Yield
11 - Nov. 5 Soil Sampling and Analysis
12 - Nov. 12 Variable Rate Technology and Review of Soil Sampling Exercise
Second Exam Study Guide
13 - Nov. 19    Progress Examination 2 - Tuesday, November 22 (online)
14 - Nov. 26 Remote Sensing
15 - Dec. 3 Digital Orthoimagery and Final Exam Study Guide
16 - Dec. 14    Comprehensive Final Examination (scheduled online @ 11:00 AM)
Click here to download and install Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™, a free software that lets you view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

 

 

Week - Date Laboratory Topic*
(two laboratories will be recorded and offered on Brightspace)
1 - Aug. 31 Introduction to AGSC132 (50-minute Lecture, No Laboratory Exercise)
2 - Sep. 7 Introduction to Computers and Windows
Installation of the DNR GPS, Google Earth, and QGIS Software
3 - Sep. 14 GPS Demonstration and Practice 
4 - Sep. 21 Differential GPS Exercise
5 - Sep. 28 QGIS and Farm Works Office Software (online)
Demonstration of Google Earth and Bing Maps
6 - Oct. 5 Review of the Results of Progress Examination 1
QGIS Exercise 1: Getting Vector Data into QGIS (QGIS Tutorial)
  - Overview of QGIS
  - Exercise Overview
  - Working with Vector Layers
  - Working with Vector Data Attributes
  - Concluding Remarks
7 - Oct. 12 QGIS Exercise 2: Querying and Symbolizing Vector Data (QGIS Tutorial)
  - Overview of QGIS
  - Exercise Overview
  - Querying Vector Layers
  - Symbolizing Vector Layers
  - Concluding Remarks
8 - Oct. 19 QGIS Exercise 3: Labeling and Classifying Vector Data (QGIS Tutorial)
  - Overview of QGIS
  - Exercise Overview
  - Labeling Vector Layers
  - Classifying Vector Data
  - Concluding Remarks
9 - Oct. 26 QGIS Exercise 4: Creating Maps (QGIS Tutorial)
  - Overview of QGIS
  - Exercise Overview
  - Getting Started
  - Using QGIS Layout Manager
  - Concluding Remarks
10 - Nov. 2 QGIS Exercise 5: Map Projections and Inventory Operations (QGIS Tutorial)
  - Overview of QGIS
  - Exercise Overview
  - Getting Started
  - Changing the Map Projection
  - Measuring Distances
  - Measuring Areas
  - Managing Scale
  - Concluding Remarks
11 - Nov. 9 QGIS Exercise 6: Creating Vector Data (QGIS Tutorial)
  - Overview of QGIS
  - Exercise Overview
  - Getting Started
  - Creating a Line Vector Layer
  - Creating a Polygon Vector Layer
  - Creating a Point Vector Layer
  - Performing a Table Join
  - Concluding Remarks
12 - Nov. 16 QGIS Exercise 7: Geospatial Analysis (QGIS Tutorial)
  - Overview of QGIS
  - Exercise Overview
  - Getting Started
  - Vector Analysis
  - Terrain Analysis
  - Concluding Remarks
13 - Nov. 23    Thanksgiving Break (no laboratory)
14 - Nov. 30 QGIS Exercise 8: Preparing Data for Grid Sampling (QGIS Tutorial)
  - Overview of QGIS
  - Exercise Overview
  - Getting Started
  - Creating a Square Grid
  - Creating a Grid for Grid Cell Sampling
  - Creating a Grid for Grid Center Sampling
  - Concluding Remarks
15 - Dec. 7 Digital Orthoimagery Available from the NYS GIS Clearinghouse (online)
Click here to download and install Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™, a free software that lets you view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

*The topics and corresponding dates listed in the tables above are tentative and may be subject to change during the semester.


COLLEGE-WIDE POLICIES:

To view the College-wide policies page, please click on this link.