ESRI Virtual Campus v. MAG Labs

Throughout this course we have done a number of lab exercises in order to apply what we are learning in the classroom to the real world of GIS. Not only have we used the Mastering ArcGIS textbook labs to sharpen our knowledge and skills but also utilized the ESRI Virtual Campus. While both have their advantages they offer the same objective.

MAG labs (those which come from the Mastering ArcGIS textbook) are extremely helpful to understanding the information read in the textbook. The teaching tutorials provide step by step instructions on how to apply all the new things taught in that chapter to real data. For me, this is something that really helps me to understand the material. They are often quite long but make it so that no part of the process is confusing. 

We more recently started to use the ESRI Virtual Campus and the various topics they teach. After taking two, three hour courses (one on making a 15-Min Map and another on Geodatabases) it was clear just how helpful these courses are. They provide great detail when explaining the subject matter and do so in a concise manner that allows you to really get a grasp on the topic. They also offer practice procedures so that you can test your knowledge and apply it to really make sure you understand what is being discusses. After doing the reading and watching the very informative videos you are tested on what you have learned. These "exams" are nice because you really see what areas of the subject you understand and what areas you need to review and get some more practice in. 

Both of these different lab exercise methods are very helpful in gaining a better understanding of the key topics in GIS, however, the ESRI Virtual Campus courses are very straight forward and the videos have really helped me to grasp difficult topics. For this reason, I prefer the ESRI Virtual Campus labs but the MAG labs certainly have their strengths as well. The instructions for the teaching tutorials are amazing and extremely clear. This really teaches the methods well.