B.Sc., MRM
Conv. Comp & Data Sci / Instr. Comp Sci
School of STEM
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Computing and Data Science
604.986.1911 ext. 2494
Fir Building, room FR527
jfall@capilanou.ca
Education
MRM, Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, 1999.
B.Sc., Computer Science, University of Victoria, 1991.
"Making the world a better place for its incredible diversity of inhabitants is at the heart of everything I do."
Bio
Joseph Fall (MRM, Simon Fraser University, 1999) tries to tread lightly on the earth with a small ecological footprint.
He is an activist and a devoted systems thinker who volunteers much of his time to building community and promoting environmental and social justice causes. Fall lives with his wife on a small, off-grid farm on the Salish Sea where they collect their own water, generate their own power and grow much of their own food.
Computational science defines the thread of Fall's career. Drawing on his background in computing science, spatial information processing, simulation modelling and quantitative analysis, he runs a small, independent consulting firm that provides systems analysis and open-source software solutions for the resource and environmental sector.
Fall's primary research interests lie in applying design patterns, simulation and computational thinking to improve teaching and learning.
Teaching is an honour, a privilege and among my greatest passions. Only learning is better.
I think my key strength as an instructor lies in an ability to empathize with my students. No doubt I can synthesise complex concepts, design pedagogic strategies, marshal digital technologies and create compelling visualizations to convey lessons effectively. But all that wizardry is pointless if I fail to inspire students' curiosity and motivate them with exiting and interesting problems.
By putting computational thinking at the core of my teachings, my students gain skills far more valuable than merely learning how to write some code or wrangle some data.
Fall, J. 2020 Django Assess: a generic, customizable assessment app. https://github.com/powderflask/django-assess
Fall, J., and L. Lajeunesse 2019 A Graeco-Latin Square Poem Generator. https://github.com/powderflask/gls-poetry
Fall, J. 2019 Django Document Catalogue: a light-weight, stand-alone web-based document library. https://github.com/powderflask/django_document_catalogue
Fall, J. 2018 U-Track-It: Web-tracking technologies exposed. https://github.com/powderflask/utrackit
Fall, J. 2017 U-Hack-It: A hackable website deployed on hack.me. https://github.com/powderflask/u-hack-it
Fall, J. 2013. A Pattern Language for Instructional Design? WCCCE 2013, Capilano University, Vancouver, B.C. http://wccce2013.ca/182/pedagogical-patterns
Fall, J. and T. Dakic. 2006. Objects First in CS1, really. WCCCE 2006, Mount Royal College, Calgary, A.B.
Fall, J. and J. Madar. 2004. TinyGL: A Graphical Framework For Teaching Object Oriented Design and Programming. WCCCE 2004, Okanagan College, Kelowna, B.C.
Parsons, Russell A., Emily K. Heyerdahl, Robert E. Keane, Brigitte Dorner, and Joseph Fall 2007. Assessing accuracy of point fire intervals across landscapes with simulation modelling Can. J. Forest Research (37) pp 1605-1614.
Fall, A. and J. Fall. 2001 A Domain-Specific Language for Models of Landscape Dynamics. Ecological Modeling (141) pp. 1 -18.
Fall, J.G. and K.P. Lertzman. 1999. An Interactive Tutorial on Fire Frequency Analysis (ver. 3.0). Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America: Technological Tools Section
Lertzman, K.P., B. Dorner, and J. Fall. 1998. Three kinds of heterogeneity in fire regimes: at the crossroads of fire history and landscape ecology. Northwest Science 72(Special Issue):4-22.
Lertzman, K.P. and J. Fall. 1998. From forest stands to landscapes: Spatial scales and the roles of disturbances. in Peterson, D. and V.T. Parker (eds.), Ecological Scale: Theory and Applications. Columbia University Press.
Fall, A., J. Fall and K. Lertzman. 1996. Spatially explicit models for land-use planning. In Proc. Association of Conservation Biology. Victoria, B.C.
Fall, A. and J. Fall. 1996. A hierarchical organization of neutral landscape models. In Proc. International Association of Landscape Ecology Symposium. Galveston, Texas.
Fall, J. and A. Fall. 1996. SELES: A Spatially Explicit Landscape Event Simulator. NCGIA Third International Conference on GIS and Environmental Modelling, Santa Fe, NM, GIS World.
Convocation Medal for Academic Excellence, Dean of Graduate Studies, Simon Fraser University, 1999.
Post-Graduate Scholarship, NSRCC, 1991.
Energy Resources Scholarship, Norcan, 1989.