Dara O'Beirne.
AboutWorkTeachingAIContact

Teaching

Teaching keeps the fundamentals honest.

You can't hand-wave a concept to a room of students who are about to try it themselves. Courses at SF State and UC Davis, with sample notebooks and cohort status.

San Francisco State University

SF State · Geography & Environment

View my SF State faculty profile →

Python Programming

Spring 2026 · open

From first principles to working scripts: data types, control flow, functions, and files, taught with spatial examples so the syntax sticks to something real. No prior programming assumed.

Sample notebook (Colab) 12 weeks Ask about enrolling →

Introduction to ArcGIS Online

Rolling cohort

Web GIS without the desktop: hosted layers, web maps, configurable apps, and sharing models. The fastest path from "I have a spreadsheet of addresses" to "I have a map other people can use."

Hands-on labs 8 weeks Ask about enrolling →

Introduction to the ArcGIS API for Python

Spring 2026 · full

Automating the web-GIS workflow: scripting content management, publishing, and analysis against ArcGIS Online and Enterprise. The bridge between the Python course and real administrative work.

Jupyter Waitlist open Join the waitlist →

UC Davis · Continuing & Professional Education

UC Davis · Open-Source GIS

Open-Source GIS

QGIS · PostGIS · GDAL

A hands-on tour of the open stack: QGIS for the desktop, PostGIS for the database, and the GDAL/OGR command-line tooling that ties them together. Built around the philosophy that you should be able to open up, understand, and extend the tools you depend on.

Field toolkit included Project-based See the apps I've built →

Considering a course, or a guest session?

Prospective students and program coordinators are welcome to reach out about current cohorts and dates.

Contact me