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Institutions | Training | Online Education | Papers / Articles
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Re-thinking GIS education
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So what can we do about it?
Identifying problems is the easy bit. Solving them is sometimes more difficult but we have been parts of two different, parallel initiatives to enhance the current, flawed situation. Each one is now briefly described.
The Student Companion
We need a new generation of textbooks. Good as some of the existing ones are, most of them still see the GIS world as one dominated by technological and 'geo-technical' considerations. Many simply describe practice, rather than practice informed by theory. Many see the world as exclusively geographical, ignoring the trade-offs between different factors that have to be struck in real life. And most focus on operational uses of GIS rather than a spectrum from strategic to tactical and operational. Most are written for people who will either be GIS technicians or who will lecture on the same material for years to come.
The reality is that GIS is now GI Science, GI Systems, GI Studies and GI (Geographical Information). It is also increasingly involved in g-business. The safety of use of GI Systems is a matter for concern in a world where risk identification and management is becoming normal practice and where investment appraisals and business cases are becoming required even in governments. Successful pricing of information, services or products is crucial either for financial or political reasons. It follows that textbooks should provide the relevant information. It is absurd to separate out the different skill elements needed in working life in different kinds of book as if they do not interact.
Four of us have written a new book to meet these needs (see http://www.wiley.co.uk/wileychi/gis/ )It sets out why 'spatial is special', explains how science must underpin GIS operations and describes how to anticipate and cope with the uncertainty and messiness of the real world. It describes the laws of GIS, the consequences of different data characteristics, data and other standards and the organisational factors in GIS success. GI as an asset to be exploited, risk management and GIS strategy are all covered. The whole book is designed to be easy to use, with full colour throughout. Examples of applications and role models are threaded throughout the entire 470 pages. Beyond all that, we recognise that learning is not done by one or two techniques, like lectures and practical classes: we have built in simulations of real world projects when local politics, institutional dynamics, partnerships and 'not everyone can win' are central to the role-playing.
The book is not a stand-alone entity. It will be accompanied by instructors' manuals linking it to a variety of subject areas. Relevant and still current chapters from the first edition of the reference 'Big Book of GIS' have been made available on the web and these and chapters in the second (wholly new) edition are cross-referenced for those who need more detail. Numerous links to web-based resources are given, including - but not restricted to - the ESRI Virtual Campus. The book is thus part of a bigger learning system that will progressively mutate as needs change.
A new approach to courses: MGI
We need a new generation of courses. Table 1 outlines some of the contents of one solution, the Masters degree in Geographic Information (MGI) at City University (see www.soi.city.ac.uk/mgi) . These contents match well with the needs identified above. The course orientation is steered by a high powered advisory body which includes Carol Tullo - the person responsible for the UK government's information policy - and senior business people.
MGI offers transparency in its quality procedures, a comprehensive learning resource and pro-active student involvement. The UK is the only country in the world where national standards for all university degrees are externally assessed and graded, with the results being made public. The national Quality Assurance Agency recently gave a star rating to MGI for its innovation and thoroughness of every aspect of its design.
The heart of the MGI is the WebCT Managed Learning Environment through which the course is managed. Course handbooks, study skills guides, student-staff meeting minutes, computing guides and details of departmental teaching policies and procedures are available. Discussion boards and chat rooms allow students to interact with staff and each other and the results of student queries and feedback are placed online. WebCT also hosts the course materials, assignments, marks/feedback and a guide to the virtual library where book and journal articles have been placed for student access after copyright clearance.
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