Abstract
Meeting the Challenge: Sustainable Development, International Students, and GIS
Track: Teaching with GIS in Higher Education
Author(s): Ravi Lakshmikanthan
Teaching GIS is difficult. Teaching students with different educational backgrounds, cultural values, and academic interests is even more difficult. This paper will examine the challenges and lessons of teaching GIS at the graduate level to international students interested in working in sustainable development. When you teach at the graduate level you are almost certainly going to have students who have exceptional skills and need little direction, students who need to be nurtured to reach their full potential, and finally students who are there just for the credits. Meeting the needs of all these constituencies is daunting, but with a solid foundation and attention to individual student needs, teaching GIS can be a truly rewarding experience.
Ravi Lakshmikanthan
Brandeis University
The Heller School
415 South Street
MS 035
Waltham, MA 02453
US
Phone: 781-736-2770
Fax: 781-736-8366
E-mail: kanthan@brandeis.edu