Abstract
Doing Ethnography to Impact Upon Student Experiences of Digital Geography
Track: Teaching with GIS in Higher Education
Author(s): Gerry Lucas, Simone Kruger
Digital geographies encompasses GIS and other geospatial software. They are acknowledged to be difficult subjects for undergraduate students to master. Students feel intimidated by using them and often describe digital geographies as "very hard" techniques to master. However, students acknowledge their current and future importance to geospatial disciplines as well as their own job prospects.
The diffusion of digital geographies is accelerating. Teachers need to develop pedagogic strategies to reduce student anxiety and promote effective GIS learning. This paper explores feedback from a Level 1 university GIS module. Ethnography was used to examine perceived difficulties of ArcGIS with Level 1 geography students at Edge Hill University. Research established a way forward for improving the students understanding and skill mastery of ArcGIS in future modules. It demonstrates how collaboration between a geoscientist delivering the GIS module, and an ethnographic researcher who promoted the technique, improved student engagement with digital geographies.
Gerry Lucas
Edge Hill University
Dept of Geography
St Helens Rd, Ormskirk.
Lancashire
Ormskirk L394QP
GB
Phone: 0044 1695584324
Fax: 0044 1695 58455
E-mail: Lucasg@edgehill.ac.uk
Simone Kruger
SOLSTICE
Edge Hill University
St Helens Road
Ormskirk , Lancashire L394QP
GB
Phone: 0044 1695584744
E-mail: Krugers@edgehill.ac.uk