Geographical information systems are increasingly being used in a teaching environment for a wide range of academic areas. Recently at the University of Arizona, School of Renewable Natural Resources, several GIS-related courses have been developed to exploit the academic and institutional benefits of a GIS instructional program. These benefits include (1) the creation of institutional, instructional, and research databases, (2) an increase in the interdisciplinary and interdepartmental use of GIS and, (3) the creation of a GIS technical talent pool for a wide array of research and educational based programs. With rapid changes in hardware, software, and computer operating systems, there are significant challenges in maintaining a quality educational experience. While GIS excels at an interdisciplinary level, the task of teaching a wide range of students from various academic backgrounds and with differential computer literacy skills is a significant challenge. This is especially true in a heterogeneous computing environment comprised of distributed data, and various combinations of GIS software packages and computer operating systems. This paper will examine some the experiences we have gained in developing a UNIX, DOS, and Windows-NT based GIS teaching facility at The University of Arizona.
GIS technologies reflect the evolution of information systems over the past three decades. Today's organizations, public and private sector alike, are becoming aware of the benefits of using GIS to meet their goals. To assist in this effort, UCR Extension developed a course of study designed for administrators, managers, technical professionals, decision makers, and others involved in building and implementing information systems. The curriculum focuses on the issues of implementing a GIS faced by upper and middle management. Emphasis is placed on understanding project management concepts, data and systems integration, exploring public policy and legal issues, data base design, spatial relationships and other interdisciplinary aspects of GIS. This paper discusses the value of GIS education for adult learners. Topics to be covered include a year in review, challenges and successes, surprise outcomes, and trends in GIS education across the country.
Due to the ongoing expansion of GIS into ever more institutions and fields of application, there is without doubt a high and increasing need for qualified individuals to fill a number of job functions. In order to meet this need by offering academic GIS education to professionals already in the workforce, the global UNIGIS distance learning diploma has been conceived by a group of European universities. In this 2-year course basic concepts are delivered via printed course texts, with ArcView and Idrisi for Windows serving as platforms for practical exercises. Recently, access to the Internet has been made compulsory for course participants, opening up a whole new world of enhanced ways of instruction, learning and communication. The presentation will demonstrate how the Internet today can serve as a unifying pivot for the presentation of educational materials, interactive learning, generation of feedback and assessments and communication between and among students and instructors.
The rise of modern Geographic Information Systems (GIS) coincides with sixteen years of war in Lebanon (1975-1991). At the time GIS, with the wide spreading of personal computing, was witnessing its first public appearance in the United States and the Western world Lebanon was struggling to maintain some kind of sanity in a country torn by civil wars and chaos. It was in such an environment and professional milieu that GIS first made its appearance in Lebanon. The kickoff initiative was launched at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of the American University of Beirut (FEA/AUB). March 16, 1990 was a day to be remembered. The group, faculty, students, and guests, was to disperse only when the impact of the mortars and shells started getting louder and closer. Since that day, the GIS community in Lebanon continues to grow both in size and knowledge. The years to follow exhibited great talents, enthusiasm, and pioneering spirits. Through a series of orientation seminars and work shops, GIS has been introduced to almost all the universities in Lebanon, the Institute of Internal Security Forces at the Ministry of Interior, and the Military Academy at the Ministry of Defense. In 1996, GIS made its first appearance in schools. All through these years Khatib and Alami (K and A) and Esri have worked hard to promote both GIS education and GIS in education. In this respect, donations of Esri's products such as ArcInfo and ArcView and local training support by K and A played a major role in achieving this objective.