Illuminating spaces in the classroom with qualitative GIS

As social and postmodern ontologies continue to shape our definition of space, undergraduate instructors have struggled to incorporate these paradigms in the geography classroom. Recent research suggests that practical applications using field work, qualitative research, and geographic information science can augment students’ understanding of these spatial ontologies. Qualitative GIS holds promise as a means to integrate these methods in geographic education, yet there are no signs to date that the methodology has transitioned from research to teaching. This paper details our attempt to incorporate qualitative GIS into an undergraduate urban field studies course in lieu of a strictly lab-based GIS assignment. We outline our approach before discussing students’ engagement with the assignment in greater depth. Drawing from field experiences and deliverables across four terms, we argue that teaching from a qualitative GIS framework can effectively communicate the fundamentals of modern spatial theory and geographic research methods to students as they investigate problems in the field. We also note recurring challenges to mixed-methods teaching for students unfamiliar with the new methods presented. We close by discussing avenues for instructors in different circumstances, e.g. personal skills sets and class characteristics, to consider qualitative GIS in their classrooms.     

Doing Independent Overseas Fieldwork 2: Getting Funding

The development and testing of a Web‐based GIS e‐learning resource is described. This focuses on the application of GIS for siting a nuclear waste disposal facility and the associated principles of spatial decision‐making using Boolean and weighted overlay methods. Initial student experiences in using the system are analysed as part of a research project on teaching GIS concepts to large numbers of students with little or no prior GIS experience. Some general thoughts on the utility of Web‐based GIS for learning and teaching are presented. Results from the first cohort of 167 undergraduate/postgraduate geography students using the system indicate that students find it easy to use, a useful aid to learning about the issues involved, and a thought‐provoking exercise in Internet‐based democracy.     

Development of critical spatial thinking through GIS learning

This study developed an interview-based critical spatial thinking oral test and used the test to investigate the effects of Geographic Information System (GIS) learning on three components of critical spatial thinking: evaluating data reliability, exercising spatial reasoning, and assessing problem-solving validity. Thirty-two students at a large state university completed pre- and post-tests administered during the 2010 fall semester. This study found positive relationships between GIS learning and critical spatial thinking. We argue that the improvement can be attributed to students' experiences in a GIS course.     

Project-based community participatory action research using geographic information technologies

The paper investigates the effects of a project-based community participation course in which students chose research topics relevant to a local community. Specifically, the students undertook the following projects: (1) creating a virtual 3D model of a local government office, (2) creating interactive digitized versions of mountain trails using geotourism, (3) determining optimal locations for trash recycling bins using network analysis, and (4) assessing the water quality of a local river. Geographic information technologies, such as GIS and Google Earth, were employed as analytical and visualization tools. The answers to a questionnaire, course evaluations, reflective journals, and interviews found that participants positively evaluated their learning experiences. In addition, the projects received favorable reviews from community members and professional geographers.     

Using GIS in an Earth Sciences field course for quantitative exploration,data management and digital mapping

Field courses are essential for subjects like Earth Sciences, Geography and Ecology. In these topics, GIS is used to manage and analyse spatial data, and offers quantitative methods that are beneficial for fieldwork. This paper presents changes made to a first-year Earth Sciences field course in the French Alps, where new GIS methods were introduced. Students use GIS in preparation to explore their research area using an elevation model and satellite images, formulate hypotheses and plan the fieldwork. During the fieldwork, a pilot group managed their field-observations using GIS and made digital maps. Students praise the use of quantitative digital maps in the preparation. Students made use of the available techniques during the fieldwork, although this could be further intensified. Some students were extra motivated due to the technical nature as well as the additional analytical possibilities. The use of GIS was experienced as a steep learning curve by students, and not all staff members are confident in supervising students using GIS, which calls for a sufficient preparation and training of both students and staff. The use of GIS adds abstract analyses and quantitative assessment, which is a complementary learning style to fieldwork that mostly focuses on practical skills.     

Teaching critical open GIS

Higher-education geographic information system (GIS) curricula largely marginalize and separate instruction of critical GIS and open GIS, paralleling a divide between GIS and non-GIS in geography. GIS is typically represented as a singular, infallibly objective, and universally applicable technology. GIS generally dismisses the critiques from human geography, while critical human geography dismisses GIS for its association with positivism and unethical applications. Teaching critical open GIS may bridge this divide, creating a transformative pedagogical space for human geography to affectively and effectively engage with open GIS technology at the level of code. Critical open GIS students practice and critique GIS as conflicted insiders, bridging the divide between GIS and non-GIS in their geography education. Reviews of GIS curricula find support for teaching critical and open GIS, but reviews of texts and syllabi confirm their marginalization and separation. A new critical open GIS course is introduced, using GIS in development and political ecology as integrative frameworks.     

Geography,GIS and employability in Turkey

Although higher education in Turkey does not have especially well-advanced systems and resources for addressing graduate employability, two developments are making it particularly important for Turkish geography departments to give increased priority to this agenda. One is the country’s new Higher Education Qualifications Framework and the other is a major increase in geography student numbers, which means that geographers seeking school teaching posts (traditionally seen as the natural career pathway) now hugely outnumber the posts available. Against this background, this paper proceeds to explore the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) to contribute to geographers’ employability in Turkey through a study involving the views and experiences of academic staff, students and employers. The paper reveals a mixed picture of both opportunities and challenges. It ends with a series of employability recommendations for geography and GIS in Turkey, a number of which could also be of wider relevance elsewhere.     

Facilitating spatial thinking in world geography using Web-based GIS

Advocates for geographic information system (GIS) education contend that learning about GIS promotes students’ spatial thinking. Empirical studies are still needed to elucidate the potential of GIS as an instructional tool to support spatial thinking in other geography courses. Using a non-equivalent control group research design, this study examines the effect of using Web-based GIS in a world geography course on the development of students’ spatial thinking abilities. The findings indicate that Web-based GIS activities implemented in this study significantly enhanced students’ spatial thinking skills.     

Introducing GIS across levels: designing for diversity

The paper proposes a strategy for designing introductory GIS modules at Birkbeck, University of London. Seven design aspects or elements (content, practical exercises, assessment, pace, mode, level of support, and level of difficulty) for tailoring modules at appropriate levels and for diversity are introduced and their application in Birkbeck’s context discussed. Student’s perceptions on those elements, obtained from surveying a subset of students who had taken multiple introductory GIS modules, is then presented. The paper concludes with a discussion on the relevance of the proposed design elements, reflecting on the differences between tutor’s design intentions and students’ perceptions.     

Student perspectives on the teaching of geographical information systems (GIS) in geography degrees

In an era when graduate employability is a key concern, the teaching of geographical information systems (GIS) has become a subject of considerable interest. This paper reports on a study of the GIS student learning experience using student survey data from six UK geography undergraduate programmes. The findings show that although students’ satisfaction levels are generally encouraging, more could be done to capitalize on the opportunities GIS offers both for the discipline and for our students. Recommendations are made for further enhancing the profile and quality of GIS pedagogy in geography curricula.     

An examination of student veteran education pathways at an American university

Military veterans are enrolling in higher education at the highest rates since the Second World War. This research seeks to examine how military experiences related to student experiences within the discipline of Geography. We use a survey instrument to measure student motivations, attitudes, and aspirations for declared Geography majors. Given a high presence of military connected students, we then examine the similarities and differences in motivations, attitudes, and aspirations between military connected and non-military students. Findings suggest that there are similarities between military and non-military students with regard to motivating factors for selecting Geography as a major, there are differences with regards to attitudes towards cultural geography, and differences in how students perceive their future interactions with the environment. Differences in demographics and travel experiences also are identified and likely contribute to shaping undergraduate geography experiences. The results offer useful insight on current Geography student needs, and assist faculty and departments in tailoring learning based on student experience.     

The ILT and Geographers: If you are not in it,you cannot influence it

Film as a tool for learning offers considerable opportunity for enhancing student understanding. This paper reflects on the experiences of a project that required students to make a short film demonstrating their practical understanding of qualitative methods. In the psychogeographical tradition, students were asked to “drift” across the urban environment and record their own experiences of the places encountered. The findings suggest this “drift-film” strategy can be successful in sensitizing individuals to the benefits of qualitative methods, can enhance students' ability to story-board and structure their arguments, and develop key editing skills which can be transferred to future employability.     

Exploring cultural geography field course using story maps

This article explores the use of Story Maps in a cultural geography field course that uses a place-based approach to understand the Delta Blue’s culture. In this study, Story Maps was used to capture and map student experiences as they engaged in a field study. Student experiences are captured by incorporating different data mediums such as narratives, personal reflections, digital photos, videos and website. Such a project has the potential to challenge students to work collectively and present a coherent story of their field experiences. This, in turn, can be used to improve the design and experience of a field course. The study demonstrates that the availability of simple web-based mapping platform such as Story maps provides students the ability to harness technology to create geocoded narratives, visual representations and spatial documentation to map their field course experience.     

Analysing Heritage Landscapes with Historical GIS: Contributions from problem-based inquiry and constructivist pedagogy

This article examines a practical classroom experience using GIS technologies to analyse aspects of a local heritage landscape. An inventory of historic buildings comprising architectural and construction details was revised in the field and then analysed using GIS software. Elements of the geographies of these buildings were displayed using thematic mapping and students used these maps to develop explanatory hypotheses and to suggest policy options for future management of the heritage landscape. Practically, the project demonstrated the contribution GIS can make to historical geography methods, engaged students in an externally supported research partnership working with real-world data, and suggested directions for local public policy formation. Pedagogically, the project demonstrated that historical GIS can be used effectively to shape problem-based inquiry and constructivist learning.     

Geography in Higher Education in Australia

Within the last 30 years, geographical information systems (GIS) have been used increasingly in the training of geographers. On the basis of the philosophy of technology and instrumental genesis, we sketch how the use of instruments interacts with learning processes and outline how this can be studied. We empirically analyse students' learning processes and the influences of teaching practice in an introductory course in GIS. We show that students have different strategies for creating their personal instrument for spatial thinking and how teaching interacts with the students' learning processes. Finally, we discuss how GIS may gradually alter future professional development of geographers.     

Sketching culture,sketching nature: uncovering anchors of everyday nature for urban youth

There has, historically, been considerable uncertainty over the meaning of ‘urban nature’ and, therefore, the extent to which culture and nature are bound in the urban setting. We explore, in this paper, the spatiality of everyday nature as experienced by youth in an urban setting. To do so, we draw on the results of a participatory mapping activity that was designed to elicit information about where youth felt most connected to nature while in the city. Using sketch-map survey instruments, we collected hand-drawn responses from forty-three high school students in the downtown core of Tacoma, Washington. Data were digitized and analyzed in a GIS, and results were revealing of the contingency of the ‘nature’ concept in urban space as well as the centrality of ‘loose’ space to urban experiences that are evocative of being in nature.     

EDITORIAL

In undergraduate geography programs in the United States there is increasing demand for students to be prepared for real-world project management and to possess strong GIS technical skills and cartographic communication skills upon graduation. There is, however, limited time and opportunity within the framework of traditional undergraduate programs to offer this type of hands-on training while simultaneously increasing conceptual and theoretical knowledge and improving technical abilities. This article outlines a framework for integrating community partnerships into real-world GIS learning opportunities for undergraduate students. Our primary objective is to provide an active learning opportunity that mimics a real-world project scenario within the Geography Department's undergraduate GIS curriculum.     

The influence of an integrated PBL format on geography students’ perceptions of their self-directedness in learning

Problem-based learning can be implemented in South African geography teacher education to foster geography students’ self-directed learning skills. The purpose of this longitudinal case study was to determine B.Ed. geography students’ (n = 45) perceptions of their self-directedness in learning in integrated problem-based learning experiences over a three-year period. The study used quantitative and qualitative research methods based on questionnaire application and semi-structured focus group interviews. The students completed a standardized questionnaire at regular intervals with the implementation of integrated problem-based learning experiences in geography modules over a three-year period. Focus group interviews with participants (n = 8) were employed to get a deeper understanding of the results of quantitative data. The results indicated that the geography students’ self-directed learning scores increased with the implementation of an integrated problem-based learning format in geography over the three-year period. The students who measured average, below average and low levels of self-directed learning at the beginning of the study had the highest increase in self-directed learning scores over the three years. The female students’ perceptions of their self-directedness in learning had higher increases in their self-directed learning scores after the problem-based learning interventions when compared to the male students.     

Facilitating native land reacquisition in the rural USA through collaborative research and Geographic Information Systems

A large proportion of American Indian reservation lands are owned by non‐Indian entities. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a powerful tool for visualising land tenure changes, and public participation GIS (PPGIS) is one approach for using spatial technologies to facilitate the identification and reacquisition of reservation lands by tribes. While some tribes have successfully harnessed GIS for land management and for systematically identifying lands for reacquisition, others struggle to implement land management systems such as GIS for these purposes. This paper situates PPGIS in relation to other forms of participatory action research and outlines our use of a PPGIS framework to engage undergraduate geography students in the mapping of land tenure status on ten rural Minnesota Indian reservations as part of a collaborative partnership with the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF). A PPGIS framework allowed us to collaboratively define research goals in response to tribal community needs and provided structure for student work with partner reservations to develop and implement tailored mapping and analysis techniques. Two sets of findings are significant. First, the assembly of a standardised set of maps for American Indian reservations in Minnesota provides a tremendous visual and analytical resource for ILTF and individual tribes to pursue land reacquisition within reservation boundaries. Second, from a PPGIS perspective, we found that working with a coordinating or ‘bridging’ organisation provided key benefits by enabling education of both the student–faculty partners and the individual tribes. The PPGIS model empowered both partners by allowing tribes to harness a powerful technology to assist in visualising land‐based assets and allowing students to contribute to native land reacquisition efforts through application of their GIS skills. This mapping helps facilitate economic and cultural viability in tribal communities by providing an important visual catalogue of existing land‐based assets, in support of future land acquisition and economic development planning.