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.     

Foucault's global seduction and geographical dislocation

Visker, R., Michel Foucault— Genealogy as Critique, translated by C. Turner (Verso, 1995), 179pp., £12.95 pbk, ISBN 1 85984 095 7; £39.95 hbk, ISBN 0 86091 468 2

Simons, J., Foucault and the Political (Routledge, 1995), 152pp, pbk, ISBN 0 415 10066 6; hbk, ISBN 0 415 10065 8

Olivier, L., Michel Foucault — Penser au temps du nihilisme (Liber, 1995), 247pp., pbk, ISBN 2 921569 21 3     

Phenomenology,geography and geographical education

Abstract

Phenomenology is a way of study which explores and describes the essential nature of things and experiences as they are in their own terms. Phenomenology has value to geographical education; first, because it introduces the student to a way of understanding that requires openness and quiet attentiveness; second, because it provides important insight into the nature of environmental experience and behaviour; and third, because it says much about how people dwell on the earth and how they might dwell better.     

The geographical distribution of Labour

The small volcanic and limestone islands of the Lesser Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean, have a continuous history of commercial agricultural production which goes back 370 years. During this period, conditions of the environment, both natural (volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts) and human‐induced (deforestation, erosion, land degradation and reduction in the water‐table), have interfered with development in a variety of ways. The paper reviews past and present situations, and considers how growing sectoral imbalances may accentuate the resulting problems.