“…The ability to program, develop applications, and generally to be proficient in geospatial information technologies are core proficiencies required to enter the GIS workforce (DiBiase et al 2010;Mirzoev et al 2015). Thus, many career and postundergraduate tracks in geography require programming and computer science knowledge, even though geography students experience considerable anxiety when faced with such instruction (Muller and Kidd 2014;Rickles and Ellul 2015). Integrating GIS, computer science, and programming instruction remains difficult (Sinton 2009).…”
Section: Computer Science and Programming In Geography And Gismentioning
“…The ability to program, develop applications, and generally to be proficient in geospatial information technologies are core proficiencies required to enter the GIS workforce (DiBiase et al 2010;Mirzoev et al 2015). Thus, many career and postundergraduate tracks in geography require programming and computer science knowledge, even though geography students experience considerable anxiety when faced with such instruction (Muller and Kidd 2014;Rickles and Ellul 2015). Integrating GIS, computer science, and programming instruction remains difficult (Sinton 2009).…”
Section: Computer Science and Programming In Geography And Gismentioning
“…This approach has already been identified by a variety of studies as being effective for learning GIS (Bednarz ; Kerski ; Hualong ; Liu et al . ; Rickles and Ellul 2014a). PBL is said to be a subset of CBL (Overton et al .…”
Section: Learning Interdisciplinarity and Gismentioning
confidence: 98%
“…Both PBL and CBL may be said to have their foundations in constructivism, which views learning as an active process of constructing rather than acquiring knowledge and that instruction is a process of supporting that construction rather than communicating knowledge (Cunningham and Duffy ). This epistemological framework is also conducive for interdisciplinary research, as knowledge is created through the interplay between people and tools and their disciplinary knowledge (Rickles and Ellul 2014a). PBL:… suggests that for effective acquisition of knowledge, learners need to be stimulated to restructure information they already know within a realistic context, to gain new knowledge, and to then elaborate on the new information they have learned.…”
Section: Learning Interdisciplinarity and Gismentioning
confidence: 99%
“…With respect to PBL, it has been said that the authenticity (i.e. relevance to real‐world problems) of the designed PBL activities is key to engaging the interdisciplinary learner and allowing them to reflect on the learning process when learning GIS (Rickles and Ellul 2014a). Kerski () notes that teaching GIS provides the opportunity for an inquiry‐oriented or inquiry‐based learning approach, which includes PBL (Prince and Felder ).…”
Section: Learning Interdisciplinarity and Gismentioning
Interdisciplinary research with geographic information systems (GIS) can be rewarding as researchers from different disciplines have the opportunity to create something novel. GIS, though, is known to be difficult to use and learn. It is imperative for its successful use in projects that those who need to use GIS are able to learn it quickly and easily. To better support interdisciplinary research with GIS, it is necessary to understand what researchers with interdisciplinary experience wanted to use it for and how they learned it. The aim would be to advise geography educators on creating learning resources that could compliment or supplement existing learning approaches used by interdisciplinary researchers to improve the learning experience and uptake of GIS. This article explores the results from an online survey and interviews conducted between July 2014 and August 2015 with participants from the UK, the US and Europe on how interdisciplinary researchers learned GIS and which resources and platforms were utilised. Guidelines and a framework are presented, modifying the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge framework, incorporating informal and context-based learning and GIS concepts from the Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge. Findings show that interdisciplinary researchers want to use GIS to capture, analyse and visualise information; they largely use informal learning approaches (e.g. internet searches, watching a video, ask a more experienced person); and they predominantly use ArcGIS, QGIS and web GIS platforms. Future work suggests resources use contextually relevant learning activities and bear in mind nuances of disciplinary language.
“…The student learning model was firmly at the formal end of the spectrum (Rickles & Ellul, 2014), with extensive scaffolding of the learning journey to aid cohesion (Aviv, Erlich, Ravid, & Geva, 2003). The "Remote observation" topic, like many others, deployed specialised software for students to generate and/or analyse primary data in their scientific investigations.…”
School of environment, earth and ecosystem Sciences, the open university, Milton Keynes, uK ABSTRACT Strong demand for GIS and burgeoning cohorts have encouraged the delivery of GIS teaching via online distance education models. This contribution reviews a brief foray (2012)(2013)(2014) into this field by the Open University, deploying open source GIS software to enable students to perform practical science investigations online. The "Remote observation" topic spanned four science disciplines in 6 weeks -an ambitious remit within an innovative overarching module. Documenting the challenges and strategies involved, this paper uses forum usage and student feedback data to derive insights into the student experience and the pitfalls and pleasures of teaching GIS at a distance.
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