The use of weblectures in GIS-related course: what do students think?
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Ooms, K.; 2de Maeyer, P.
1GHENT UNIVERSITY Email: kristien.ooms@ugent.be
2GHENT UNIVERSITY Email: philippe.demaeyer@ugent.be
Abstract
Teaching Cartography and GIS to students in higher education is a delicate balance between theory and practical exercises. Students need a strong background regarding the structure of Geographic Information Systems (data management, data structures, analyses, visualization, …) and essential concepts from related disciplines (e.g. cartography, informatics, …). Over the past years, teaching and learning strategies have evolved, also in geography and higher education. The goal of this research is to design, use and evaluate a set of weblectures, specifically tailored to the needs of students in higher education taking GIS-related courses. Since education in GIS includes theoretical concepts and practical experience, these teaching strategies are implemented in the weblectures. Based on the assessment of the students’ current curriculum (in the Bachelor and Master), a set of initial topics is selected: important topics which reoccurred in subsequent years with an increasing level of complexity. The User Centered Design approach is used in the design process to increase the students’ acceptance of weblectures and the motivation for using them: perceived usefulness and ease of use. The weblectures were recorded using in-house hardware and software: desktop PC, microphone or headset, webcam, Camtasia Studio software. The resulting videos were placed online using YouTube with a public visibility. In this way, anybody can access the videos which, for example, might be interesting for pupils who still need to decide what to study after graduating. Furthermore, a separate website has been created which contains links to the YouTube videos. The goal of this site is to structure the weblectures by their associated course, including their chronology. What is more, additional documents (assignments, tips & tricks, examples) can be placed on this website to support the weblectures’ contents. The students were asked to fill out a feedback form regarding these weblectures after completing the exam of the associated course. This feedback form consisted of a combination of open and closed questions, in which they were probed for their opinion regarding the use and positive elements of the weblectures (including suggestions for improvements and additional topics) and possible replacement of traditional live lectures. In total, 132 students filled out the feedback form and their answers indicated they appreciate the blended learning strategy where weblectures are used as a complement to traditional lectures and practical exercises. Consequently, more in-class time can be spent to address specific questions, provide feedback and for personal guidance. Students still attach great importance to the social aspect, which is missing when only weblectures are utilized. On average, the students gave the existing set of weblectures a score of 8.17/10. Nevertheless, students need to be stimulated more to use the weblectures, especially when theoretical topics are concerned. This is an action point for the future which will be implemented in the next phase of the User Centered Design-lifecycle. Accordingly, the existing weblectures will be improved based on the students’ comments and extended with the topics for which the highest need was expressed. With every subsequent year, the students’ perception towards the weblectures will be evaluated further.
Keywords
Education; Weblectures; Evaluation