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

Abstract

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.

Keywords::

• geographical information systems
• teaching
• learning
• assessment
• employability

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the role of Dr Ralph Fyfe (Plymouth University, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences) in helping to supervise the Ph.D. research project which underpins this paper. Thanks are due also to Emeritus Professor David Unwin (Birkbeck College) for his general guidance on the project design and operation, and also to Dr Paul Hewson (Plymouth University, School of Maths and Computing) who advised on the survey data analysis. Above all, special thanks are, of course, due to all the GIS staff and students who took part in the research and without whose participation this study could not have been undertaken. Finally, the lead author is grateful to the Turkish Higher Education Council for the grant which supported the Ph.D. programme at Plymouth University.

Notes

^1. GUG refers to geography undergraduate students and the number represents the anonymous identifier for the student whose questionnaire included this comment. CSD refers to the particular case study department where this student was enrolled.