Using Digital Earth to Expose Students to GIScience

Abstract

Students in U.S. geography programs face particular challenges that may discourage them from taking advanced GIScience courses and considering geospatial careers. This article provides a preliminary discussion of the development, delivery, and evaluation of a University of Colorado Colorado Springs sophomore-level, required geography course designed to address this concern. The course, Digital Earth (DE), introduces students to the principles, concepts, and applications of major geographic information technologies (GITs) early in their academic careers. The success of DE is evaluated by examining the extent to which the course excited students about GIScience and motivated them to take higher level elective geospatial courses. Results suggest that DE generates considerable student interest in GIScience, prepares students reasonably well for elective courses, and greatly inspires them to seek a geospatial career.

Keywords:

• Digital Earth
• GIScience curricula
• geospatial technologies