Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Elsje Scott, Peter Weimann and Nata van der Merwe
assisting in most of the project management tutorials. Students also benefit from an optional
additional mentorship program driven by IS graduates working in industry. In collaboration with the
course co-ordinator, these alumni have compiled a series of advanced topics addressing areas that,
due to time constraints, might not otherwise receive sufficient attention during the course.
At CPUT, all mentoring is done by the course co-ordinator, who has a formal meeting with each
project team every second week. Students are encouraged to make additional appointments when
needed. Teams submit weekly reports that are used by the course co-ordinator to monitor progress
and individual participation, and to intervene and approach individuals or teams when needed.
BHT students participate in two face-to-face meetings with their project mentor; apart from this, they
communicate through internet technology. The teams meet the lecturer once a week online via Skype
or Adobe Connect. Email is used for asynchronous communication and document exchange, together
with Moodle, BHT’s web-based open-source learning, collaboration and research content
management system.
4.4 Reflections on teaching and learning strategies
The teaching and learning strategies implemented at UCT focus on the development of awareness
and understanding which, together with the acquisition of competence, facilitates transcendence
(Cockburn, 2002). A wide range of interventions that integrate theory and practice ensure that
students progress through Cockburn’s (2002) stages of following, detaching and fluency. Selected
readings are used as sensitising devices to aid understanding and give meaning to phenomena
occurring in the capstone environment. For both students and lecturers, reflection gives rise to
“involvement and mattering” which according to Dreyfus (1999) nurtures transcendence through
different stages of skills acquisition to grow competence, underpin life-long learning and finally to
empower students.
The teaching methods used at CPUT aim to actively engage students as much as possible, by
encouraging them to learn from their own experiences, enhance their critical thinking ability, link
theoretical concepts to their practical application, integrate new information with prior knowledge and
apply this in real-life situations. The teaching methods are learner-centred, and enabled through
constructive and reflective learning. Care is taken that students do not passively receive new
information, but become actively involved in internalising it, and they are encouraged to reflect on
their learning experiences.
Students at BHT experience the problems of working and communicating in a team and meeting the
challenges of the magic triangle: in time, in budget, and in scope with high quality deliverables. The
role of the lecturer is that of a mentor. The teams are expected to ask the right questions and to
explain the options they want to discuss. Part of their marked deliverable at the end of the project is a
self-reflective essay on the problems and experiences in their project work.
4.5 Reflections on staying relevant and up to date, both in terms of teaching
pedagogy and in terms of changing business requirements and expectations
At UCT the challenge of providing an intellectually and socially stimulating environment calls for
inspired and dedicated teaching and learning. A lecturer cannot meet all these demands alone.
However, close connections with industry partners through research projects, the presentation of real
world cases, boot-camps, customised mentorship programs, and visiting alumni students, all help to
provide a “window to the real world”.
The lecturer at CPUT gains benefit from participating in collaborative research with lecturers at other
universities; attending, presenting and networking at conferences; and membership of professional
organisations (which also provide networking opportunities). Unfortunately, due to heavy workloads
and lack of time, it is not possible to conduct regular visits to business in order to learn more of
current best practices and changing requirements.
Undergraduate students at BHT must spend three months working in industry before they can write
their bachelor thesis, and a further three months while the thesis is being completed. During these six
months students are closely supervised by a university lecturer. This period of close interaction
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