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International collaboration in distance educationfor geography students – experience of Vilnius UniversityDonatas BurneikaVilnius university, Department of General Geography, Faculty of NaturalSciences, Ciurlionio 27/21, Vilnius, Lithuaniae-mail: donatas.burneika@geo.ltAbstractThe aim of the paper is to present experience of Vilnius University in using distance educationmethods for teaching bachelor students. In general ordinary old-fashioned ways of teachingstill prevails in Department of General Geography, when main source of knowledge forstudents is ordinary lectures. However during the period 1999–2003 our department wasinvolved in Baltic Sea region Study programme and common courses for students in variousBaltic Sea countries were organised. Main methods of teaching involved tools usually usedin distance education – audio-lectures, Internet and WebCT. Students in different countrieshad to work together, prepare comparative projects and present them. There was a lot ofnew and interesting experience for students, teachers and tutors, which will be discussedin the article. Beside some positive experience there were problems, which also are to bementioned in order to have objective opinion on such way of teaching.Key words: teaching geography, distance educationIntroductionThe aim of the paper is to present the experiences of Vilnius University in usingdistance education methods for teaching bachelors-level students. Ordinary, oldfashionedways of teaching still prevails in the Department of General Geography,where the main source of teaching for students is ordinary lectures. However duringthe period 1999–2003 our department was involved in the Baltic Sea Region Studyprogramme and common courses for students in various Baltic Sea countries wereorganised. The main methods of teaching involved tools usually used in distanceeducation – audio-lectures, the Internet and WebCT, a virtual learning environment.Students in different countries had to work together, prepare comparative projectsand present them. There was a lot of new and interesting experience for students,teachers and tutors, which will be discussed in the article. Besides some positiveexperience there were problems, which also are to be mentioned in order to haveobjective opinion on this approach to teaching.Geography in Lithuania and at Vilnius UniversityThe general situation in geography teaching at university level is not very prosperousin Lithuania. There are only four geographical departments in three universities:Department of General Geography in Vilnius University, Departments of Geographyand in Geography in Vilnius Pedagogical University and Department of Social112
Geography in Klaipeda University. There are also very few departments of relatedsubjects in the same universities. None of the other higher education institutionshave any geographical or even geography-related departments and actually thereare no geographical disciplines in their study programmes. Vilnius University hasthe oldest traditions in geography studies and at present it holds the strongest positionin Lithuania. Table 1 illustrates the situation in Geography teaching at VilniusUniversity.The methods of teaching in the whole of Lithuanian higher education includingVilnius University are very traditional – old fashioned lecturing dominates. Otherteaching methods involve seminars, practicals, field practice and self-learning(particularly when preparing project work) but their significance is less important.The main reasons why traditional lectures dominate are related to the lack of possibilitiesfor self-learning. Students don’t have sufficient reading materials, there are forexample very few text books in Lithuanian, which is related to the very low demand.Readings in English are also not readily available and on the other hand very fewstudents can read in English adequately enough. Modern teaching equipment likemultimedia projectors have only just been introduced in recent years, but at presentthey are used just occasionally. It seems that this situation will not change radicallyin the near future because above-mentioned reasons will not disappear overnight.Table 1. Personal structure of Department of General Geography of Vilnius UniversityLevelNumberof personsBachelor studies 110Postgraduate(Masters)Postgraduate(PhD)30Staff 186RemarksEvery year 30 students enter to the department and approximately25 receive bachelor diploma. It is 4-year studies.Up to 18 students enter the master programme and approximately12 receive master degree.Every year one or two persons enter to the postgraduatestudies, which last usually 4 years. VU is the only institutionwith the right to prepare PhD students in geographyin Lithuania.Stable number. Assistant professors prevail in the teachingpersonnel.However our department started to take part in the project raised by colleaguesfrom Turku University (Finland) in 1999. The project was organised as a part ofthe Baltic Sea Region Studies Programme and involved Universities from Finland,Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The programme mainly involved the internationalexchange of students between Baltic Sea countries. The main idea of this project wasto employ distant education techniques and methods for international collaborationin preparing geography students through international studies via virtual realitywithout physical journeys. The Internet and audio conferencing were the main toolsof learning. Finally two different disciplines of human geography were designed andhave been completed several times during the period between 1999 and 2004. Thiswas a completely different experience both for teachers and students. The main ideaof such learning, its advantages and minuses will be presented in the next section.113
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Changing Horizons inGeography Educa
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ContributorsAnouk AdangFaculty of G
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Margaret C. KeaneSt Mary’s Univer
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Artur ReligaDepartment of Geography
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Contents1. Exciting Geography......
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Barbara Katharina Mayerhofer, Teach
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How to design and implement excitin
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only increase their motivation to l
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Ministry of Education. Having in mi
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eEurope and the Bologna agendaIn hi
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The main learning approachesencoura
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as a vibrant exciting subject at un
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include ICT as part of the educatio
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19. RICHARDSON J. A. 2001. Collabor
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class using identical instructions
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ability to hold and move a load is
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the range of practical activities.
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Multimedia learning of geographical
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• an organizer and manager of a l
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Geographical fieldwork in forestsJa
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One of these field study laboratori
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learning“, to develop and then in
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egin). It is referred to the inter-
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overruled by the judge and some sus
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esses or their reciprocal relations
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formulated one of key principles in
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Dress rehearsalHow should a present
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of the world, but multiple maps of
Page 61 and 62: focused on landscape, climate, popu
Page 63 and 64: ments in academic geography, could
Page 65 and 66: Training geography teachers in Pola
Page 67 and 68: a series of intellectual as well as
Page 69 and 70: • optional subject (30 hours) use
Page 71 and 72: of the lower levels of education. H
Page 73 and 74: • the one-subject model: the cont
Page 75 and 76: delivery, and the methods of the pa
Page 77 and 78: • Pathways signal important tasks
Page 79 and 80: Geography competitions as stimuli f
Page 81 and 82: Figure 1. Changes in the structure
Page 83 and 84: Challenges for the futureNowadays t
Page 85 and 86: A perspective from the United State
Page 87 and 88: The process of GIS inquiry - Thinki
Page 89 and 90: Remote Sensing in Geography Educati
Page 91 and 92: IntroductionThe Democratic Republic
Page 93 and 94: images visualise the “tree vegeta
Page 95: PART TWOProfessional Developmentand
Page 98 and 99: Key elements of an introductory stu
Page 100 and 101: Some textbooks also provide self-le
Page 102 and 103: Geography programs and BolognaThere
Page 104 and 105: equirements. In the faculties of Ar
Page 106 and 107: Even though this only is a short an
Page 108 and 109: Background of international student
Page 110 and 111: students in their language skills.
Page 114 and 115: Designing and teaching the distance
Page 116 and 117: audio lectures - one for presenting
Page 118 and 119: enrolled in geography courses at po
Page 120 and 121: development experience. Whilst Craf
Page 122 and 123: Networking and social diffusion of
Page 124 and 125: is mistreated, the culture is a-cul
Page 126 and 127: 3. ABALAR. 2004. “Editorial”, i
Page 128 and 129: to gather process and store spatial
Page 130 and 131: 1. Fundamental to understanding GIS
Page 132 and 133: The Future of Geography and Geograp
Page 134 and 135: of geography. In Singapore Social S
Page 136 and 137: geography should become much more s
Page 138 and 139: the handful of disciplines that has
Page 140 and 141: and respected and the institutional
Page 142 and 143: 3. The strength of school and unive
Page 144 and 145: It is quite clear that Vidal de la
Page 146 and 147: Effective Practices in Distance Edu
Page 148 and 149: on to the other satellite school. O
Page 150 and 151: 4. Ministry of Education. 1999. The
Page 152 and 153: schools is the result of the role e
Page 154 and 155: • A statistically significant dif
Page 156 and 157: Charles University geography gradua
Page 158 and 159: Table 1. First job in studied field
Page 160 and 161: importance in geography study progr
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The Anglo-Saxon model was collectiv
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academic science. I do believe that
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can convene. Details of these modul
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preparation and to some extent, tea
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The assessment must form the basis
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The teaching shall build on the pup
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The Relationship between Geography
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Geography and Territory Planning ha
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we wished, of course we have obtain
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Why Managers from Multinational Com
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able to have training in different
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ContextUtrecht University is a larg
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Typical is the very open atmosphere
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Times of Change for Geography Educa
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where it is divided into specific b
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• traditional versus progressive
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on European Dimension of Teaching g
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With the ongoing development of tel
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Figure 2. Present at Annual Congres
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It is expected that the more active
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An evaluation of geographyand geogr
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The problems of geography and geogr
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Europe in geographical education -
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Then these results were compared to
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Figure 9. Countries mentioned by th
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Internationalizing geography in hig
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nationalize their undergraduate and
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Groups also focus on international
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The Position of Geography Graduates
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have also affected the number ofGeo
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The majority answered that they wou
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In the Primary school curriculum, G
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the efficacy of the teaching and le
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228
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What Europe do we teach?A view from
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The regional approach is used in on
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The syllabi reflect mainly that the
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Geography Forum: Intercultural Lear
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Was Intercultural Competence promot
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of geographical education in our un
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Higher education (University) as a
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This table shows the importance of
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the studies on what exists, to cons
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248taught in the foreign language e
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as K. De Bot calls it, is a variety
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Do you speak European? or: Why even
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Years’ Religious War in the 17 th
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Why geographers should be able to s
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Intercultural education in Italian
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of geography in the process of inte
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9. BRUSA C., ed. 2002. Processi di
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Nowadays, according to the literatu
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In the gymnasium and in high school
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3. Dziennik Ustaw nr 61 z dnia 19 c
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Crick advocates these principles by
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dropping litter. There is circle ti
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and learning. Kerala is an exporter
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The role of geographical education
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ole: they form attitudes, views, pr
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Field lessons can engage the pupil
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to explore regional issues when tea
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Some backgroundFor a number of year
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issues that will shape the future g
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Geography and Environmental Science
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(2000) cautioned an awareness of cu
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Geography and Languages in Intercul
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Table 1. The most widely taught for
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the whole world will, according to
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References1. CALVET L. J. 2002. Le
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Sustainable development: let geogra
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predecessor “green,” or the pre
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8. GUNN A. S., “Professional Ethi
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Much research in Environmental Educ
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Sustainability, Development and Sec
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includes geography. The context is,
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• protected areas8. Landscape sec
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Developing geographical professiona
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tion contributes to the growth of e
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cooperative learning using as theor
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Studyng climate and water resources
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By signing and ratifying the Kyoto
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and political implications of plann
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8. UNITED NATIONS 1997. Kyoto Proto
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Conference Changing Horizons in Geo
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