13.07.2015 Views

Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

teach<strong>in</strong>g needs <strong>in</strong> terms of CPD. So, the European thematic network for <strong>Geography</strong><strong>in</strong> higher education (<strong>HERODOT</strong>) has been established <strong>in</strong> part to address theseconcerns and to support academics <strong>in</strong> their implementation of the Bologna process.Hence the deliver<strong>in</strong>g change through Bologna is not be<strong>in</strong>g matched by the necessarysupport for those <strong>in</strong>volved. The significance of <strong>in</strong>novation and change is dealt withpartly <strong>in</strong> the next section.Professional development and changeICT challenges our ‘traditional’ educational system and its em<strong>in</strong>ence has significantimplications for the future. Organisations react to change <strong>in</strong> many different ways andthey will take up possible new opportunities at different rates, but understand<strong>in</strong>g theprocess of change is important for implementation. The degree of <strong>in</strong>ertia or resistanceto change will be related to many factors. In <strong>Geography</strong> much op<strong>in</strong>ion, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g thatshown <strong>in</strong> the papers for this <strong>HERODOT</strong> Conference, appears to suggest that we needwell-def<strong>in</strong>ed reform, new bachelor and masters courses, not just changed <strong>in</strong> nameonly, which are <strong>in</strong>tegrated with relevant ICT with pedagogical approaches to supportgood materials for learn<strong>in</strong>g. While there are many good examples of pioneers thatdemonstrate that change us<strong>in</strong>g ICT is possible and practical, the issue that we needto address is what professional development is necessary to enable the geographycommunity to transform its European education space and populate it with excit<strong>in</strong>g,relevant and vibrant new courses.In total, the 65 <strong>in</strong>stitutions identified only ten creative <strong>in</strong>itiatives <strong>in</strong>volv<strong>in</strong>g theuse of ICT <strong>in</strong> <strong>Geography</strong>. There were some major developments, for example <strong>in</strong>creat<strong>in</strong>g digital landscape models equipped with logically <strong>in</strong>tegrated data for variouspurposes <strong>in</strong> 2D, 3D and 4D event modell<strong>in</strong>g, the development of major new coursesus<strong>in</strong>g elearn<strong>in</strong>g software and the establishment of a <strong>Geography</strong> education portal.Several other <strong>in</strong>itiatives reported on planned action research for example <strong>in</strong> the useof the Web, digital portfolios or presentation software <strong>in</strong> classes. However, most ofthem only appeared to <strong>in</strong>volve teacher education courses <strong>in</strong> <strong>Geography</strong> rather thanacademic geography courses. So it seems like <strong>Geography</strong> was, with only a fewexceptions, at a very early phase <strong>in</strong> the adoption of new technologies for learn<strong>in</strong>gand teach<strong>in</strong>g. So we should be consider<strong>in</strong>g how and why eLearn<strong>in</strong>g, multimedia andgeo-software opportunities should be implemented so that academics can focus onhow to construct courses based on the learn<strong>in</strong>g requirements of the students ratherthan the teach<strong>in</strong>g approaches we want to offer. In a higher education <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>glygoverned by market forces our courses need to match the expectations of the learners,hence useful quality guidel<strong>in</strong>es <strong>in</strong> terms of technical issues, pedagogical approachesand content should be established and used.ConclusionsIf the perceived role of a Thematic <strong>Network</strong> like <strong>HERODOT</strong> is to stimulate andsupport change (Figure 3) by provid<strong>in</strong>g examples that are retrievable by tutors/teachers and give access to best practise and the state of the art, then its actionsmust relate to the activities of a knowledge society. Today we are all expected to28

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!