Which place for spatial modelling in GIS education?: the example of the GITTA project

The GITTA project covers the overall matter of Geographic Information Sciences (GIS). Spatial modelling (SM) is the particular theme of GIS as it is everywhere in the life cycle of Geographic Information (GI). No analysis without modelling, no database without modelling, no data capture without modelling, etc. Thus SM could be tackled in every module of a GIS course such as spatial analysis, data capture, databases. The course structure proposed for the GITTA project introduces two modules of one ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) unit each entirely devoted to SM. The particularity of SM induces that the content of the SM modules is narrowly related to the others. Deciding the place of particular modelling notions during the integration phase of the content of the modules is of prior importance. This requires that we precisely settle the frontier between modules by clearly explicating the links between modules according to their structural line. The paper aims at bringing some elements of reflexion on the enhancement of the quality of the structure and content of the GIS courses by dealing with the central issue of spatial modelling. Third European GIS Education Seminar, Girona, Spain, 1215 September 2002 Which place for Spatial Modelling in GIS education? The example of the GITTA project C. Plazanet and R. Caloz Federal Institute of technology, ENAC faculty, GIS Laboratory CH-1015 Lausanne Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] Abstract The GITTA project covers the overall matter of Geographic Information Sciences (GIS). Spatial modelling (SM) is the particular theme of GIS as it is everywhere in the life cycle of Geographic Information (GI). No analysis without modelling, no database without modelling, no data capture without modelling, etc. Thus SM could be tackled in every module of a GIS course such as spatial analysis, data capture, databases. The course structure proposed for the GITTA project introduces two modules of one ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) unit each entirely devoted to SM. The particularity of SM induces that the content of the SM modules is narrowly related to the others. Deciding the place of particular modelling notions during the integration phase of the content of the modules is of prior importance. This requires that we precisely settle the frontier between modules by clearly explicating the links between modules according to their structural line. The paper aims at bringing some elements of reflexion on the enhancement of the quality of the structure and content of the GIS courses by dealing with the central issue of spatial modelling.The GITTA project covers the overall matter of Geographic Information Sciences (GIS). Spatial modelling (SM) is the particular theme of GIS as it is everywhere in the life cycle of Geographic Information (GI). No analysis without modelling, no database without modelling, no data capture without modelling, etc. Thus SM could be tackled in every module of a GIS course such as spatial analysis, data capture, databases. The course structure proposed for the GITTA project introduces two modules of one ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) unit each entirely devoted to SM. The particularity of SM induces that the content of the SM modules is narrowly related to the others. Deciding the place of particular modelling notions during the integration phase of the content of the modules is of prior importance. This requires that we precisely settle the frontier between modules by clearly explicating the links between modules according to their structural line. The paper aims at bringing some elements of reflexion on the enhancement of the quality of the structure and content of the GIS courses by dealing with the central issue of spatial modelling. Introduction The Federal Program "Swiss Virtual Campus" aims to develop easily accessible web-based teaching modules for basic and specialized studies. The GITTA project (Geographic Information Technology Training Alliance), part of this program, aims to fill the gap of growing demand for a broader access to educational Geographic Information (GI) material by providing better and more coordinated access to comprehensive and in-depth information across a broad range of interested disciplines. The project develops a modular structure: A common Basic Module; an Intermediate Module extending and deepening the knowledge presented in the basic course; Case Studies for in-depth projects in representative application domains; and Advanced Modules covering special topics situated towards the end of the curriculum. Redesigning GIS modules on the basis of existing courses in order to provide high quality web-based GIS teaching requires strengthening the coherence between modules of the overall defined GITTA structure. The GITTA project gives a great place to spatial modelling (SM) topic as it integrates two basic and intermediate SM modules of one credit unit each. The GITTA SM modules are tackling issues such as: What is spatial information? Why and how to model space from observation? What are the current models? How to model particular phenomena? How to answer specific modelling needs? How these models are used in practical applications? As modelling is a central theme in GIS education of major importance for all the other topics, the SM modules content needs to be defined by designing and explicating the links with the other modules. Modelling is everywhere: model data for data capture, models used in GIS software, modelling tools for database design concept models, for data indexing, for spatial analysis, for cartographic modelling, etc. Which topics should be treated inside SM modules? How can these links be highlighted? In this paper, we are dealing with the place of spatial modelling in the basic and intermediate GITTA modules in the GITTA project. Spatial modelling is a topic of prior importance that has a great incidence on all the other modules. Third European GIS Education Seminar, Girona, Spain, 1215 September 2002 The first section of the paper presents the GI curriculum as it is structured in the GITTA project. Next section presents the content of spatial modelling modules. The core section expresses and details the links with the other GITTA modules while discussing the importance of emphasizing the teaching on spatial modelling within GI education curriculum. The GI curriculum in the GITTA project Among the long list of advantages provided by WBT (Web Based Training) when moving from classical classroom GI education to WBT according to (Horton, 2000), one of major lies in the enhancement of the quality of the structure and the content of courses. Usually, several critical points can be pointed out in classical GI curriculum, even if the overall GI course may be easily structured by following GIS from design to use: • The lack of link and consistency between the different materials tackled, that may produce overlaps in teaching and confuse students, • The difference of quality between modules, • The place devoted to spatial modelling aspects usually too short or even inexistent, or at the end of GI curriculum. The GITTA project aims to design a modular course structure which is based on the following structural elements. The modules are an educational component which (1) bounds a specific field of knowledge and (2) leads to well-defined knowledge and/or skills. Units are an amount of course work which is (1) a functional part of a module and which (2) corresponds usually to 1 credit unit CU (0.5 CUs and multiples of CUs are possible). Credit Unit (CU) corresponds to one unit of the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). In terms of workload 60 credits represent one year of study (SwissVirtualCampus). Figure 1: Pedagogical approach — GITTA shell model (2)