Competence-oriented restructuring of curricular content for the study of geographic information system (GIS) in higher education has become ap rimary educational enterprise in Europe due to the Bologna Reform. Although there are different international curricular documents for outcome-based design of learning activities within the geographic information science and technology domain, it has not yet been clarified which competences should be considered essential components of a university-level course of study in GIS. Our content analysis of those curricular documents demonstrates that there are three dimensions of core competences foundational to the study of GIS in higher education, which are GIS knowledge and skills, spatial thinking, and problem-solving.
IntroductionRelated to the needs of our information-based society and increased workforce mobility in globally competitive labour markets, "competence" has emergeda sakey concept describing the change in focus in educational processes from an input orientation to learning outcomes. Therefore, not only an appreciation of generic skillsand abilities in learning and workinge nvironments can be observed, but also ah armonization of key competences is taking place on an international scale. These so-called twenty-first century skills, commonly referred to as ICT literacy, presuppose alifelong learning process and include digitaland technical mastery; problem-solving; reflection and criticalthinking; communication; and collaboration (Pedro, Matos, Pedro, &Abrantes, 2011). While the redefinitionofgeneric skills has occurred mainly due to societal concerns, the identification of professional competences dependsonthe demands of subject-specific knowledge and skills in specific domains.Inparticular, the application of GIS requiresabroad range of domain expertise as well as additional skills (Gewin, 2004;Kerski, 2008).Driven by systematic curricular development in the field of geographic information science and technology (GIS&T), US experts have for the past two decades developed an advanced body of knowledge concerning competences workingw ithin the GIS&T domain. Although an integrated perspective on outcome-based GIS education and training has also been progressing in recent yearsi nE urope,t od ate, basic curricular questions have not been answered, nor can one find common approaches to competence-based curricular development. The situationi se specially criticali nh igher education (HE).
Systematic literature reviews have been a part of evidence-based practices for meta-analytical research in many disciplines, such as medicine, health science, psychology, and empirical social sciences, for decades.More recently, this approach has also gained interest in the field of education research (Zawacki-Richter, Kerres, Bedenlier, Bond, & Buntins, 2020). Review articles in geography and geoscience connected to educational inquiry are sparse. For example, Zadrozny, McClure, Lee, and Jo (2016) use a non-systematic systematic review approach for an explorative summary of methods' design, techniques, and reporting strategies in
In this paper, we adapt a broad understanding of the term media (after McLuhan) and discuss the term geomedia, which we define in a wider sense, focusing not only on localized forms of geomedia, such as digital maps, but also on representations that are loosely linked to the lifeworld, without geometrically and geographically measurable addresses. Furthermore, geomedia, like all media, refer to a communication space which creates spaces of the in-between. In the case of geomedia, these spaces of the in-between are somehow de-linked from geographical spaces and the limitations of the lifeworld. At the same time, geomedia are closely linked to spaces, due both to the lifeworld content to which geomedia refer and to the influence of geomedia on human action. These spaces of the in-between can open up in digital and analogue media, which we regard as inseparably intertwined. This opening up of the in-between presents opportunities for people, including marginalized groups, to get connected and stimulate social actions by sharing interests, exchanging ideas or criticizing social injustices, as well as discussing options for implementing social change. Given the strong connection between communication, participation and being innovative, we argue that geomedia are useful instruments that enable people to acquire innovativeness, which in turn fosters their ability to participate in society.
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