Flexible delivery and social learning: Seeking a new geography of education for GIS and GIS in education

This paper looks at GIS education in the context of changes in society and technology. It argues that socio-economic pressures and technological change are both working to change the traditional dichotomous structure of tertiary education in respect of campus and distance learning models. In general, the changed lifestyles of a larger, less affluent student base are seen as combining with economic pressures on universities to create a mainstream demand for more flexible learning environments, a demand which new advances in applied information technology can assist in meeting. The paper considers these forces and how developments in educational technology in general are likely to impact on traditional methods of delivering GIS education.