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From Microtraining and Open Educational Resources (OER) to Master Cources on Geographical Inforamtion Systems (GIS)

Ossiannilsson, Ebba LU and Sponberg, H T (2010) p.303-317
Abstract
With today’s rapid changes in socio-economy and technology, knowledge and learning are critical issues for most companies and private and civil service organisations. The needs for competence development range from short informal courses to formal educational programs at university level. Informal learning is less predictable. It is nevertheless a very natural way of learning, although it is often not perceived as learning. In practice, however, informal learning is considered more effective than formal learning because it is personal, real and the learner is responsible him/herself. The learner has to be active and take actions. Learning is about personalized learning, real-time mobility and portability. We are confronted with mobile... (More)
With today’s rapid changes in socio-economy and technology, knowledge and learning are critical issues for most companies and private and civil service organisations. The needs for competence development range from short informal courses to formal educational programs at university level. Informal learning is less predictable. It is nevertheless a very natural way of learning, although it is often not perceived as learning. In practice, however, informal learning is considered more effective than formal learning because it is personal, real and the learner is responsible him/herself. The learner has to be active and take actions. Learning is about personalized learning, real-time mobility and portability. We are confronted with mobile learning (m-learning) and ubiquitous learning (u-learning) which is the paradigm on learning for the 21st century. Traditionally, universities mainly offer formal courses with credits, while the real needs are far more for informal courses on demand, flexible in time, path and pace, and with a range of complexity. Normally, it is anticipated that informal courses are offered by non-academic or private organizations.

The main objectives of the project eGIS+ (2007 – 2009) (Leonardo da Vinci, LdV pilot project, under the Lifelong Learning Program, LLP, “Transfer of Innovation”, ToI) is to implement the knowledge and understanding of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to a broad range of people in society, targeting groups such as teachers and pupils in primary and secondary schools (K-12), students and researchers within higher education, employees in private- and civil service organisations and public in general. The demand for competence development within GIS in Europe is high, with heavy demands for short courses; particularly Internet based training with flexibility in time, space, level, content and pre-understanding. The above needs comprise deeper understanding of digital mapping, database handling and tools for GIS analysis. The development and increased accessibility of public spatial databases is an incentive for increased GIS integration as GIS, more and more, becomes a natural part of daily work included in most fields of activities. An additional paradigmshift in the 21st century is about geo-everything, everything is almost based on and understood by space dimensions, geo-location. Ten partners from eight countries in Europe participate in eGIS+. As the target groups are highly diverse, content, software, media presentations etc, will be adapted to cultural and language differences within the partnership. All educational material is available at www.e‐gis.org free of charge as open resources (the social web, Web 2.0+ is mainly used). Responses already show appreciation for the creative and innovative approach of the project with tasters, Microtraining, re-usable learning objects and Open Educational Resources (OER) from two minutes, two hours, two days and two weeks (3 ECTS) and up to advanced Masters Courses, in a real personalized dimension and within a lifelong learning perspective. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
submitted
subject
keywords
geographical information systems, open educational resources, elearning, online learning, microtraining, GIS
host publication
INEER, Innovations2010. World Innovation in Engineering Education and Research
editor
Aung, Win
pages
303 - 317
publisher
INEER
project
eGIS+ LLP-LdV/ToI/2007/NO/165.003
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Department affilation moved from v1000887 (CED - Centre for Educational Development) to v1000942 (Division for Higher Education Development) on 2016-03-31 08:48:55.
id
388bdf2c-5b50-446f-abb4-6928ddcbf79a (old id 1482680)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:08:20
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:02:54
@inbook{388bdf2c-5b50-446f-abb4-6928ddcbf79a,
  abstract     = {{With today’s rapid changes in socio-economy and technology, knowledge and learning are critical issues for most companies and private and civil service organisations. The needs for competence development range from short informal courses to formal educational programs at university level. Informal learning is less predictable. It is nevertheless a very natural way of learning, although it is often not perceived as learning. In practice, however, informal learning is considered more effective than formal learning because it is personal, real and the learner is responsible him/herself. The learner has to be active and take actions. Learning is about personalized learning, real-time mobility and portability. We are confronted with mobile learning (m-learning) and ubiquitous learning (u-learning) which is the paradigm on learning for the 21st century. Traditionally, universities mainly offer formal courses with credits, while the real needs are far more for informal courses on demand, flexible in time, path and pace, and with a range of complexity. Normally, it is anticipated that informal courses are offered by non-academic or private organizations. <br/><br>
The main objectives of the project eGIS+ (2007 – 2009) (Leonardo da Vinci, LdV pilot project, under the Lifelong Learning Program, LLP, “Transfer of Innovation”, ToI) is to implement the knowledge and understanding of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to a broad range of people in society, targeting groups such as teachers and pupils in primary and secondary schools (K-12), students and researchers within higher education, employees in private- and civil service organisations and public in general. The demand for competence development within GIS in Europe is high, with heavy demands for short courses; particularly Internet based training with flexibility in time, space, level, content and pre-understanding. The above needs comprise deeper understanding of digital mapping, database handling and tools for GIS analysis. The development and increased accessibility of public spatial databases is an incentive for increased GIS integration as GIS, more and more, becomes a natural part of daily work included in most fields of activities. An additional paradigmshift in the 21st century is about geo-everything, everything is almost based on and understood by space dimensions, geo-location. Ten partners from eight countries in Europe participate in eGIS+. As the target groups are highly diverse, content, software, media presentations etc, will be adapted to cultural and language differences within the partnership. All educational material is available at www.e‐gis.org free of charge as open resources (the social web, Web 2.0+ is mainly used). Responses already show appreciation for the creative and innovative approach of the project with tasters, Microtraining, re-usable learning objects and Open Educational Resources (OER) from two minutes, two hours, two days and two weeks (3 ECTS) and up to advanced Masters Courses, in a real personalized dimension and within a lifelong learning perspective.}},
  author       = {{Ossiannilsson, Ebba and Sponberg, H T}},
  booktitle    = {{INEER, Innovations2010. World Innovation in Engineering Education and Research}},
  editor       = {{Aung, Win}},
  keywords     = {{geographical information systems; open educational resources; elearning; online learning; microtraining; GIS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{303--317}},
  publisher    = {{INEER}},
  title        = {{From Microtraining and Open Educational Resources (OER) to Master Cources on Geographical Inforamtion Systems (GIS)}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}