Author Description

1 Example of the many papers presentedat the GIS/LIS 1995 conference: INSTRUCTING GIS IN THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM USING NETWORK DISTRIBUTED MULTIMEDIA AND HYPERTEXT. By C. Peter Keller1, Trevor J. Davis2 and Rosaline R. Canessa' - ABSTRACT: This paper introduces the design and evaluation of a digital tutor to assist in the instruction of GIS concepts. The tutor is designed to complement the classroom learning process while simultaneously facilitating laboratory instruction of commercial software. The tutor introduces GIS concepts and teaches students how concepts can be implemented in commercially available GIS software. To date, our tutor supports line by line instructions for the GENASYS and ARC/INFO software products with limited SPANS support. Work is progressing to add IDRISI instructions. The tutor has been programmed in HTML to run in parallel with commercial GIS products using the UNIX or WINDOWS environments. Our paper and presentation will introduce the teaching environment that led to designing the digital tutor, explain the software design, give a visual demonstration of its capabilities, and share our experiences gained when using this innovative teaching aid over a three term period. Ongoing and future work will be introduced, including design of an introductory digital GIS course to be offered via the INTERNET.