Abstract
The use of Geographic Information Systems by a wide variety of stakeholders in manifold domains makes the training of highly educated experts necessary. Hence, educators need to communicate three elementary aspects: GIS fundamentals, practical expertise, and the awareness of change in a rapidly changing discipline. The GITTA project (Geographic Information Technology Training Alliance) is a joint, open content and self-organizing project, which originally started out by merging the specialized knowledge of the most important GIS related teaching institutions in Switzerland. Integrating some of the over 40 theory lessons and practical case studies into conventional teaching opens the opportunity to better concentrate on practical skills and to discuss current trends in GIS and GIScience. Since institutions follow different didactical concepts, an e-learning project like GITTA should be applicable in different contexts. In our paper we demonstrate three examples how GITTA can be applied to different learning scenarios: First, as an alternative for conventional lectures, as practiced at the Department of Geography of University of Zurich; second, in addition to the contents of conventional lectures, as practiced at the Department of Environmental Sciences of ETH Zurich; and third, for the setup of an e-learning course with virtual collaboration among students, as practiced at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland.
Niederhuber, M