Tuesday 1st November, Session 6b,13:30 – 15:00, Ruby Auditorium

GIS Education and Training: The Missing Link?

Dekolo, S. and Oduwaye, L.

Theme sponsored by:Open Spatial Solutions

GIS EDUCATION AND GIS EDUCATION AND TRAINING: THE MISING TRAINING: THE MISING

LINK?LINK?

GIS EDUCATION AND GIS EDUCATION AND TRAINING: THE MISING TRAINING: THE MISING

LINK?LINK?Dr. Leke Oduwaye 1 and Samuel Dekolo 2Dr. Leke Oduwaye 1 and Samuel Dekolo 21Department of Urban and Regional Planning, 1Department of Urban and Regional Planning,

University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, NigeriaUniversity of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria2Department of Town and Regional planning, 2Department of Town and Regional planning,

Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Lagos, NigeriaLagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria

SummaryBuilding of infrastructure for geo-information is gaining prominence in most African countries.

However the development and adoption of Geographic Information Technologies requires that potential users are made aware of its

benefits and that there exists a body of adequately trained personnel at all levels to implement, manage and operate the systems;

Only education and training can help achieve this.

Objectives• This presentation examines the

response to GIS education and training needs in Nigeria

• It draws from experiences gained in developing GIS courses and curricula in higher education

• It suggest the paper suggests a framework for implementing GIS education in developing countries.

SDISpatial Data Infrastructure is defined as the technology, policies, standards, and institutional arrangements necessary to acquire, process, store, distribute and improve the utilization of geospatial data from different sources and for a wide range of potential users

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI)

SDI=

Geospatial data sets +

Metadata +

Clearinghouses+

policies and standards +

Human Capacity

Human Capacity=The Gap

• A major challenge facing Nigeria and most African countries that inhibit the implementation of geospatial technologies at this time is a lack of trained manpower.

• In most GIS projects, much concern is on cost of data, hardware and software; less attention is given to personnel

• The key issue for success lies in the people responsible for managing, implementing and using the systems.

• Without properly educated and trained personnel with vision and commitment to the project, such project may not be sustainable.

• Moreover, the human capacity is on major component of SDI, without which the objectives of the GSDI will not be realized.

Training and Education Concepts

• The role of training and education is crucial to any GIS implementation. Training and education are fundamentally different processes which are used to accomplish similar but unique objectives

• Education emphasizes the salient features of GIS and imparts a conceptualization of the more generic GIS

• Training instills sufficient familiarity to enable the development, operation and management of specific systems

• . One cannot be a substitute for the other, but complement each other.

Training• Training is an intensive process that is

generally delivered in compressed time formats (e.g. Two days to two weeks), which uses specialized instructions with a practical emphasis and requires concentrated attention on the part of the trainee. It is geared to immediate improvements in a trainee’s performance skills.

Education• Education on the other hand is a much

longer term process that results from general instruction in a variety of areas, which has a theoretical emphasis and is geared to knowledge acquisition and synthesis. Education results from general courses and empirical experiences with interdisciplinary and professional orientations

GIS EDUCATION FRAMEWORKS:

OBJECTIVISM OR COSTRUCTIVISM?• Objectivism and constructivism are two paradigms

that have formed the basis of GIS teaching models: teaching ABOUT GIS and teaching WITH GIS.

• Constructivism holds that knowledge is not transmitted from one knower to the other but is built up (constructed) by the learner himself

• Objectivism assumes that there is a real world and knowledge can be transmitted from the knower (teacher) to the learner

Objectivism: Teaching ABOUT GIS

This is a training model, which focus on GIS as a technology and students are taught to use it. Emphasis is on technical aspect of GIS such as data handling and information management.

Constructivism:Teaching WITH GIS

The latter emphasizes the process of geographic enquiry and learning to reason spatially, whereby this helps the students to construct understanding. This will give students and teachers alike the ideal environment to construct understanding about complex geographic relationships

Duality of GIS Education

In essence, GIS education his concept involves the two aspects; teaching about GIS essentially deals with either Spatial DATA handling or geographical INFORMATION management while teaching with GIS concentrates more on the inquiry of geographical KNOWLEDGE and the development of spatial INTELLIGENCE

What is the difference• A clear distinction is necessary among data,

information, knowledge, and intelligence.

• Data refers to a mere description of phenomena in the real world.

• Information is the processed and filtered data with coherent logical order.

• Knowledge is derived from the processed information by imposing and testing a cause-effect proposition made according to previous knowledge.

• Knowledge is converted into intelligence whenever it is applied to derive new ideas or solve a real problem

Please Ponder on these• Reflecting on GIS education in Nigeria or other African

countries; have we been concentrating on training or education?

• Are we concerned on the technical aspect of the technology or the application to solve problems (diseases, poverty, environmental degradation, social imbalance, conflicts, violence and others) that seemed to make the Dark Continent darker?

• Except GIS education moves from objectivism to constructivism, from training to education and from technical issues to real life application, we may end up a society data-rich, information poor, knowledge-starved and intelligence-devoid

GIS EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROVISIONS IN

NIGERIA• Self teaching • Vendor training• Authorized training centres and

regional training centres• Customized trainings• Formal Education

(University/colleges instruction)

GIS in Higher Education

• Out of the 51 universities in the country, none at present offers GIS as an undergraduate degree course; only few have GIS built into courses like geography, urban and regional planning, land surveying, and geology. Most of these courses run for a semester or two and aimed at giving introductory knowledge of GIS theory and practice.

Universities with Postgraduate Programmes in

GIS• University of Ibadan• University of Lagos• Obafemi Awolowo University • Federal University of Technology, Minna• Federal University of Technology, Akure• University of Abuja

GIS at University of Ibadan

The university developed its GISLAB in 1996 under a linkage program with Iowa University, U.S.A. It runs a professional M Sc degree in GIS, which lasts for 12 calendar months (2 semesters). The course is open to graduates of all disciplines and its main objective is to train candidates to a professional level where they can apply GIS in various field of human endeavour. Since the inception of this course over 300 students have been trained.

GIS at the University of Lagos

• Department of GeographyGIS education has been very active in the Department of Geography of the University of Lagos. The GIS and Remote Sensing laboratory was set up in 1988. GIS is built into the curriculum of 300 and 400 level students as Computer Applications to Geography and Advance GIS. The department also runs a post graduate diploma (PGD) and MSc in Geoinformatics which is open to graduates of geography, surveying and other environmental sciences. The PGD lasts for 2 semesters while the MSc takes 3 semesters. Successful MSc students may be admitted to the MPhil or PhD degree program

• Department of Survey and GeoinformaticsThe department also has GIS in its undergraduate curriculum after which students can to be admitted into a higher degree - MSc, MPhil or PhD in survey and Geoinformatics. The department also runs a professional Masters degree in Geoinformatics.

GIS in Polytechnics and Colleges

Few polytechnics and colleges have already developed and integrated GIS into their urban planning and surveying curriculum: Federal School of Survey Oyo; – the Lagos State Polytechnic– the Polytechnic, Ibadan and – Yaba college of Technology

The Federal School of Survey also awards post graduate diploma in Geoinformatics.

GIS TRAINING AND EDUCATION IN LAGOS STATE

A survey was carried out last year to last year at the Lagos State Polytechnic with the following objectives:

• to determine the standard of GIS education in all the universities and polytechnics in Lagos State

• the survey also wanted to establish staff capacities in the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development

The result revealed that education and training was the missing ingredient. In spite of enthusiasm and acceptability of the technology, only 5% of the staff have the basic education or training to operate or manage a GIS.

GIS EDUCATION STANDARD

On the standard of GIS education, the survey shows that teaching GIS in higher education is quite new and the following were discovered:

• There is no coherent curriculum in all the schools, each school developed a curriculum to suit their own objective.

• Shortfall in the number of faculty with GIS experience

• Inadequate or ill-equipped GIS laboratory. • No Licensed GIS Software or none at all • Inadequate funding of the GIS programmes

STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE GIS EDUCATION

• Determine the need: Carry out a needs assessment survey to determine users or viewers who needs GIS training and education

• Develop a standard Curriculum at All Levels of GIS Education

• Ensure Cooperation and Collaborations among various educational commissions and institutions

• Re-emphasize Training and Technical Education

GIS Training and Education Need in Nigeria• Decision Makers and Politicians: This category is responsible for decision

making policies to adopt GIS or spend funds; however they are often neglected. Therefore should get a general awareness of the potentials and benefits (ROI) of GIS technology.

• Managers and Administrators: This category is answerable to donors (government or private) and could be personnel from user departments; they must understand the conceptual basis of GIS operations and analysis.

• GIS Researchers/ Scientist: GIS researchers are scientists that use GIS as a tool in their discipline and use or develop specialized and advanced theories in GIS. While the scientist focuses on advancing the science of GIS and develop new techniques. These need post graduate research degree in GIS.

• GIS Managers/ Specialist: They are professionals responsible for the overall system management and administration. Such requires a professional degree in GIS and must have skills for knowledge in computers, systems implementation and personnel management.

• GIS Systems Designers and Analysts: the former are responsible for identifying the need; choose appropriate software; systems specifications and analysis of the current systems. They need a minimum of BS degree in GIS and must have vast knowledge in IT.

GIS Training and Education Need

• Application programmers and Tool Developers: They implement system analysis specifications as programs and develop customized applications

• Operators, technical, and maintenance personnel: These are computing technicians responsible for daily use and maintenance of the hardware and software envi ronment. These may not necessarily be educated in spatial technologies but in computer related areas up to college level.

• Spatial data technicians These are not professionals but have been trained to input data, scan, and digitize maps; convert data and maintain data standards; make backup copies of the spatial data. They need a minimum of college or polytechnic education in spatial related courses.

• Other Users: these may occasional or frequent users of spatial information and may not be responsible in any way for the production or modification of such information. They need to have a general knowledge (at least access, view and manipulate) of GIS.

• The Public: They need to a general awareness of what GIS is and how it is used. This may be done by introducing basic information technology instructions at pre-varsity level; and teaching geography related subjects with GIS at elementary and secondary level.

Suggested Levels of GIS Education in

Nigeria

KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED

Postgraduate level

University level

College level

Elementary level

Secondary level

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ConclusionThis presentation is not extensive but a snap shot introduction to GIS education issues in Nigeria. It was able to examine the development and efforts made so far in GIS education and training. It highlighted the gaps and suggested a framework that will involve teaching ABOUT and WITH GIS at all educational levels, this could be adopted by developing countries.