Teaching with Technology

In these final two articles about Geography in Higher Education, we will take a look at recent growth of the subject of Geography in educational institutions, as well as social and institutional influences that effect how geography is taught as a discipline. When taking a look at world events and the ever increasing level of connectivity between nations, people, and education, it is easy to understand why there is a heightened interest in geographical issues as well as an expanding awareness of geo-spatial information. Ground breaking ideas in the global search for energy, the ability to monitor climate change, the devastatingly effects of natural disasters, territorial disputes and globalization makes us more aware of how we fit spatially in our environment. Each of these examples focus on geographical concerns: human/environment interface, difference in both physical and human existence from place to place, and the analysis that accompanies each. For the simple reason that we live in an ever shrinking world with increased tensions as well as the effect other countries have on the United States such as terrorism, religion and economics, it is easy to understand that – Geography matters. As discussed in my previous articles, the development and recent advances in GIS has helped the advancement of Geography in U.S. institutions. The new revolution of how data is gathered, analyzed, stored, disseminated, and displayed has made GIS an indispensible tool for a huge population of users, analysts and practitioners in all subject areas. In the first half of this century, Geography as a subject did not fare well in the U. S. with top schools such as Harvard closing its doors on the Geography Department in 1949. This article describes some of these reasons why Geography declined as a course of study on many Universities across the country: Early twentieth century trend toward isolationism, the growing global economy that provided an idea that differences among places would become irrelevant, and the growing separation of the physical and social sciences in universities where Geography was seen as being caught in between two disciplines. Key to Geography’s growth is the challenge to build bridges between departments within Geography itself and between other disciplines of Science and Social Sciences.