International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B6. Istanbul 2004 
  
  
Project Leader 
1 
    
   
  
   
  
       
  
   
Group Leader 
Admin Board 
Module Leader 
  
    
Project Coordinator 
Translation Board 
   
  
  
aries rrase —— Reports to 
Ree utes Links to 
Design Team 
"Case Study" 
  
  
  
Figure 2. GITTA Organisational Boards 
The practice shows that this organisation is very important even 
though it operates not always as anticipated. The reason for 
problems can be located in the complexity of the project, the 
heterogeneity of the consortium and the amount of learning 
material to be developed. 
In addition to this internal structure the GITTA project is also 
networked into external information and organisation structures 
like, for example, the network of all SVC projects, the SVC 
mandates (e.g. edutech for the technical aspects) and the e- 
learning competence centres of the different universities. 
2.6 Development of Learning Material 
The process of developing a common curriculum and creating 
the learning material was divided into different design steps. 
       
  
  
  
Strategic 
Scoping 
: MN T. ^ 
Detailed ; implemen » Verification »#| Validation 
Design 7} tation D^ » 
  
» conceptual Vh. 
“Design o~ 
Figure 3. Process Model of GITTA Material Development 
  
Using this process model for the design and development of 
GITTA content ensures that the materials are homogeneous and 
acceptable for the majority of project partners. This is important 
as the materials shall build a pool of resources and not just be 
used by its designer but by as many project partners as possible. 
3. DIDACTICS 
The development of e-learning material follows similar 
didactical principles as those used in the production of 
traditional learning material. However, in comparison to 
traditional face-to-face learning the material needs to be 
structured in a way that allows the students to orientate 
themselves without much help and make most use of it. 
Additionally, it shall be possible to use the materials created 
within GITTA for distance and blended learning purposes. The 
didactical structure, therefore, needs to be as flexible as 
possible to suit all the needs but nevertheless be simple in 
application and use. 
108 
3.1 Modular Structure 
Because of the high level of flexibility needed in the creation of 
different courses for different institutes GITTA is modularly 
structured into Levels, Modules, Lessons, Units, and Case 
Studies. 
Spatial 
Modeling 
Spatial 
Analysis 
BASIC Data 
Management 
Systems 
Data 
Capture Presentation 
  
Figure 4. Modular Structure of GITTA 
Level: The level is an organisational structure. It was planned 
to create three levels (Basic, Intermediate and Advanced) in 
GITTA but time constraints allow only to develop the levels 
Basic and Intermediate. 
Module: A module is a thematic and organisational course unit. 
Modules are named according to the typical GIS tasks ranging 
from modelling to presentation. 
Lesson: A lesson is the smallest independent learning/teaching 
unit. It is supposed to be self-contained and follows the 
didactical structure outlined below. All the lessons together 
build a pool of learning material from which different courses 
can be arranged. 
Unit: Units are sub-divisions for a sensible structuring of a 
lesson. 
Case Study: Case Studies are complex real-word problems 
without a given solution. They accompany the different 
modules at the two levels and allow to directly transfer theory 
into practice. 
The level and module structure is merely an organisational 
structure which helps to manage and overview the different 
lessons. 
3.2 Didactical Structure of Lessons 
To be able to develop homogeneous content GITTA uses the 
ECLASS schema (adapted from Gerson 2000) to organise its 
lessons. That allows to define a didactically meaningful 
structure for each lesson. 
Entry: The 'E' equals to the introductory statements made 
before each single lecture in a class. Entries shall, for example, 
show what is to be discussed and in which context the lesson 
fits. It may give an explanation why this topic is being 
introduced and the historical perspective of the thematic. 
Clarify: The 'C' represents the main part of a unit and explains 
the key concepts. In this section the facts about a specific topic 
are presented. GIST concepts are conveyed depending on the 
module the lesson belongs to. 
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