Modern Education at Universities: Improvements through the Integration of a Spatial Data Infrastructure SDI into an e-learning

The integration of spatial data infrastructures (SDI) into the educational work at universities represents a novelty to the e-learning environment. The active component is one of the most important issues in the field of effective learning as shown in the cognitive apprenticeship approach (Collins et al., 1989). Therefore the goal should be to facilitate an environment that gives the student the possibilities to make use of his newly achieved knowledge, to test his capabilities and to discuss his own results with others. This paper describes a first approach, how interoperable services sustain the process of learning complex issues in the field of geography related courses of studies.