Blending in GI e-learning environments: The role of standardized web services

This article will discuss the different view of learning and teaching within the subject of Geoinformatics. On the basis of the e-learning environment geoinformation.net, the different views of problem oriented teaching will be described and illustrated with their realisation in this specific platform. The article will end with some remarks which research areas should be addressed in future while trying to improve complex online and blended learning environments. Different views of learning and teaching Essentially, we differentiate two central views of learning and teaching: the traditional and the constructivist approach. The traditional approach is mainly based on class teaching. Based on the opinion that teaching has to focus on the content that has to be transferred, this approach tries to teach systematic knowledge with very few tangible references to real world issues. The teacher processes and edits the content in a way that the student will be able to digest the knowledge and will be enabled to put it in use essentially. At the end of this knowledge transport, the student is supposed to have the same knowledge available like the teacher. The centre of the traditional teaching philosophy is taken by the instruction: The teacher takes the active part and gives the instructions and directions, whereas the student remains rather passive and consumes the presented material exclusively. There are further indicators and characteristic features that form his approach: Systematic teaching and learning, clear definition of the specific subjects (or avoidance of any interdisciplinary approach in reverse), and strict tests. Traditional teaching is quite suitable to communicate information about a specific issue from the teacher to the student if reproduction is all the student is intended to do finally. The problems arise in the moment the student has to make use of the newly achieved knowledge within a distinct complex of problems. The transfer from the learning situation to the example of use is if anyhow hardly possible. All the student has achieved is sluggish knowledge: Knowledge that he is able to reproduce but not to make use of. Knowledge that is not transferable from one situation to another. The problem of the sluggish knowledge forms the starting point for the constructive approaches of learning and teaching. Those approaches give special emphasis to the active construction process performed by the student to avoid the development of sluggish knowledge. Following the constructive idea, instruction and direction will lose its central position. The student will be put into a self-active position, whereas the teacher has the duty to provide problem situations and suitable tools that will help to solve the problem. If required, he has to react on specific demands by the student until he finally holds the position of a coach or consultant rather than a teacher. Following the constructive idea, knowledge will be interpreted as the result of a construction process, based on and influenced by individual and social parameters. In consequence, learning is understood as a self-active constructive process within a dedicated plot and context. As a result, e-learning environments have to provide situations that allow the aforementioned construction work and enable the student to perform those in connected problem scenarios. Based on this constructive perspective, we are able to define five fundamental process features (Reinmann-Rothmeier & Mandl, 2001): Learning is an active process. Effective learning is only possible if the student is involved actively. Necessary prerequisites are motivation and interest by the student.