Research On Computer-aided Instruction For Field Practice In Geography Based On Webgis

Field practice in geography has an important meaning in cultivating researchers. It contributes to enhancing the abilities of observation, analysis of the mechanism and problem-solving skill of the students. Many colleges and universities attach importance to field practice and make it a compulsory course to their students. Field practice teaching is different from the normal classroom teaching which requires specific location and environment. Due to trivial teaching material、poor management of teaching resources and uneasy-accumulated teaching achievements, there have always been massive problems through the teaching process of field practice. However, with the rapid development of computer-aided teaching, now we find ways to make efforts and attempt to establish a computer-aided system which in line with the special need of field practice teaching. Hopefully, it’ll make a successful application in this area.Few researches have been led in the computer-aided instruction for field practice in geography till now. Concerning the obvious spatial characteristics of field practice, spatial information technologies like GIS should be used in the design of the computer-aided system and a WebGIS-based system would be developed. Based on the ideas above, this study mainly completed the work of the following aspects:1. The teaching pattern and characteristics of field practice in geography were analyzed. First, the content of the field practice and traditional teaching pattern were evaluated. Then, the teaching actuality was analyzed in detail combined with the field practice of Mt. Lushan. Finally, the excepted function and feasibility-analysis of the computer-aided instruction were carried out. 2. The key technologies of computer-aided instruction in field practice based on GIS were investigated. The development technology based on WebGIS was discussed, including the Flex interface design, Struts framework and map-publishing with ArcGIS Server. The technologies of management of teaching material connecting with spatial location and geo-video applied in the system were also discussed.3. An application serving for field practice in geography of Mt. Lushan was developed. Tasks of data acquisition and post-processing before the system development were summarized and the selection of system development framework and approach was discussed. Then, some core functions were analyzed, including the management of teaching material and route-roaming or scene-recurring with video.In summary, this study is an attempt to apply computer-aided instruction into geography field practice in geography. The idea to build a rich media application based on WebGIS was put forward and some technical problems in developing process were solved. Combining with the field practice of Mt. Lushan, an application was implemented. It is expected to act an important role in supporting the field practice teaching.