This article discusses the current state of the geography discipline in higher education institutions in Australia. Geography in Australia is vulnerable--and perhaps more so than in many of the other countries covered in this special issue. Reasons for this are discussed. Amidst description of a series of struggles, this article also seeks to…

Geography is firmly established as a separate discipline within British higher education, a position founded on its strength in the country's school system throughout the twentieth century. This position has enabled the discipline to prosper and it has been at the core of many intellectual developments. With changes in the nature of universities,…

Unlike the other papers in this symposium, which deal with countries where there are large numbers of universities, and comparison can be made over time and across space of geography's place in higher education, this paper focuses on a country that was for a long time described as a "one-university town": Singapore. What interesting story can…

Geography's institutional position in US colleges and universities has strengthened over the past 15 years. Student numbers have increased, many existing geography programmes have expanded, and new programmes have been launched. This article documents these developments and situates them historically. Attention is then directed to reasons behind…

The authors evaluate impacts of web-based learning (WBL) for a geographic information system (GIS) course in which self-paced interactive learning modules replaced lectures to prepare students for GIS laboratory activities. They compare student laboratory, mid-term, final exam and overall scores before and after introduction of WBL, analyzing for…

We all have what we may think of as our limits--degrees of competence we believe we cannot go beyond or skills we think we cannot master. It would be foolish to claim that each of us is capable of anything and everything to which we set our minds. But going to university is really about progressing beyond our perceived limits. In this article,…

Many universities with a strong research tradition have courses or modules examining the tradition's philosophies and methodologies to prepare their students to undertake research programmes. Recently, however, authors have called for wider debate concerning how these courses are taught and this paper aims to make a contribution to this debate.…

Over the last decade the proportion of students in higher education obtaining aggregate marks over 60 per cent has steadily increased. Whilst standards of learning and teaching may have improved due to the existence of quality assurance agencies and the efforts of individual higher education institutions a significant factor remains that could…

During the last decade, technological developments in computer hardware, software and networks, combined with increasing pressures on staff and students, have led to a proliferation of Communication and Information Technology (C&IT) within the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) disciplines. This research investigates the role of…

The purposes of this paper are to discuss the historical emergence of academic geography in Canada, and how it has been tied closely to the nation-state. Canadian geography is not simply a slice from a pre-existing disciplinary block but has been actively formed and molded by a set of evolving national imperatives determined and coordinated by the…

Cultural activities such as teaching and learning are highly complex systems that are deeply embedded in a wider culture and these factors impede change. Despite feeling directly the effect of the recent drive towards mass participation in higher education, most lecturers have not accounted for these changes in their teaching methods. Unless…

A web conference "adds value by generating discussion among a diverse student group" (Skinner, 2004a, p. 12). Or does it? A significant concern is the extent to which learners construct knowledge and develop a learning community through online discussion. Critics argue that genuine knowledge construction is difficult to achieve. This study…

Focusing on the debate around women's membership of the Royal Geographical Society (UK) 1892-1893, a role play was written using archive and secondary sources and is reproduced here as a resource. In the first instance the role play makes women visible in the late nineteenth-century geographical discourse. It also shows how institutional…

This article offers an overview of the method of narrative inquiry and explores competing trends in the use of the approach. It not only examines the theories relating to the method but also offers practical guidance on using narrative inquiry, including an exploration of what might count as a narrative and ways of analysing narrative data. The…

Within Britain, geography as a discipline has been criticized recently for failing either to add to or teach knowledge about the world at large. Instead it has concentrated first at university and then in schools on spatial social science, with examples drawn overwhelmingly from the white Western world. The recent history of geography is reviewed…