Sharing e-courses in GI science with partners: business model, experiences, and lessons learnt

The paper first describes the main characteristics of the ‘eduGI’ project. An important aspect of the pilot phase of the project was to establish and verify a ‘business model’, an organizational approach for the development, execution and sustainable sharing of e-courses in GI Science among partners. Eight courses have been developed and executed for the first time during this pilot phase of the project, which ended in 2007. ITC received three courses from different institutes and - in return - offered an e-learning course in Geodata Visualization to two project partners. The main underlying ideas of the Geodata Visualization course are explained, followed by course structure and components. The current status of eduGI - after the pilot - is also briefly described. More emphasis is given to experiences obtained from the project, together with results of evaluations. Main results, lessons learnt, and possible implications for other e-learning projects are discussed. After all, sharing good practices is in the title of the FIG workshop. Is eduGI an example of a good project, worth sharing? The paper will learn that the business concept is valuable, but that in practice a number of hurdles have to be overcome.