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InterGEO: a Digital Platform for University Education on Geomorphological Heritage

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Abstract

The project InterGEO was carried out with the objective to disseminate knowledge on geomorphological heritage by developing a digital learning platform. It aims at improving students’ autonomy by the reduction of face-to-face teaching and increasing autonomous learning as well as promoting international interactions between students interested in geomorphological heritage. A completely free-access virtual course on geomorphosites was developed with the Learning Management System Moodle. The course is divided into 24 thematic chapters, each of them containing a short description, a list of references and selected publications, as well as other educational material (videos, virtual fieldtrips, etc.). In particular, several videos allow presenting in a dynamic way concepts and examples. The paper presents the tool and its use in academic programmes in six European universities, where it was tested, in various contexts (Bachelors’ and Masters’ programmes; students in geography or geology; general courses in geomorphology and specific courses on geoheritage and geoconservation), before discussing the advantages and challenges the tool is facing. The InterGEO platform is an easy-to-use and friendly educational tool, which allows developing blended learning activities; it is flexible and adaptable in various learning contexts.

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Acknowledgements

Pedagogical support was provided by Johann Lüthi, Pedagogic Engineer of the FGSE at the University of Lausanne. The videos benefitted of the support of Marianne Milano and Ella Malherbe. The learning tool was tested by students of the six universities and results were shared during a virtual workshop organised in the six universities on 13 June 2016. Each person that participated to the project is warmly acknowledged, as well as two anonymous reviewers, whose comments highly improved the quality of the paper.

Funding

The coordination tasks (appointment of an assistant) and two workshops in Lausanne were financed by the University of Lausanne (Teaching Innovation Fund and Investment Fund of the Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, FGSE). The videos were designed and created with support of the universities of Lausanne (TIF) and Savoie Mont Blanc (IDEFI Promising and ReflexPro; LabEx ITEM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography and Sustainability, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Emmanuel Reynard, Mélanie Clivaz & Lucie Darbellay

  2. Department of Chemical and Earth Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Paola Coratza

  3. Laboratory Edytem, CNRS – University Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry, France

    Nathalie Cayla & Fabien Hobléa

  4. Department of Geomorphology-Pedology-Geomatics, Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Laura Comănescu & Florina Grecu

  5. Department of Geography and Planning, Sorbonne-Lettres, Paris, France

    Christian Giusti

  6. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Paulo Pereira

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  1. Emmanuel Reynard
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  2. Paola Coratza
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  10. Paulo Pereira
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Reynard.

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Reynard, E., Coratza, P., Cayla, N. et al. InterGEO: a Digital Platform for University Education on Geomorphological Heritage. Geoheritage 10, 645–657 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-018-0298-8

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