Geo-Web brings UW System geographers and geologists together on the Internet

The Geo-Web Project will bring information into geography and geology classrooms across the UW System with an Internet site that focuses on Wisconsin.

A $47,852 grant from the UW System Curricular Redesign Grant Fund will be used by a team of five faculty members from three UW campuses for the statewide project. Benjamin Ofori-Amoah, associate professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, was the project director. Co-directors are Keith Rice and Karen Lemke of UWSP, Gregory Chu of UW-La Crosse and Steven Dutch of UW-Green Bay. The faculty members represent the fields of physical and human geography, cartography, geographic information systems and geology.

"The ideal platform to pool the talent and resources of UW faculty in geography and geology departments is the Internet," Ofori-Amoah said. "It will not only allow the sharing of resources, but will provide greater interaction among students and faculty members."

Geography and geology faculty members from all UW campuses will be invited to a weeklong workshop in August at UWSP. The five grant recipients will discuss the Web site. Participants will learn how to design and build their own Web sites, which can then become part of Geo-Web. Other aspects of the workshop will be on using the Internet as a resource, teaching techniques and presentation methods.

Undergraduate student Internet experts will be employed to assist with developing a workbook and building the Web site. In addition, grant money will be used to purchase computer equipment to store the Web information.

Following the workshop, participants will test Geo Web during the next academic year and the site’s developers will assess its usefulness and effectiveness for university and high school teachers.

Resources from geography and geology departments on all the campuses will be organized into the Web site, including several sites that have already been developed for more specific courses. In addition, Geo-Web will include links to national materials that are pertinent to Wisconsin geology and geography. The site also has a section devoted to pre-kindergarten through 12th grade material. Geo-Web will make Internet resources easy to access by teachers and the general public for education and application purposes.

Ofori-Amoah holds degrees from the University of Ghana, the University of Science and Technology in Ghana, the University of Exeter in Great Britain and Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B. C., Canada. A specialist in economic geography and regional planning, he has written several successful grants with colleagues at UWSP and at other UW System campuses.

Rice holds degrees from the University of Kansas, Bowling Green State University and the State University of New York at Albany. A cartographic specialist with expertise in geographic information systems, he has developed eight new geography courses at UWSP and has acquired more than 25 grants totaling over $400,000 for his department.

Lemke, professor of geography and geology, holds degrees from Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa., and the University of Iowa, Iowa City. A specialist in using Internet technology, she has developed several Web sites for use in her classes.

Chu, a specialist in cartography and geographic information systems at UW-La Crosse, holds a doctorate from the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

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