Teachers' in-service training in geographic information system (GIS) and different integration behaviors in lectures

Abstract

This project explores whether and how in-service training for Taiwan’s secondary school geography teachers has affected their adoption of geographic information system (GIS) in lectures. According to our survey analysis, active GIS adopters show a greater propensity for teaching about and with GIS. It does not matter whether GIS is mandatory in certain lectures; the active adopter would choose to use it for teaching. Passive adopters would teach about and with GIS only in lectures for which its use is mandatory. Compared with the other types, laggards are less likely to use GIS. The success of in-service training does not lie in its offering of GIS skills and knowledge. What is more important is that the training has been designed to cultivate teachers’ GIS technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) that makes teachers ready to use GIS in their lectures.