@InProceedings{FerreiraMust:2014:MuEx,
author = "Ferreira, Hilcea Santos and Mustaro, Pollyana Notargiacomo",
affiliation = "{Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Mackenzie
Presbyterian University}",
title = "Remote sensing technology online education in Africa: a
multicultural experience",
year = "2014",
pages = "3593--3601",
organization = "International Technology, Education and Development Conference, 8.
(INTED).",
keywords = "online education, e-learning, remote sensing, instructional
design, interdisciplinarity, multiculturalism, connectivism.",
abstract = "The discussion of environmental issues and sustainable development
of society has been growing worldwide in the past decades. The
application of remote sensing - the technology of observing,
collecting and analyzing the data of planet Earth and its
immediate environment from air and space altitudes has enriched
human knowledge of our globe and enhanced our survival therein.
Remote sensing continues to be gainfully employed as major tool of
international cooperation. Most Remote Sensing education programs
worldwide have pointed toward interdisciplinarity, providing a
balanced experience for students spanning the domains of
engineering, theory, data analysis, applications, and policy.
Established in 1984, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
(CEOS) coordinates civil space-borne observations of the Earth,
where the participating agencies strive to enhance international
coordination and data exchange and to optimize societal benefit.
Within CEOS, the Working Group on Capacity Building and Data
Democracy (WGCapD) aims at building upon the CEOS Data Democracy
Initiative in an effort to increase the capacity of institutions
in less developed countries for effective use of Earth Observation
data for the benefit of society and to achieve sustainable
development. CEOS Agencies have joined efforts to put forward an
e-learning course named International e-learning course on
Introduction to Remote Sensing Technology. The objective of this
paper is to present the results and lessons learned from this
first initiative for Anglophone countries in Africa. With a
multicultural perception, the article discusses the online
education experience and gives some perspectives on further
developments to be implemented in a possible second version of the
course. The course was free of charge and targeted at University
Lecturers who can enhance the multiplier effect and help preparing
the practitioners to use remote sensing in Earth sciences. The
students came from various backgrounds and application interest
areas. The main goal was to create collaborative learning
opportunities, providing the learners with an appreciation of
current remote sensing issues, the geologic and human processes
that impact remotely-gathered data, and how those processes can be
measured using remote sensing. The 19 voluntary instructors came
from seven space agencies in different countries including
Argentina, Brazil, Austria, France, India, South Africa and the
US. Over 70 people signed up, 30 participated (South Africa,
Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania) throughout the 16 weeks that the
course ran, and 16 undertook all assessments and received the
certificate. Course materials included well-organized tutorials,
selected datasets and internet links. Two live classroom sessions
per week were held, recorded and made available afterwards for
downloading. Students were exposed to a variety of resources,
software tools and datasets, all of open and free access.
Follow-up questionnaires were sent to students and instructors
seeking at information that would enable assessment of the
contribution of the course as well as suggestions for improvement.
Overall, this has been a successful multicultural experience for
accessing education in Remote Sensing in developing countries.
Despite some limitations, the delivery methodology has proved to
be efficient and the outcomes of this online course have been
encouraging to pursue other courses in the future.",
conference-location = "Valencia, Espanha",
conference-year = "mar. 10 - 12, 2014",
label = "self-archiving-INPE-MCTI-GOV-BR",
language = "en",
targetfile = "Artigo_Ferreira_Mustaro_INTED_2014.pdf",
urlaccessdate = "28 mar. 2024"
}