In the past 20 years, European public authorities have invested considerable resources in the development of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). With the European INSPIRE Directive as an important driver, national SDIs were developed throughout Europe to facilitate and coordinate the exchange and sharing of geographic data. These SDIs initially focused on data sharing among public authorities. In the next stage, a more user oriented approach evolved, also including users outside the public sector. In recent years, several countries and public administrations in Europe started with the implementation of open data policy, with the aim of making their government data ‘open’. In addition, some started to make a shift towards the establishment of an ‘open’ SDI, in which also non-government data and actors are considered as key to the performance of the infrastructure. Currently, SDI education around the globe is characterized by single disciplinary or siloed views missing out on opportunities of a holistic, multidisciplinary view on SDI. In addition, the recent Open SDI trend has not been implemented in any SDI curriculum yet. Moreover, teaching methods are still limited to traditional teaching in the classroom. As a consequence, there is barely an international exchange of educational material and approaches on open SDI among universities. An overview and detailed analysis of existing SDI education are unavailable and an international platform facilitating the SDI education is lacking. The overarching objective of the project is to promote and strengthen active learning and teaching towards Open SDI. Subobjectives are: 1. To explore, develop and implement the concept of Open SDI as a new paradigm to SDI education 2. To develop and promote active and multidisciplinary learning and teaching on Open SDI 3. To develop a general toolkit for implementing Open SDI in existing curricula in study programs of different disciplines 4. To drive the uptake of Open SDI teaching and learning resources by teachers and students via open online platforms Project participants/ description of activities The project addresses the following target groups and their needs: - Teachers and trainers requiring new teaching and learning approaches and methods, allowing them to teach and train students with state of the art content and means. - Students (BSc, MSc and PhD level) requiring innovative, pro-active teaching and learning approaches to be applied to societal challenges and to allow a kick-start of their professional career. - SDI practitioners and decision makers, requiring insight into new approaches to SDI development and implementation, and employees with the rights skills to adopt these new approaches. The activities will yield 6 project meetings, 8 intellectual outputs, 5 multiplier events and 3 learning/teaching/training actions. Through the project events and activities we have more than 250 participants (ca. 100 teachers in SDI, 50 students and 100 SDI practitioners and decision makers). SPIDER Methodology SPIDER will employ a mixed methodology. Through desk research, and surveys a knowledge base will be drafted. These results are discussed and applied in the Learning and Teaching and Training events, which are focused on academic staff and students. The results are then communicated and discussed with the broader SDI community in the Multiplier Events and presented in events (conferences) that are organised by the associated partners. The envisaged SPIDER's results and impact are: 1. A better understanding of existing practices, policies and systems in education, and training across countries in Europe and beyond 2. A new holistic perspective on Open SDI 3. The central online SPIDER platform facilitating Open SDI education in Europe and beyond 4. A new and increased inter-regional and transnational cooperation of five EU universities in the field of Open SDI education 5. Inclusion of new, innovative concepts and topics related to Open SDI in SDI education (at participating organizations and other HEIs in Europe) 6. An increased digital competence of academic staff in SDI education in Europe 7. Improved quality of education and training in Open SDI in Europe 8. An education aligned with the future needs of the labour market Potential longer term benefits 1. Increased level of active teaching on SDI beyond the participating organizations and other HEIs in Europe 2. Development of higher-order skills by students, through the use of active teaching and learning practices 3. Development of knowledge, skills and competencies on new, innovative topics and concepts related to Open SDI by students 4. Delivery of better prepared students to the SDI job market 5. Increased attention to and awareness on Open SDIs among teachers, researchers, practitioners and decision makers
The main objective of the SPIDER project was to promote and strengthen Active Learning and Teaching (ALT) towards Open SDI. Sub-objectives of the project were 1) to explore, develop and implement the concept of Open SDI as a new paradigm to SDI education; 2) to promote and facilitate active and multidisciplinary learning and teaching on Open SDI; and 3) to drive the exchange and update of Open SDI teaching and learning resources by teachers and students. The primary target group of SPIDER were teachers and trainers requiring new teaching and learning approaches and methods, allowing them to teach and train students with state-of-the-art content and means. The second target group were students (BSc, MSc and PhD level) requiring innovative, pro-active teaching and learning approaches to be applied to societal challenges and to allow a kick-start of their professional career. The third target group were SDI practitioners and decision makers, requiring insight into new approaches to SDI development and implementation, and employees with the rights skills to adopt these new approaches. Parallel to the development of new concepts, the results of an extensive analysis on ALT were simultaneously used to build the new concepts and teaching units on suitable teaching methods, whose effectiveness has been scientifically analysed in advance (IO3). Therefore, the SPIDER project not only aimed at providing an exchange platform for teachers, students, and peers, but also provided them with suitable teaching materials that both convey a comprehensive spectrum of SDI and link it to modern teaching methods particularly suitable for the field of SDI. In summary, the objective for the SPIDER project was for the SDI education landscape in Europe to gain consistency and diversity to increase the quality of SDI education in Europe.
Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) are well established in the daily work of many users and providers of geographical information. Those infrastructures comprise technologies, policies and institutional arrangements connecting the geographical data to their users. In the past 20 years, European public authorities have invested considerable resources in the SDIs. More recently, public administration started to make a shift towards the establishment of an Open SDI, in which also non-governmental data and actors are considered as a key to the performance of the infrastructure. The concept of Open SDI is about openness to new stakeholders in the spatial data ecosystems, besides the traditional mapping agencies that have been dominant for many years. SDI development and implementation should not only involve the traditional data producers, but also key stakeholders outside the government, such as citizens, companies, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular, NGOs and education and research institutions, which could be both producers and users of spatial data. Open SDIs are also linked to developments and trends in other domains and fields, such as Open Government, Open Data, Open Science, and Open (Source) Software. Extensive training is thus essential for the development and continuation of SDIs. Not only students, but also other user groups should have free access to in-depth learning material. However, the educational landscape in this field is very heterogeneous. The mapping and investigation of SDI education in Europe allows to draw some general conclusions on the status of the SDI educational landscape in Europe. Academic education on SDIs is provided by many different higher education institutions in many different countries in Europe, both at Bachelor and Master level, and in the context of various study programs. Only a minority of these courses cover all the components of an SDI, many SDI-related courses rather focus on particular elements of an SDI, such as the data and the way these data are managed, web services and other web aspects, standards, and interoperability and/or the non-technological components. In many cases, higher education institutions cover the different components of an SDI through different courses. Currently, SDI education around the globe is characterised by single disciplinary, mostly technical, or siloed views missing out on opportunities of a holistic, and multidisciplinary approach to SDI. In addition, the recent development towards Open SDI has not been implemented in any SDI curriculum in the world. Moreover, teaching methods are still primarily limited to traditional teaching in the classroom. Open SDI, as a new paradigm on SDI, requires that new, particular skills are required, which currently are not offered by traditional SDI education. Open SDI education requires a shift in both the ways of teaching and learning, which should become more active, and in the content of education, including new concepts and topics. Furthermore, the collaboration between higher education institutions (HEIs) is essential, since implementing – and teaching – Open SDI requires a multidisciplinary approach, involving experts from different fields. For further explanation of the project's needs, please see the attached needs assessment.