EUGISES 2008; Royal Agricult ural College, Cirencest er Model of Geo/ Spatial Information Literacy (MG/ SIL): an innovative model for transforming learning in GIS education Maryam Nazari 1 and Sheila Webber 2 Abstract This paper aims to describe a Model of Geo/ spatial Information Literacy (MG/ SIL), derived from qualit at ive research, which can be used t o enrich learning in GIS courses. We st art by ident ifying challenges t o GIS educat ors, including t he nat ure of t he discipline itself. We identify the key role of information, and learners’ understanding of Geo/ Spat ial informat ion (GI), in t he learning process, wit h reference t o GIS educat ional lit erat ure and informat ion lit eracy research. We summarise t he research approach and met hods of an ongoing explorat ory case st udy invest igat ing compet encies t hat enable GIS learners to learn how to accomplish GIS tasks. The sit e of the research is a set of Online Dist ance Learning (ODL) programmes offered by t hree universit ies. As a key part of the research, four conceptions of GI have emerged. The four conceptions are briefly described, t oget her wit h t he associat ed compet encies needed t o form and t ransform GI geo/ spat ially. In t he next sect ion we present t he MG/ SIL which emerged from t his work, and explain how a learner might interact with it to diagnose his knowledge and skill needs, and develop his understanding of GI and his ability to apply his knowledge. Finally we identify ways in which the model could both be incorporated in the curriculum and used as an evaluat ion t ool. Key words Geo/ spat ial informat ion concept ions/ GIS educat ion/ Geo/ Spat ial Informat ion Lit eracy/ Geo/ spatial information behaviour/ GIS curriculum design and delivery/ transferring learning 1 Introduction The expanding, t echnology-orient ed, and evolving nat ure of Geographic Informat ion Science/ Syst ems (GIS) as a discipline (ESRI 2002; Libarkin et al, 2003; JISC 2007) is a challenge t o GIS educat ors who want t o t ransform learners’ underst anding of GIS and enable learners to apply their GIS skills and knowledge to new situations and problems. The wide applicabilit y of GIS in various disciplines and workplace contexts (Johnson 2006; Unwin 1996) at t ract s GIS learners from various educat ional and professional backgrounds. These learners have diverse personal and professional goals and ambit ions for learning about and using GIS (Unwin 1997; Kemp 1994). This also creat es diversit y in learning- and skill-needs. GIS as a t echnology-orient ed discipline requires learners t o use wide range of t ools, techniques, and operations; this in turn requires a wide range of skill-sets. However because of t he t ight ly scheduled nat ure of Online Dist ance Learning (ODL) GIS 1 Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, England 2 Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, England 1