"Courseware' provision for computer assisted learning in geography in higher education, the LIPS (Leicester Image Processing Suite) experience

Computers have been used for many years to help students learn within University geography. Despite evident promise, and the generally "well found' state of computing provision in departments of geography, it would seem that relatively little teaching using computers is being undertaken. If teaching is to be computer assisted, then it is clear that we need suitable "hardware', "courseware', and "liveware' in the form of willing teachers, and it is clear that a lack of subject specific "courseware' is a relatively minor factor inhibiting computer assisted teaching and learning in the subject. By the term "courseware' we mean computer software, documentation, data and other materials necessary for the delivery of computer assisted teaching. Where suitable courseware exists, progress has been made and the remainder of this paper attempts to isolate possible sources of, and review distribution mechanisms for, such materials. -from Authors