Barriers to Teaching Introductory Physical Geography Online

Abstract

Learning geography online is becoming an option for more students but not without controversy.
Issues of faculty resources, logistics, professional recognition, and pedagogical concerns are cited
as barriers to teaching online. Offering introductory physical geography online presents special
challenges. As a general education course, an introductory physical geography course has a diverse
population of students with disparate educational needs and goals that impacts its ability to be
delivered online. Online learning is further complicated when lab courses require specialized
laboratory equipment and fieldwork. A survey of geography departments in the United States was
conducted to determine barriers to the deployment of introductory physical geography lab courses.
Lack of faculty interest, faculty resources, and pedagogical concerns were found to be the most
important barriers to deploying online physical geography lab courses.
Knowing the challenges faced by geography departments offering online courses provides insight
into where valuable support services and resources can best be used to address them. Recent
advances in blogging, podcasting, lecture capture, web conferencing, and augmented reality are
offered as solutions to the concerns expressed by survey respondents.