Geomorphological processes in mountainous regions and their modeling in Web-based education

The use of the new electronic media with information acquisition and communication via the World Wide Web is part of everyday university life. The new media can facilitate education and research in geomorphology by virtual field trips to reinforce geomorphological concepts in class or analysis of remote sensing data in terms of geornorphological issues. Nevertheless, the integration of new electronic media in education increases only very slowly. In many cases the quality of material offered via the Internet is unverified and flawed. Lecture notes and figures which are published on the Web are therefore often insufficient to improve learning processes. The development and combination of course material should be guided by the idea to overcome difficulties encountered while teaching geornorphological processes and phenomena. Understanding complex geoscientific concepts is methodologically and educationally determined by different aspects of knowledge acquisition: the form of visual presentation, potential for interactivity and knowledge organization. Possibilities of web-based education to increase motivation and successful learning are pointed out in this paper on the basis of geornorphological processes in mountainous regions. The examples were developed in the framework of the innovative research project WEBGEO(1).