Using the world wide web in undergraduate geographic education: Potentials and pitfalls

The World Wide Web is being increasingly utilized in geographic education. Conceptualizations of how the Web should be used in education tend to vary, reflecting a number of different goals. This article discusses the benefits of incorporating the Web into undergraduate geography courses and benefits it may confer on higher education. It highlights potential uses of the Web and discusses claims that Web-based education may lead to a paradigm shift in higher education. A number of questions about the efficacy of Web-based teaching, the desirability of an educational paradigm shift, its cost-effectiveness, and the role of corporations in sponsoring Web-based education are considered. Future prospects for Web-based geographic education are discussed.