Reconsidering Faculty Roles and Rewards in Geography

ABSTRACT
In the USA there has been a reassessment of public and faculty attitudes to higher education and its practices. One concern has been the priority faculty and administrators in different disciplines attach to the roles and rewards accorded to teaching research and public service. The Association of American Geographers (AAG) set up a task force to examine these issues with respect to geography. The proposals of that task force are presented here together with an introduction by Ron Abler the AAG s Executive Director. These proposals have now been sent to all US geography departments for consideration. They should interest geography associations and department.s in other countrie.s where the tension between faculty roles and rewards are issues for staff and/or public concern.

KEYWORDS
Faculty, roles, rewards, geography, USA.

Teaching History, Philosophy and Theory: notes on representing Marxism and 'Marxist geography '

ABSTRACT
This paper offers a critique of recent representations of 'Marxist geography'. The argument is geared towards those teaching undergraduate courses dealing with the history, philosophy and theory of paradigms within geography. Focusing on three recent student textbooks which offer 'official' accounts of the nature of contemporary geography geared to such courses and on keynote academic commentaries, I point to four persistent problems in the representation of 'Marxist geography' and suggest a template through which teachers can offer students a more discriminating and faithful account of that paradigm.

KEYWORDS
Marxist geography, teaching, textbook.

Justifying and Applying Oral Presentations in Geographical Education

ABSTRACT
Teaching .students the ability to communicate is acknowledged to be a central objective of university education. The oral presentation of research findings by students represents an internationally used device by which skills in .spoken communication are developed and tested. Often, however, presentations are demanded from students with little preliminary advice being provided on the keys to effective oral presentation. As well as addressing the shortcoming of inadequate coaching by providing practical advice on .spoken delivery, this paper justifies the application of oral presentations in university geography classes and provides a .strategy for assessing .such formal talks. The paper should be of value to teachers, .students and others about to fulfil a public .speaking commitment in an educational setting.

KEYWORDS
Oral presentations, learning communication skills.

Notes of Guidance for Prospective Speakers

Directive for lulling an audience to sleep:

Wear a dark .suit and conventional tie; turn down the lights; close the curtains; display a crowded slide and leave it in place; stand still, read your paper without looking up; read steadily with no marked changes in cadence; show no pictures, use grandiloquent words and long sentences. (Booth, 1985, p. 42 [1])

This paper includes advice on preparing for, presenting and concluding a successful public presentation. The advice given deals primarily with the presentation of an extemporaneous talk. That is, the talk is prepared thoroughly beforehand, but the speaker performs as if they were talking spontaneously on the subject. Three other types of oral presentation exist. These are: speeches which are read (reserved for very important occasions where slight errors will generate considerable criticism); speeches which are rehearsed and memorised; and impromptu speeches (Windschuttle & Windschuttle, 1988, pp. 321-322). The guidelines offered are intended to enable you to give a successful oral presentation. Some particularly useful additional and detailed advice can be found in publications such as McEvedy et al. ( 1986), Leeds ( 1988) and Windschuttle and Windschuttle (1988), and in video-note packages such as Seven Dimensions (1992) and the Toastmasters International and Kantola*Skeie (1986b; 1986c). Other helpful references include Bryant and Wallace (1962), Kenny (1982) and Richards (1988).

TEACHING ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY IN UK HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

ABSTRACT
This paper examines how the changes in the last decade in economic geography have been reflected in the courses taught in the UK and assesses the impact of recent changes in teaching styles and methods on how the subject is taught. It summarises the findings from a survey of 5O UK Geography Departments. The paper covers three main topics: the significance of economic geography in UK degrees courses; the characteristics of introductory economic geography courses; and the issues involved in the teaching of economic geography.

KEYWORDS
Economic geography, degree courses, UK.

TEACHING ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY IN ANGLOPHONE CANADA

ABSTRACT
A .survey of the teaching of the introductory economic geography course in the English-language universities of Canada reveals considerable diversity of course content. Orientations vary from location theory to global .system analyses. Students are generally positive about changes in course content that give greater coverage of globalisation, environmental issues and the geography of enterprise. Many instructors note a lack of critical thinking and of lay knowledge of 'how the economy works' among .students. Syllabus overload is a reality, as is the overwhelmingly 'masculine' character of what is taught. Both these features demand constructive responses.

KEYWORDS
Introductory courses, economic geography, anglophile Canada.

TEACHING ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY IN SOUTH AFRICA'S HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: THE CASE OF BLACK UNIVERSITIES

ABSTRACT
Industrial geography courses at the Historically Black Universities (HBUs) and the Historically White Universities (HWUs) in South Africa are a true reflection of apartheid education designed by the government in the 1950s. The education system offers whites good and quality education, while blacks receive poor education. The nature and history of the HBUs have affected the content and the teaching of industrial geography. Unlike the HWUs industrial geography courses at the HBUs do not contain much of the recent changes in the subject.

KEYWORDS
Economic geography, apartheid, South Africa.

EDUCATIONAL TRADITIONS AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY: A VIEW FROM AUSTRALIA

ABSTRACT
Based in educational theory and with an interdisciplinary backdrop, this paper applies to economic geography thoughts and contributions pioneered i71 agricultural science by Professor Richard Bawden. Commonly held educational objectives are interpreted alongside three major teaching traditions. From this analysis, the potential relevance of experiential learning is examined in the light of paradigmatic shifts in economic geography and practical developments in tertiary milieu. The conclusion is that praxis-based teaching deserves more attention than it has previously received.

KEYWORDS
Educational traditions, experiential learning, economic geography.

GEOGRAPHICAL ECONOMICS OR ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY?

ABSTRACT
This paper deliberately polarises two broad approaches to economic geography. Geographical economics seeks to build a spatial dimension into broad theories of economic development and change, while economic geography represents the traditional geographer's approach which is focused on descriptions of the spatial distribution of economic activity. The paper argues that the latter approach continues to over-emphasise neoclassical location theory and, thus, narrow analytical economic theory. This may account for the subject's apparent unpopularity with students, a problem which may be countered by the presentation of a more broadly based political economy approach to 'economics' issues at the outset of a geography degree programme.

KEYWORDS
Economic geography, economics, theory.

TEACHING ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY-SOME THOUGHTS ON CURRICULUM CONTENT

ABSTRACT
In this article I set out .some thoughts on the curriculum content of courses in economic geography. 1 argue that the identity of economic geography is at present as fluid as it has been at any time since the rise of political-economic approaches in the early 1970s a fluidity perhaps best understood through the context of a cultural turn in the human sciences more generally. I suggest that economic geography needs to respond positively to that turn, engaging in a dialogue with the cultural that may lead to loss but also hopefully invention.

KEYWORDS
Curriculum content, economic geography, political-economic approach.

The Geography Discipline Network would also like to thank Taylor & Francis Ltd for permission to reproduce abstracts from the Journal of Geography in Higher Education