Using the world wide web in undergraduate geographic education: Potentialsand 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 benefit s of incorporating the Web into undergraduate geography courses and benefit s it may confer on higher education. It highlights potential uses of the We b and discusses claims that Web-based education may lead to a paradigm shif t in higher education. A number of questions about the efficacy of Web-base d teaching, the desirability of an educational paradigm shift, its cost-eff ectiveness, and the role of corporations in sponsoring Web-based education are considered. Future prospects for Web-based geographic education are dis cussed.