A MULTIMEDIA PLATFORM TO REMOTE SENSING EDUCATION: RS-EDUCA©


Nowadays Remote Sensing is used as an information source to study and monitoring resources at local and global scale. Satellite data are more and more frequently used to detect, identify, classify, evaluate and measure different soil covers and their changes. For this reason, the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) (Commission VI or Education Commission) points out among its objectives the need of developing, analyzing, and promoting educational materials to Remote Sensing learning.

RS-EducA© project (http://www.rs-educa.org/) was developed to serve as a Remote Sensing educational tool which covers the gap that exists in Spanish language, tough it could be translate into other important world languages as English or Chinese. RS-EducA© has three important components: a) RS-EducA© software, b) RS-EducA© educational material, and c) RS-EducA© educational platform. RS-EducA© software is a satellite image processing intuitive and easy to use software. 


Students can practice Remote Sensing techniques following different examples of increasing complexity. The RS-EducA© educational material is organized in three categories: learning, practicing and applying. The fist one, ‘learning’, develops Remote Sensing contents (10 chapters), and includes graphic presentations to help a possible teacher as well. The second one, ‘practicing’, incorporates different exercises. Each of them is dedicated to the different steps to process a satellite image, which were explained in the ‘learning’ category. Finally, the ‘applying’ category groups several studies made by researches of our team. On this way, student can acquire a clear idea of Remote Sensing applications.

The RS-EducA© project has been tested in some Spanish Universities and it is at its preliminary stage in South America. From an educational perspective the main findings are: 1) Computer resources: both software and applications are ease of use; 2) Learning ramp: ease of access to resources Internet platform; 3) Teaching: utility of self-learning tools and materials; and 4) Usefulness of real projects. In summary, the project is highly innovative in both methodological and instrumental / operational aspects.

 RS-EducA Publications:
* Fernández-Manso, Alfonso; Quintano, Carmen; Gao, Wenxiu. 2013. A Multimedia Platform to Remote Sensing Education: RS-EducA© . International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment (ISRSE35). Beijing.
*Fernández-Manso, Alfonso; Quintano, Carmen; Fernández-Manso, Oscar. 2013. RS-EducA©: Plataforma de Aprendizaje de La Teledetección Aplicable al Análisis y Evaluación de Incendios Forestales. 6º Congreso Forestal Español. Sociedad Española de Ciencias Forestales.
* Fernández-Manso, Alfonso; Quintano, Carmen. 2012. RS-EducA©: Aplicación de las TIC’s en el desarrollo de una plataforma multiaprendizaje para la innovación educativa en la enseñanza de la teledetección. Premios Innovación en la Enseñanza. Ed. Consejo Social Universidad de León.  
* Quintano, C., Fernández-Manso, A. 2012. RS-EducA: Multimedia educational Platform for Teaching Remote Sensing in Engineering. International Symposium on  Innovation and Quality in Engineering Education. Valladolid (Spain), 26th - 28th April 2012
* Fernández-Manso, A., Quintano, C. 2012. RS-educA: Plataforma Multiaprendizaje para la Enseñanza de la Teledetección. IX Jornadas sobre docencia e investigación en Ingeniería Agroforestal. Nuevos retos en docencia e investigación en Ingeniería Agroforestal: materias emergentes en ingeniería agroalimentaria y energías renovables. León, Septiembre 2012.
* Fernández-Manso. A., Quintano,C. 2011. Aplicaciones el Proyecto de Educación en Teledetección RS-EducA© en el Aprendizaje Orientado a Proyectos. Jornadas para la Docencia y Difusión de la Teledtección. Reunión Científica de Docentes de Teledetección de la AET. Universidad de Salamanca. 2-4 Marzo 2011, Ávila
* Quintano, C.; Fernández-Manso, A., Sevillano-Marco, E. 2009. RS-EDUCA©: La innovación educativa en la enseñanza de la Teledetección. XIII Congreso Nacional de Teledetección. 23-26 Septiembre 2009, Calatayud (Aragón). En "Teledetección. Agua y Desarrollo sostenible". Ed.: Montesinos, S. y Fernández, L. ISBN: 978-84-613-4257-0. pp. 405-408. 
* Quintano, C., Fernández-Manso, A., Aruaijo, M., y Pardi, M.S. 2007. RS-educA©: Plataforma Multimedia para el Desarrollo Científico y Formativo de la Teledetección.Anais do XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Sensoriamento Remoto - SBSR Florianópolis - SC, 21-26 de abril de 2007. (ISBN :978-85-17-00031-7 ) p. 1559-1561

Keywords: Image processing software, Remote Sensing, educational innovation, project-oriented learning.