UNIGIS is an international consirtium of institutions who under a licencing arrangement operate a distance learning diploma programme in GIS. Experience over the last five years could be valuable in scoping and asessing the risks for developing developing education technology. This is important becasue of the high resource costs of technological development. UNIGIS operates a professional level programme with the emphasisi on design and management. The particular point for technology is about UNIGIS is organised since this secures the operating revenue and staff resource base for development. Additionally a clear development pathway for developing educational materials has been devised. Critical to the whole process is the analysis of need. UNIGIS has several technological componenets which have considerable benefits but such developments ingeneral have high costs and high risks. UNIGIS reduces these risks by following a number of principles of organisation and development.
John P. Wilson
Department of Geography
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
email: uesjw@msu.oscs.montana.edu