Summary

Based on the experiences of UNIGIS Amsterdam at the VU University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, this article demonstrates that distance learning in the filed of Geographical Information Science can be a successful venture. Three Good Practices explaining this success are discussed explicitly: 1) the importance of establishing international partnership in education delivery; 2) the synergy between IT innovation in education and GIS and; 3) the need to include forms of collaborative learning into the distance learning curriculum, by using inspiring educational techniques. An example of collaborative learning in the UNIGIS curriculum will be dealt with in detail, stressing the importance of students ’ mutual knowledge construction and the need to introduce variation in teaching and assessment methods in distance learning