English abstract
This study aimed at detect the level of geography teachers in the Sultanate of Oman in the skills of geographic Information systems from their point of view. And the population of the study was geography teachers from all public schools in the Sultanate of Oman; Muscat Governorate, Al-Batinah (south) region and Al-Sharqia region(north)the population of the study consisted of the (560) teachers, but the study sample consisted of (280) teachers who have been selected as a stratified random proportional sample. The data were collected by the means of a questionnaire ( which includes 42 items). distributed on three main areas, namely: the skills of mapping and computer skills and skills of ArcGIS to the lovel Arcmap.
The study found that: (1) the overall level of geography teachers in the skills of geographic information systems was moderate (2) they have a high level of skills in mapping and computer skills in the field of output devices and the Internet, while their level of skills in the field of computer input devices and programs was average, on the other hand, they have a low level of skills in Arcmap. (3) there is a statistical differences in the function of the computer skills in the field of computer input devices and Arcmap skills for the male, but there are no differences in the rest of the skills attributed to the variable of sex, (4) the teachers of geography who have graduated from the Faculty of Arts are better than those who have graduated from the Faculty of Education in their generat level of geographic Information systems as well as they are also better in Arcmap skills while there are no differences in their levels of the remaining skills (5) the less experienced geography teachers( less than 8 years) are better than more experlenced teachers ( 8 years and more) in their general level in the geography Information systems skills as well as their skills in computers and Arcmap. On the other hand, there is no differences in their experiences in the mapping skills (6) there is no statistical differences among the geography teachers that could be related to the region variables.
And the study recommended that there is a need to develop( improve) the geography teachers' skills that are related to geography Information system, and to improve the Arcmap skills with the geography teachers as their skills are apparently weak. Also, there is a necessity for the university to introduce some modules in geographical information systems. The university should necessarily provide some optional modules in the geographical information systems for the students who are studying BA in Geography at Sultan Qaboos University and other faculties that are related to higher education for the aim of helping them acquire the skills in the Geography information system. Moreover, there is a need to conduct some extended training workshops which include geography information system in all the Educational directorates in every region.
