The INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY OLYMPIAD (iGeo)

The 2002 iGeo - Durban, South Africa

"Skyview"                                                                                                                                     

Evaluation

These comments have been copied verbatim in response to three questions. Team leaders facilitated discussion amongst participants. All comments have been included regardless of repetition.

• What were the strengths of the event?
  • The teams were able to exchange cultural experiences
  • The tasks were rich in nature that we didn't feel too much pressure on the team members
  • The tasks were different from what we have in our country and gave us new insights on learning and assessing geography
  • There was an emphasis on integrated geography and pure theory was not the object of the tasks
  • The event was a challenge to both the participating students and the assessing teachers
  • Well organized
  • Building of the team relationships
  • Team work of the organizers
  • Knowledge and experience building
  • Various fields of study
  • Gifts
  • Encouragement to the teams by organizers
  • The competition was not only knowledge based but has the fieldwork as well where students can show their skills
  • Cultural exchange
  • The possibility to see the places in the surroundings what usually tourists do not see
  • Helpful and kind organizing committee
  • Accommodation near the ocean
  • Good experience in geography
  • Communication with people
  • Living all together
  • Frequent meeting opportunities
  • Team work of students and team leaders as well
  • Skills based student work
  • Organisational care
  • Many nations participating
  • Interesting tasks
  • Great experiences
  • Good interactions
  • A good atmosphere and it was a lot of fun meeting everybody
  • The cultural evening was very nice - we enjoyed it!
  • The field work was very interesting
  • Dorms for students: stimulates contacts
  • Fieldwork exercises: interesting and stimulating issues of connection between excursions and exercises
  • Marvelous atmosphere
  • Enthusiasm of competent organizers
  • Cultural evening
  • Country presentations
  • Good questions
  • Excellent fieldwork
  • Criteria for assessing
  • Friendship and tolerance
  • Excursion to agricultural area
  • Timetable was done perfect
  • Organisation
  • Perfect competition leaders
  • Nice and co-operative national teams and leaders
• What were the weaknesses of the event?
  • The schedule was very tight, we had little time to get acquainted with each other and get some rest
  • Translation lacking
  • Time constraints
  • The problems (tasks?) have to be more detailed
  • As the students write in their mother tongue the judging could be subjective and other judges can not really read it through
  • Teacher were too much involved in helping students
  • The programme of the event was overcrowded
  • There weren't enough excursions for sightseeing
  • Museums weren't visited
  • National self-evaluation of team works
  • Absence of cross-evaluations
  • Unclear project determination
  • Poor accommodation
  • A lot of programme - not enough free time
  • No impression of Durban (accommodation site too far away)
  • We didn't see South Africa!
  • Some of the exams were silly? and some didn't show any geographical knowledge
  • Quiz required mostly knowledge and little skills
  • Absence of written text
  • Overloaded programme
  • Absence of coordinating body (not the fault of the SA organizers but responsibility of the IGU)
• How could the event be improved?
  • With a little more free time
  • With a playground for sport events
  • With a cultural evening of SA dances
  • With an excursion more further from Durban - whole day
  • More countries to participate, spread more evenly over the continents
  • More even balance between individual and team work
  • Include written test with emphasis on geographical skills
  • Ask students from the organizing country to assist the teams (1 per team) - this enables you to organize separate activities for team leaders - discuss national competition, developments in geography education
  • Tell students the criteria for assessment beforehand
  • Independent assessors - more detailed marking scheme
  • Provide more resource material for the decision making exercises
  • The accommodation!
  • A day trip
  • All in all it was great fun!
  • One free afternoon in the city for visit
  • More teams should be invited
  • Independent assessment committee should be created
  • There must be one language for solving problems. Students have to know the language to be able to communicate with others anyway
  • Competition has to be for individual students
  • Time consciousness
  • Translation of languages
  • Trophy
  • Putting together a set of rules for the competition and making them available and applicable in all countries. (These should be the same regulations for all competitions regardless of the organizing country)