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The Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT) Project (1999--2004) builds upon the Alexandria Digital Library Project (1994--1999) to add functions and services for undergraduate teaching to a digital library of geospatial resources. The 'Digital Learning Environment' (DLE) services are being developed and evaluated iteratively over the course of this research project. In the 2002--2003 academic year, the DLE was implemented during the fall and spring terms in undergraduate geography courses at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Evaluation of the fall term implementation identified design issues of time and complexity for creating and organizing course domain knowledge. The spring term implementation added new services to integrate course content into class presentation formats. The implementation was evaluated via interviews with the course instructor, development staff, and students, and by observations (in person and videotaped) of the course. Results indicated that usability and functionality for the instructor had increased between the two course offerings Students found classroom presentations to be useful for understanding concepts, and Web access to the presentations useful for study and review. Assessments of student learning suggest modest improvements over time Developers are now applying lessons learned during these implementations to improve the system for subsequent implementation in the 2003--2004 academic year.

A goal of the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT) project is to make primary resources in geography useful for undergraduate instruction in ways that will promote inquiry learning. The ADEPT education and evaluation team interviewed professors about their use of geography information as they prepare for class lectures, as compared to their research activities. We found that professors desired the ability to search by concept (erosion, continental drift, etc ) as well as geographic location, and that personal research collections were an important source of instructional materials. Resources in geo-spatial digital libraries are typically described by location, but are rarely described by concept or educational application. This paper presents implications for the design of an educational digital library from our observations of the lecture preparation process. Findings include functionality requirements for digital libraries and implications for the notion of digital libraries as a shared information environment. The functional requirements include definitions and enhancements of searching capabilities, the ability to contribute and to share personal collections of resources, and the capability to manipulate data and images.

The evaluation plan for the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT) centers on two investigations: a study of classroom use of the system by faculty and students and lab-based usability studies. The classroom-based study is primarily an investigation of the digital library's impact on student learning, using multiple research methods. The five-year work plan includes investigations of the use of ADEPT in non-geography classes.