At FOSS4G Europe 2025 in Mostar, a group of teaching enthusiasts from around the world began exploring how to strengthen collaboration among educators in Open‑Source GIS. This presentation introduces the QGIS Trainer Network, a new initiative designed to exchange knowledge, teaching materials, and best practices among QGIS trainers globally.

The network emerged from ongoing conversations revealing the need for shared guidelines and resources in open‑source GIS education. Questions such as “What should be part of a basic GIS course?” and “Which software stacks and file types should be taught?” inspired a community survey distributed across educational institutions and public administrations.

In this session, we will present the survey results, outline the network’s goals, and invite participants to join the growing community of QGIS trainers. The presentation will highlight how the network fosters collaboration, supports curriculum development, and strengthens the global capacity for open‑source geospatial education.

Teaching QGIS effectively requires more than good materials: it requires matching learning modalities to the motivations, constraints, and expectations of different learner groups. In this talk, I reflect on two decades of teaching QGIS to university students, professionals, and self‑motivated learners, and I argue that how we teach matters as much as what we teach.

For highly motivated individuals, those who actively seek out GIS skills for their own projects, self‑paced online learning remains the most efficient and impactful modality. These learners benefit from autonomy, the ability to revisit complex topics, and the flexibility to progress at their own rhythm. Structured online courses, supported by LMS platforms such as Moodle with H5P interactivity, allow them to build strong technical foundations with minimal friction.

In university settings, blended learning consistently outperforms traditional lectures. Students watch theory videos at home, then use classroom time for quizzes, discussions, troubleshooting, and guided exercises that they can complete independently afterward. This model increases engagement, reduces cognitive overload, and frees in‑person time for higher‑order learning (analysis, application, and problem‑solving).

For professionals, however, the picture is different. When courses are paid by employers and squeezed between demanding jobs, full in‑person or live‑online formats remain the default. While these modalities often produce lower learning performance compared to self‑paced or blended approaches, they align with expectations of learners, donors, and colleagues. Insights from my work on capacity development show that synchronous formats are frequently preferred not for pedagogical reasons but because they fit existing incentive structures: they are visible, certificate‑friendly, and compatible with organisational habits. Yet these formats are fragile, especially in low‑resource settings, and often lead to low retention, passive participation, and limited long‑term application.

Recognising this gap between performative and sustainable learning helps QGIS trainers design interventions that genuinely strengthen geospatial capacity. Effective training requires autonomy, continuity, and relevance. These conditions are difficult to achieve in long Zoom marathons but flourish in well‑designed self‑paced or blended environments.

The talk includes practical tips for becoming a strong QGIS trainer: designing modular materials, encourage the development of real‑world skills, scaffolding exercises to build confidence, integrating open‑source values into teaching, and cultivating a classroom culture where experimentation and failure are part of the learning journey.

Ultimately, effective QGIS teaching is not one-size-fits-all. It is a craft that adapts to context, respects learner diversity, and embraces the strengths of open-source communities.

In this workshop, we will explore the diverse range of tools available in QGIS for conducting comprehensive hydrological analysis. Participants will gain hands-on experience with tools from GRASS, SAGA, WhiteboxTools, and PCRaster processing provider plugins, as well as other specialized plugins designed for hydrological studies.

Our interactive session will cover practical exercises on deriving streams and catchments, and calculating essential morphometric parameters such as drainage density, concentration time, and hypsometric curves. By the end of the workshop, attendees will have a solid understanding of how to leverage QGIS for hydrological analysis, enabling them to apply these techniques to their own projects and research.