Exploring Geographic Information Systems , John Wiley Please allow ample time for reading and making sense of the introductory chapters. Lecture notes and exercises are available on the web.
Most additional sources are available on the web as well.
In the first exercise we'll look at other sites. GIS is involved in many, many activities. Geographic information construction involves a number of distinct 'levels' of analysis. Some GIS courses follow a work-flow model, leading from input to processing to output. Such an organization focuses on what is done, not why is it done.