Digital maps for learning: A review and prospects

Abstract

Over the last 10 years there has been a rapid increase in the development and use of digital maps for teaching and learning in Higher Education. There is also a political drive to encourage and foster best practice in this area. This is part of a more general initiative on fostering the development and demonstrating the impact of the use of digital resources in education, as evidenced by recent funding programmes by JISC 1 The Joint Information Systems Committee is a strategic advisory body that works on behalf of the funding bodies for further and higher education in the UK, and also works in partnership with the Research Councils. It promotes the innovative application and use of information systems and information technology in further and higher education across the UK. 1 in the UK and NSF 2 The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the US Government. Part of its mission is to promote the progress of science. 2 in the US. This paper presents and discusses the evaluation of digital resources to support the use of digital maps for learning. First it reviews the use of digital maps for learning, outlining the features that make them powerful tools, before then considering the more general literature on learners’ use of maps which suggests that although they have great potential, the use of digital maps by learners may not be straightforward. The paper then discusses a project called ‘e-MapScholar’, which was funded by JISC 3 Note that e-MapScholar was funded by a previous programme rather than the programme referred to in the first paragraph. 3 . The ‘e-MapScholar’ project has been developing tools and learning and teaching materials to enhance and support the use of geo-spatial data currently available within tertiary education, including digital map data. The project includes teaching case studies of how such resources can be used and have been used in practice. The e-MapScholar project serves to illustrate the possibilities of learning with digital maps and the challenge of delivering on this possibility. The final two sections of the paper discuss the outcomes of the e-MapScholar evaluation and conclude with prospects for the use of digital maps in education.