Student authored atlas tours (story maps) as geography assignments

Abstract

Atlas Tours consist of collections of animated maps and other elements woven together to make a narrative, they are a commonly used format on the web. Recent developments in software platforms such as Esri Story Maps have made producing them possible by Geography students. The study uses student written feedback and focuses groups about a module where students produce an Atlas Tour as an assignment. This is used to advocate the use of student-produced Atlas Tours in Geography teaching, the main argument proposed is that Atlas Tours are an excellent format to enable students to learn and practise graphical literacy (graphicacy). Despite this educational opportunity, Atlas Tours can cause practical problems for students and suggestions are made to mitigate this issue. Two other pedagogical strands are also advocated: Students being empowered to exercise creativity in creating Atlas Tours and how Atlas Tours are particularly well suited to fieldwork assignments.