Drawing the Line with Google Earth: The Place of Digital Mapping outside of Geography

The "Te Kawa a Maui Atlas" project explores how mapping activities support undergraduate student engagement and learning in Maori studies. This article describes two specific assignments, which used online mapping allowing students to engage with the work of their peers. By analysing student evaluations of these activities, we identify four aspects that benefit student engagement: mapping "diversifies" the learning experience; mapping promotes acquisition of a different "skill" set; online mapping allowed more open "sharing" of work and; mapping promotes "place"-based learning. Some students were ambivalent about the assignments, so mapping should only be used to support other learning objectives.