What I\u27ve Learned About Teaching Map-Making that Isn\u27t About Map-Making

In this talk, I describe my efforts to blend online materials with classroom activities in order to support project-based, authentic learning tasks in a cartography course at Middlebury College. The online materials include software tutorials for cartographic methods and supportive materials that concern more timeless principles of mapmaking, while the classroom activities primarily involve map critiques. I present these practical examples from my teaching in order to discuss the things that I’ve had to learn as a result of my choice to teach this way that lie outside of my disciplinary expertise. These include cognitive theories of learning and problem-solving, along with technical methods of multimedia production. Some of my strategies for teaching mapmaking may be generalizable to other subjects that combine critical thinking with technical training. With this talk, I also aim to encourage collaboration between practitioners of online instruction and researchers in cognitive science