Abstract
Over the past few decades, geographical information systems (GIS) have emerged as an innovative tool that is now becoming ubiquitous. GIS tools - both software and hardware - are becoming simpler and more affordable to use, thereby increasing the popularity of GIS across a diverse range of disciplines. These developments, however, particularly the availability of easy-to-use software applications, have encouraged superficial approaches to both learning and assessment in this emerging discipline. This study presents the effect of active learning methods of concepts in GIS where students participated in a series of interlocked learning experiences. These activities spanned several teaching weeks and initially involved the creation of a hand-drawn map that was scanned and geo-referenced with appropriate locations' coordinates derived from virtual earth systems. These activities engaged students' attention, and the completion of the activities provided opportunities for formative feedback and summative assessment. The effect of the group of activities on students' learning was quantified through the collection of summative assessment data which was compared to performance in other assessment tasks. This learning activity was first introduced during the first semester of 2010 in an introductory GIS course offered to multidisciplinary students having little or no knowledge of GIS at the beginning of the course.