## 6 Conclusions  
In higher education, the publishing model is changing from traditional and expensive hard copy texts to online and interactive tools that can provide a richer educational experience. Every new offering from a publisher has extensive web support facilities for the student and teacher that may include visual animations of technical concepts, video clips or links to external video and text resources, self-study modules, and self-administered tests. There is at least one example of a supplementary laboratory text using Google Earth as a map for paper-based questions with answers submitted to a publisher's online system.  
The technical and application development of the Geo-Wiki described in this paper is at a stage where it is suitable for further development as a pedagogical tool that may be a natural fit to the social media culture of current undergraduates and be an important contribution to the future of online teaching resources.  
As discussed in section two, the overarching objectives of this initiative were to improve the learning experience through:  
* leading the student to think in a new and more profound manner.
* presenting the student with opportunities to explore new visual constructs of the planet that include their role and activity in the evolution of the planet system.
* involve the student in the process of discovery.
* create new learning experiences for the student that are never forgotten.
* develop opportunities for student engagement through active forms of learning.
* build a sense of community within the classroom for the student.
* engage the student in the discovery of course content as revealed in their everyday activities.  
The two Physical Geography and Climatology assignments described herein were designed with these objectives in mind. This is clearly a first step. This first step has been sufficient to obtain initial user feedback needed for subsequent development. Feedback was obtained both in terms of the technical aspects of the delivery and adjudication as well as the pedagogical value of the approach. Although not as systematic as would be expected from a structured survey, course evaluations, as well as verbal and experiential evidence, will help with improvement for the next implementation. The Google Earth-based  
Figure 7: The winning entries in a third year Climatology course based on **(a)** jury voting and **(b)** as judged by the professor.  
approach is well suited to the spatial nature of Geographical inquiry and the use of social media technology and mobile platforms appears to be embraced by the undergraduates. The rapid rate of implementation of a module using online resources means that we can promptly incorporate natural events of human consequence, such as the impact of a major hurricane, catastrophic landslide or major flood, into the curriculum.  
This has been the first phase in a larger plan. The ultimate objective of this initiative is to develop a series of assignments for the study of environmental processes that would use the Geo-Wiki as a platform to post photographs about a feature or event, store background documentation, and pose specific questions through an online wizard. The questions would be answered using a combination of this information and the Google Earth-based satellite imagery and cartographic resources.  
We plan to develop a series of such assignments for both courses. The pedagogical value and engagement experience will be evaluated through ongoing structured feedback from the students. Additional assignments will be created once a protocol is developed in response to the student feedback and the academic objectives of the course.  
In this study we have worked through some of the technical and administrative issues of using Geography Geo-Wiki in large class settings. The students recognized the challenges and accepted them as part of an effort to improve their learning experience. An encouraging portion of the feedback was positive and in many cases the Geo-Wiki was part of what the student liked best about the course.