What innovative things do you do to make your online science course better?
Have you web-enhanced your traditional f2f class so you can use online resources? Which ones?
Have you found a great resource online you can share with others?
Post your ideas here using the "comments" link.
Here are a few online resources I use in my online Physics classes:
- Physlets: What a great name for these Physics Applets! Available at: http://webphysics.davidson.edu/Applets/Applets.html
- Videos from Intelecom: Check out the link to CSM's Resources at: http://www.intelecomonline.net) Contact the DLF (joelk@csmd.edu) for user id and password.
I teach traditional lecture physics courses, but I now web-enhance them all. The students really appreciate the benefits of having access to their grades for individual tests/quizzes/homework, as well as the calculated grade-as-it-stands-now feature that I can post as a calculated grade. I also use the online features to post solutions for all homework, quizzes, and tests (allowing the students to see all the steps in all the problems, without having to go over every question in class).
ReplyDeleteI have added digital media from YouTube to enhance individual topics, making sure I stay within common-sense and 'fair use' guidelines (I will keep clips to around the two-minute mark for things of questionable copyright). I've used sports clips (football hits, billiards, Sumo) for conservation of momentum, skating clips for conservation of angular momentum, the space station scene from '2001: A Space Odyssey" for rotational dynamics, and even clips from 'Numb3rs' and 'Smallville' that related to thermodynamics and projectile motion.
I also have found several sources of simulations online. One of my favorites is PhET from the U of Colorado (http://phet.colorado.edu/index.php). Their sims are accessible, downloadable, searchable, and browsable. They cover a range of topics that make it easier for students to develop an intuition about physicsal processes. Starting next semester, the simulations will be tied to discussion questions to be assigned as homework, so the students will come in to the class already having a 'feel' for the motions of pendulums, springs, waves, etc.
I also found a great sim for the Doppler effect that I used this summer at http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/applist/doppler/d.htm. Students can see simulated waves produced by a stationary object, then see how the effective wavelength changes in front of and behind the source as it moves. Velocity of the source can be increased to Mach velocities, clearly showing the development of a shock wave front and a measureable Mach cone angle.
If you back up to the 'applist' root, you can find a list of many such apps for different topics (Sorry, the index is incomplete, and there is no simple way to access a 'neat' list).
Although they rely on PhET extensively, there is additional content available at the Physics Front ( http://www.thephysicsfront.org/ ), an online library with links to hundreds of simulations from multiple sources, searchable by topic and grade-level.