FAROOK AL-SHAMALI AND MARTIN CONNORS ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY, ALBERTA, CANADA Avatars and Open Courseware in Distance Education Freshman Physics 2012 AAPT Winter Meeting Ontario, California, February 4–8, 2012
Education – Any Questions? Face-to-face or Distance Education? Synchronous or Asynchronous Instruction? In-Class Lecture or Video Broadcasting? Campus lab or Home lab? Instruction or Learning? Tool or content?
Education in Transition Conventional Classroom Conventional Distance Education Evolving technology o Instant world-wide communication o Global collaboration and sharing o Tools to enhance quality and reduce cost of learning objects
Learning is not Changing People still learn the same old way Our understanding of how people learn is changing Constructivism Cognitive Load Theory Theory of Multimedia Leaning
Instruction is Changing Information delivery Knowledge construction Facilitating learning Information age World wide flea market
Open Courseware – Challenges and Concerns The Learner View Quantity? Quality? Suitability? The Instructor View Compatibility? Availability? Legality?
Multimedia Learning Professional multimedia is expensive! Amateur multimedia is cheap! More options and new possibilities are added! The question of effectiveness. The answer should be research-based. The goal is increased Learning Efficiency
The Video Options Grab a video from the web. Record your own amateur video Videotape a regular lecture Shoot a documentary style video Make an animation video
PHYS 204 (Physics for Scientists and Engineers) An online course with a standard textbook Includes a video component Video clips customized from MIT Open Courseware lectures by Dr. Walter Lewin 3D video animations using text-to-speech technology
Xtranormal 3D Animations Text-to-speech technology One-person show Cost effective Editable Less voice and accent concerns Technology is improving
Sample Videos
Thank you very much! Farook & Martin