Towards a Disciplinary Educational Library in Physics and Astronomy

MERLOT Conf ’04Costa Mesa, CA

Usability testers needed

It has to be more than just abunch of links

Carol Twigg: Educause Review July/August 2004

I think the whole topic of learning objects is currently being overhyped and misunderstood. MERLOT is a good example of this. MERLOT claims to have 7,000 or so learning objects in a database. But if these learning objects haven’t been evaluated in terms of whether or not they increase student learning, you then just have 7,000 sort of mildly interesting things collected in a database. We need to be much more aggressive in evaluating learning materials in terms of the impact they have on students. … I think learning objects have a tremendous role to play in education, but simply collecting individual faculty members’ favorite things is not getting the job done.

A Page later…

One of the things that we’ve promoted very actively in our program is that faculty should collaborate and work with each other. ... The degree to which you can share preparation, share material, and share resources with colleagues makes a tremendous difference.

ComPADRE is…

A Collaboration of four professional societies the AAPT, APS, AIP/SPS, and AAS

Build collections of links to resources to engage communities in physics & astronomy.

Create tools for community participation. Use existing expertise to add value to

existing resources. Collaborate to improve the level of quality

items available.

Warning: Beware of Acronyms!

Comments from Membership:• … focused resources in areas that are widely taught … provide real

value added to the curriculum …• … the best digital libraries to be those that tightly focus the content …• … two large issues … archiving, … developer-community building. • … many sharing materials … of value to …The Physics Instructional

Resource Association• … a repository for the curricula materials resulting from NSF or FIPSE or

other projects … • … information on physics and astronomy education research … "ready-

to-use" assessment …• … "standard" schema exist for tagging content … in accord with other

large projects …• … the repository is more efficient, effective, and perhaps more

permanent …• … use this vehicle to start an on-line PER journal? • … "nonstandard" topics … the material is not readily available … • … web-encode and license AAPT assets for use nationwide by physics

teachers … other AAPT resources (publications … no longer in print) that could also be digitized …

• … extensive "Brand new physics teacher kit online”… made available …

Community “Collections”: Selective

• Quantum Physics– Site for upper level undergrad courses

• Students– Resources and discussions for Physics & Astronomy

Majors

• Informal Physics– Out reach material, public education, and online “toys”

• Astronomy 101– Site for a large service course (Being Loaded)

• Pre-College– Materials for High School Teachers, with a focus on new

and cross-over physics teachers.

Content and Collections

Editors

Librarians

Other DL’s

Simulations

Activities

Teaching Tips

References

Astronomy

Student

Quantum

Physical Science Resource Center

Added Value, Library Services

MERLOT-Like Services– Selection & organization by Communities– Metadata, Search, Browse– Peer Reviews– Link Checking and Updating

ComPADRE Services– Repository for materials– Relations between items– Community-specific Presentation & Tools

Added Value, User ServicesMERLOT-Like Services

– Submission by users– User Comments– Personal Filing Cabinet

ComPADRE Services– Bulletin Board for General Discussions– Bibliographic Citations– Chat (under development)

Specific Needs for the Collections– Student: Discussion Forums

• http://www.compadre.org/student

– Astronomy: Peer Reviews & Assessed Materials

• http://staging.compadre.org/astronomy

– Quantum: Relations & Filing Cabinet• http://www.compadre.org/quantum

– Pre-College: New Teacher Aids• http://staging.compadre.org/precollege

Future Directions• Physics Education Research:

Annotated Bibliography and Resource Collection– These folks study learning outcomes!– Also support online PER Journal

• Upper Division Physics & Astronomy Courses

• Introductory College Physics• Middle School Physical Sciences

Collaborations• MERLOT and other DL’s

– Federated Search of Catalogs– Integrate materials search more closely

• Content Creators– Federated Search with Physlet Database– CCLI & other grant recipients

• Other professional societies• Users

– Submissions, comments, recommendations– User testing and feedback

Acknowledgements:

• Editors:– David Donnelly– Cathy Ezrailson– Marc Gagne– Edward Lee

• Co-PI’s:– Susana Deustua– Jack Hehn– Warren Hein– Fred Stein

• Advisory Board:– Beth Hufnagel– Gregor Novak– Stephen Pompea– Anton Skorucak

• Technical Staff:– Thad Lurie– Lyle Barbato– Jessica Clark

• Funding:– NSF: 0226129 – Campaign for

Physics

Some History… 1997 – Physical Sciences Resource

Center (PSRC) Launched by the AAPT 2001 – Working group and survey suggest

changes to PSRC 2002 – NSF Funding for ComPADRE 2003 – New PSRC and Student collection

go online 2004 – Quantum & Informal live,

Astronomy & Pre-college to be completed 2003-2004 – Content added on a

continuous basis

Suggestions from PSRC group:• A set of metadata should be developed for the

materials already included in the PSRC and any new materials that are added.

• The PSRC needs a site map that will help users find the materials and assist in the orderly development of the site.

• A consistent set of templates and fonts that would improve the appearance and functionality of the site.

• A procedure for collecting, peer reviewing, and cataloguing materials on the site.

• Tools should be put in place that would make it easy to find and access information on the site.