Towards a Disciplinary Educational Library in Physics and Astronomy

1. Towards a Disciplinary Educational Library in Physics and Astronomy It has to be more than just a bunch of links

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. ComPADRE is… A Collaboration of four professional societies the AAPT, APS, AIP/SPS, and AAS • Build collections of links to resources to engagecommunities 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!

5. 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 …

6. 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.

7. Simulations Users Editors Teaching Tips Librarians Activities Other DL’s References Content and Collections Astronomy Quantum Student Pre-College Informal Physical Science Resource Center

8. 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

9. Added Value, User Services • MERLOT-Like Services • Submission by users • User Comments • Personal Filing Cabinet • ComPADRE Services • Bulletin Board for General Discussions • Bibliographic Citations • Chat (under development)

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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 Now!

13. 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 Acknowledgements:

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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 …

17. Teachers, LearnersResearchers, Developers Communities & Users Intro Astro Pre-Coll. Inform. Ed. Students Quantum PER PIRA Collections ComPADRE Collections Link Libraries & Archives PSRC NSDL MERLOT

18. Metadata ---- • 3D Information Structure: • Topic • Resource Type • User Type and Grade Level • Standards Based Architecture • IMS/IEEE Standards • XML based structure • Shared with other DL’s • PIRA DCS Scheme (talk w/ PACS)

19. http://psrc.aapt.org • Search • Advanced Search • Browse Topic • Browse Resource • Browse Level • User Participation • Submit Items • Submit Comments • Personal File

20. In Development --- • Collection Organization • Editorial Workflow • Editorial Review • Relations between materials • Editor’s Comments (Background, Pedagogy, Application)

21. Future steps: • Load, process, and go live with collections (Student, Pre-College, Public, Astronomy) • Stimulate community participation • Involve other communities and projects in the NSDL • PER • JiTT • FLAG