12–17 Jun 2016
University of Ottawa
America/Toronto timezone
Welcome to the 2016 CAP Congress! / Bienvenue au congrès de l'ACP 2016!

Twenty Years of Innovative Physics Distance Education at Athabasca University

15 Jun 2016, 16:00
15m
SITE J0106 (University of Ottawa)

SITE J0106

University of Ottawa

SITE Building, 800 King Edward Ave, Ottawa, ON
Oral (Non-Student) / orale (non-étudiant) Physics Education / Enseignement de la physique (DPE-DEP) W3-2 Teaching Physics to a Wider Audience (DPE) / Enseigner la physique à un auditoire plus vaste (DEP)

Speaker

Martin Connors (Athabasca University)

Description

Although Athabasca University has offered distance education courses in many subjects for over a quarter century, twenty years ago Physics was taught by mailing out printed course materials while requiring students to physically attend onsite labs, some coming from as far away as Texas. A major increase in Physics enrollment took place after we switched to mail-out course material, with home labs using lab kits borrowed from the university library. We have progressed to a mail-out textbook with online Study Guide and Home Lab Manual, and reduced the cost of lab kits as we use modern technologies to serve nearly 500 students per year. Our latest endeavor is to move to an open source e-textbook (OpenStax College Physics) with improved online lab materials. The ubiquitous use of cellphones and the measurement capabilities they now provide allow us to envisage using only materials available in students’ homes to provide a meaningful lab experience. Many of our advances have implications for campus-based institutions.

Primary author

Martin Connors (Athabasca University)

Co-authors

Dr Brian Martin (King's University) Dr Farook Al-Shamali (Athabasca University)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.