Daniel Roth, Frank Schweickert,
Martin Menzel, Hans J. Jodl
FiPS, Department of Physics, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
The FiPS Project
FiPS (Früheinstieg ins Physikstudium - Early Entrance in Physics) is the distance education research project of the University of Kaiserslautern's department of physics. Its goal is to show that, with new means of information technology, it is possible for students to do a physics major course on the side. Its origin dates back to 1997 and it was officially started one year later. The project will become a regular service in 2001.
To achieve this goal, the FiPS project uses Internet based learning guides, backed up by exercises with multimedia elements like digital video, a special kind of Java Applets called PhysletsTM and Interactive Screen Experiments.
Each year up to 100 off-campus students use FiPS to study their first two semesters of physics. Most of these students are restricted by military and community service commitments. During this time, a distance education project like FiPS is their only practical method of studying physics.
Multimedia in the FiPS Project
The media types used in the FiPS project are World Wide Web based study guides, traditional textbooks, World Wide Web based hypertextbooks, animations and simulations realized with Java Applets and PhysletsTM, Interactive Screen Experiments and digital videos.
Study Guides
In
paper-based distance education projects, it is common sense to give the
students study guides which pilot the students through the textbooks. In
the FiPS project, these study guides are not paper- but World Wide Web-based,
therefore making it possible not only to guide the students through the
textbooks but also to lead them to corresponding media and exercises intended
to enhance the learning effect.
These study guides are published once a week and written by the professor in charge of the lecture. If a student does not have Internet access (for example during a field exercise), he can get a hard copy of the actual study guide.
Traditional Textbooks
The FiPS project is based on the proven traditional textbooks ,,Experimentalphysik 1" and ,,Experimentalphysik 2" written by Prof. Demtröder and published by Springer. These books are also used by on-campus students.
Hypertextbooks
In addition to the traditional textbooks, FiPS students have access to World Wide Web-based Hypertextbooks like Bronstein's ,,Taschenbuch der Mathematik" and Stöcker's ,,Taschenbuch der Physik". The students mainly use them for reference. They also save money by accessing them over the Internet.
In books, drawings have been used for decades to illustrate complex interrelations. They were not used because they were the best way to do so but because there simply wasn't just anything else suitable to do so. Today there are new means to illustrate complex interrelations. Drawings can be brought to life, interrelations can not only be animated but also simulated. The technology making this possible in an easy and affordable way are advanced Java Applets, digital videos and Interactive Screen Experiments.
At the FiPS project we want to use these new media types not only for illustrating complex interrelations, but also to obtain a reasonable compensation for the demonstration experiments of the on campus lecture. While Java Applets and PhysletsTM are perfect for illustrating complex interrelations; digital video, and especially Interactive Screen Experiments, are a perfect compensation for a lack of demonstration experiments.
Java Applet and PhysletsTM
Java Applets are small programs written in Java and easily embedded into World Wide Web HTML pages. The Java language is a powerful object and network oriented language, which makes it easy to create everything from simple animations to fully interactive simulations with access to databases.
PhysletsTM
are a special kind of Java Applets, invented by Prof. Wolfgang Christian
(Davidson College, USA). They are highly flexible Java Applets which can
be adapted by a tutor through the use of JavaScript in an HTML page. This
means that it is possible to create either highly interactive simulations
or simple animations without Java knowledge and any programming skills.
In fact it is possible to create PhysletsTM for a given exercise
within minutes or hours.
| Past | Today |
|
one
new Java Applet for every new problem
expensive, not cost effective slow development by programmers many different Applets for the same problem bad interoperability no standard user interface |
one
PhysletTM for many problems
free for non commercial use rapid development by non programmers many different scripts for one Physlet interoperability between Physlets standard user interface |
Digital Videos
Video
recordings have been used in physics education for a long time, either
for documentation of experiments or for illustration. Using digital video
provided on CD-ROM and by a streaming video server over the Internet offers
new advantages like chapter search and perfect still video images. Moving
on to DVD in the near future offers even more possibilities: Multi angle
views of experiments, multiple subtitles including illustrative sketches,
experiment documentation and a data track with accompanying information
and interactive PhysletTM simulations.
| Past | Today |
|
video
on VHS tape
low resolution bad control and slow access bad still video images |
video
on CD or DVD (-ROM)
high resolution total control and fast access high resolution still video images data tracks with additional interactive material multi angle, multi subtitle, multi language |
Interactive Screen Experiments
Interactive
Screen Experiments are photorealistic reproductions of real experiments
invented by Dr. Jürgen Kirstein (IFPL, TU Berlin, Germany). In order to
produce an Interactive Screen Experiment, still video images for every
stage of the experiment are captured and then combined the way, that the
student can replicate the experiment with his computer mouse.
In this example frames showing a polarization filter in different angles are combined into an Interactive Screen Experiment, which allows the student to rotate the polarization filter by dragging his mouse.
With the use of Macromedia Director for the production of Interactive Screen Experiments, even reproductions of complex experiments are possible. This also offers mouse sensitive hot spots and additional information:
Conclusion
It is important to note that multimedia elements should not be used as an end in itself but rather in the context of an exercise Therefore it should be determined which question should be answered, which goal should be achieved, before using any kind of multimedia. Doing so, it is possible to take a physics major course on the side. Around fifty percent of the FiPS students scattered all around Germany and beyond manage their FiPS studying successfully; between five and ten percent of the beginners begin studying on campus in Kaiserslautern afterwards.
The FiPS project does work and this new way of studying physics is accepted by the students. The transfer to other departments has been done, the electrical engineering department's own distance education project will be based on the ideas developed at FiPS. Part of the work done at FiPS is also dedicated to find out, how the use of multimedia can make laboratory courses more effective.
Another important part of FiPS, which has not been considered in this paper, is the use of new communication technology like Internet-based audio- and videoconferencing, Email, newsgroups and Chat. The use of this technology is necessary to ensure student to student and tutor to student communication.
Literature and Links
Physlets
http://webphysics.davidson.edu