TextbookAlignment

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Contents 1 Textbook Content Alignment 1.1 Purpose 1.2 Functions and Functionality 1.2.1 Example Interfaces 1.3 Cataloging 1.4 Sustainability 1.5 Initial Steps Bruce 08:49, 29 May 2009 (EDT) 1.6 Notes, Comments, Questions

Textbook Content Alignment

Updates:

Initially created Bruce 08:57, 20 May 2009 (EDT)

This project is to build an alignment of select Physics Source resources to the Table of Contents of standard introductory physics textbooks.

Purpose

1. Alignment with popular books would make it easier for users to find information relevant to their current teaching. Instead of investing time trying to figure out what might be relevant to the topics they are teaching, they will find suggested, edited content, that they can use as is or supplement with additional content.
2. Alignment will make it easier to build partnerships between publishers and Compadre. A partnership can help sustain Compadre financially, and can help publishers take better advantage of content they don't produce.

Functions and Functionality

For each of the chapters we need to identify:

1. Relevant simulations, videos, demos
2. Relevant course supporting material like in-class questions, tests, quizzes, labs, jokes, etc...
3. Relevant PER findings.
4. This process will be a manual selection of materials, aided by existing topical and resource type metadata. (I agree. TM)
5. The cataloging will be by Author, Book (many authors have multiple books), Chapter, and Section. We may also wish to attached Physics Source resources to particular questions in a chapter. (Attaching to a particular question should only come after a strong financial support :-) I am not clear about the reason behind your choice of "by author". I would lean towards cataloging by book instead as books have several authors. TM My idea of Author is really just that books are generally labeled by their Author(s), so this is really just the description of the book. BAM)
6. There will need to be a Units-like Table of Contents interface. (I agree. TM)
7. The Book/Chapter/Section metadata should appear on the detail page of items, linked back to the TOC interface. We should also use this information to strongly inform the “Similar Resources” tool. (sounds good)

Example Interfaces

1. Have a look at this interface used by the HippoCampus group: http://www.hippocampus.org/?tab=textbook They have done a nice job of enabling easy toggling between their online resource and a textbook section. Caroline
   1. (I like the hippocampus site. However, I can see our listings to be more detail specific. TM)
   2. Taha & Bruce: I'm thinking more about the use of highly visible tabs for ease of toggling. How much value do you think users will place on this feature? Caroline
   3. There have been requests for this sort of organization. Bruce

Cataloging

1. If possible, it would be good for the assignment of this alignment information to be linked directly to the detail page for immediate access.
2. We will need to decide on a book to begin with, build the TOC structure, and provide links to a listing of the topics in the TOC so that those cataloging can refer to the section topics.

Sustainability

1. We should talk with Warren and others about making connections with publishers on this.
2. There will need to be a way to update the alignment as editions change. I have discussed this with the Web Assign people.
3. Bruce will start conversations with Warren, Web Assign, and Publishers.
4. One thing that we can provide to the publishers is the linking to external resources.

Initial Steps Bruce 08:49, 29 May 2009 (EDT)

1. Initially, Taha, Caroline, and Bruce will collect materials into our filing cabinets to determine the types of resources available, the gaps in materials, etc.
2. The display structure for these materials will be developed once significant examples (Chapters and sections) are organized in the filing cabinet.
3. We will start with Giancoli's College Physics.
4. The Filing Cabinet Structure I would suggest will be:
   1. Book
   2. Chapter
   3. Section
   4. Lecture Resources (Lecture notes, peer instruction, demos and ILD's, ???)
   5. Labs (and hands-on activities)
   6. Simulations (and virtual activities)
   7. Videos
   8. Tutorials
   9. Questions & Problems
   10. PER
5. We should annotate the materials, but this will not require nearly the amount of work as for K-12 teachers. These annotations should be very short and to the point for this audience.

Notes, Comments, Questions

1. After Bruce & Taha decide which textbook to start with, I would like to have a hard-copy of the book, if it's possible. Caroline