Phase I Survey is complete. 325 accredited degree-granting institutions
offering undergraduate physics courses were surveyed. The survey
included 140 4-year universities/colleges and 185 2-year/community
colleges, spanning 48 states in the US. Out of the 325 institutions
offering undergraduate physics courses that were surveyed, 23 (7.1%)
offered at least one undergraduate physics course entirely online, and
only 7 (2.2%) offered a lab course or lab portion of an undergraduate
physics course online (astronomy, geology, and/or meteorology courses
were excluded from consideration in the survey). The percent of
institutions offering online undergraduate physics courses was the same
for both the 4-yr and for the 2-yr institutions.
The majority of the online physics courses offered were described as
either *conceptual*, survey, or for education majors, although several
offered General (non-calculus) Physics I and II online, with either a
stand-alone online lab course, or an online lab portion of the online
physics course.
PHASE II Survey: While the Phase I Survey addressed the current status
of online physics education, the Phase II Survey focuses on
methodologies and approaches for delivery of lab course content, in
institutions offering online physics courses.
So far, 30 institutions offering online undergraduate physics courses
have responded, with 20 of those also offering either online physics
labs or an online lab component to the physics course. Of those
institutions that offer physics classes online, the most common
approaches to laboratory subject matter delivery (results to date) are
1) use of computer simulations (47%), 2) offering physics lecture online
with all lab courses/components on-campus only (40%), 3) purchase of a
materials kit to perform experiments at home (27%), 4) student
procurement of readily-available materials to perform experiments at
home (27%), 5) use of video analysis of student-produced or
instructor-supplied videos of motion/experiments (7%), 6)
rental/borrowing of school equipment (7%), and computer remote-controll
of experiment via Internet (3%). Note the numbers add to more than 100%
because three fifths of the colleges using simulations and all those
using video analysis or remote control reported using these tools in
conjunction with "hands-on" student experiments. In all, only 6 of the
30 institutions (20%) reported using only simulations for their online
lab component, with the rest having no online lab component, or
requiring some combination of techniques for student experimentation.
WHO IS NOT OFFERING PHY LABS ONLINE:
Of those institutions using simulations for online lab applications, the
most commonly used resources are PhET simulations (developed at Colorado
at Boulder) and PhysLets (developed at Davidson College, NC). Those
using video analysis are using either Logger Pro (commercially available
product by Vernier) or Tracker (openware produced at Cabrillo College).
It is telling that neither Colorado-Boulder, nor Davidson College, nor
Cabrillo College, nor UWashington (home of the Physics Education
Research [PER] Group) offer any physics courses or labs online.
More results to follow, but if your institution offers at least one
physics course online, please participate in the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PRZ8C8P if you haven*t already done so.
Also, please add your thoughts and discussion to the above.
- Ann Reagan
Dr. Ann M. Reagan
Adjunct Faculty
Department of Math/Physics/Engineering
College of Southern Maryland, Leonardtown Campus