Visualizing Electricity & MagnetismThe collaborative development

of a multimedia text

Jennifer George-Palilonis

George & Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Multimedia

Ball State University

John W. Belcher: Class of 1922 Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research: space plasma physics, outer planet magnetospheres, solar wind in the outer heliosphere, and astrophysical plasmas

Projects: Co-investigator on the Plasma Science Experiment on board the Voyager Interstellar Mission; Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) includes efforts to convert freshman physics instruction at MIT from a lecture-based passive environment to an active learning environment.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jennifer George-Palilonis: George & Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Multimedia Journalism, Ball State University Research: visualization as a teaching & learning

tool, information graphics reporting, visual rhetoric, multimedia storytelling

Projects: Ball State Digital Publishing Project focused on the development and research of electronic texts; iMedia focused on the design of interactive news and advertising applications for television & mobile devices.

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Physics + Journalism

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NATURE OF COLLABORATION

TEAL sims lacked narrative thread, cohesive path control and the opportunity for interactivity in their original presentation.

NATURE OF COLLABORATION

Authors joined forces to create Flash-based digital text that provides student learners with two important features that dramatically improve comprehension, understanding and overall experience: Nonlinear path control A visual and textual narrative Interactive Exercises

ELECTRONIC TEXT

INTERACTIVE EXERCISES

COLLABORATIVE PROCESS

One face-to-face meeting to discuss philosophical approaches and collaboratively build interactive exercises.

All remaining development was done from a distance. Physicist would embed the content and storyline he

imagined for a particular topic in a Power Point presentation with appropriate graphics and links to visualizations.

Multimedia journalist used Power Point as a guide and embedded content in a Flash framework as well as consult on storyline.

They would then iterate the content until they arrived at a presentation they were both satisfied with, and then

proceed to the next topic.

CHALLENGES & TRIUMPHS

Learning to speak the same language Articulating ideas from a distance Making consistent progress Overcoming technical limitations Convincing others of our vision Getting out of university silos Using journalistic skills for non-journalistic

purposes

SINCE WE LAUNCHED

Module is used in freshman physics courses that deal with E&M at MIT

Module has been presented at American Association for Physics Teachers & Course, Curriculum, and Learning Conference

Paper presented at the International Conference on the Future of the Book and published in The International Journal of the Book.

SINCE WE LAUNCHED

Usability tests and informal focus groups with MIT students show high levels of engagement and enjoyment of the etext experience.

One year after taking a course in electromagnetism, average students do not remember the details of textual explanations and hard equations. However, if they have “seen” the visualizations, they continue to have a mental model as to why compasses “work” this way.

OUR FUTURE TOGETHER

Currently developing a similar module for advanced E&M, a course Belcher will begin teaching on a four-year rotation.

Submitted a $3 million NSF grant to develop a 3D virtual world for E&M.

OUR FUTURE TOGETHER

THANK YOU!

http://web.mit.edu/viz/EM/flash/E&M_Master/E&M.swf