ActivPhysics and ActivPad — an Innovative "Webway" of Packaging and Delivering Physics

Abstract

Information technology has expanded at such a rate that the amount of material available to the would-be user is overwhelming. Scientific publishers have joined the enthusiastic providers of information in this form and are producing some excellent material. At the same time there is much which is being trialled which is proving to be not effective and is being abandoned for more successful modes of presentation. Two key factors in the success or lack of success in this endeavour are: • ease of navigation for the user; and • value of content. Suzanne as the active lecturer/presenter has been interested in making use of the wealth of materials provided by various publishers and as such has trialled a large number of packages. She also uses some of her own software development in her regular classes and incorporates many scientific packages not only in lectures but also in hands-on laboratory sessions for the students. This interest in publisher materials brought her into contact with Rosemary who was introducing the new package of ActivPhysics in association with her marketing of the University Physics book by Young & Freedman, though the product accesses material from a range of textbooks. This, then, is the third key feature of ActivPhysics to be discussed in this paper encouraging exploration beyond the product.