Long term project: online textbook
I'm very interested in creating an excellent, free online textbook that other professors and teachers might choose to use for their classes and that students will use as their main text or as a supplement to the textbook required by their instructor.
Links to the left are to pages that currently exist as a start. Those pages include written commentary, derivations, explanations, worked examples, a few simulations I've written, and a couple "movies" of me writing and talking. My plan is to incorporate all these forms of media into the book.
Movies of me writing/talking
I'm not sure what to call these other than movies. It's not a video of me at the board, but the next best thing: I'm writing the derivation or example on the iPad, explaining as I go. (Better than me at the board--I don't get in the way!) I'm having lots of fun making them. I'm using Doceri software to link the iPad to the computer, then screen recording on the computer as I write and talk. If you're using these to learn the first time, I strongly encourage you to write as I write (you can always hit the pause button if I go too fast for a first timer). There's a strong link between writing and learning. Write as I write. You will learn the material faster.
Here are the two movies I've made so far:
The Cross Product (Right Hand Rule)
Derivation of the second form of Euler's Equation from the Calculus of Variations
Simulations/interactive animations
I've written a few of these in flash--and suddenly the iPad has burst onto the scene and it won't run flash--so, I'm concentrating on the movies for now, but I might come back to these. I still believe they have strong potential to visualize abstract concepts which can't be directly demonstrated (a real "live" demonstration is always best, but sometimes there either isn't one, or it's too expensive or complicated to do for an intro class, etc etc.)