Physclips: Multimedia, multi-level learning, and teaching resources

Physclips provides multimedia resources to physics students and teachers at the levels of senior high school to introductory university. Completed volumes cover mechanics, waves and sound. Each chapter includes a rich multimedia lesson of about 10 minutes, including film clips, animations, sound files and images of key experiments and demonstrations. Contextually embedded links lead to html pages providing broader and deeper support and, where needed, to tools such as calculus and vectors. The ongoing development of the interface reflects learner feedback and our own experience and research. The architecture and presentation of Physclips is largely consistent with evidence-based guidelines in the field of educational multimedia. Often, animations and labeling are superimposed on film clips to indicate abstract quantities, thus providing the novice with the insight of the expert's 'mind's eye'. The scrollbar is indexed with keywords and images to assist learners to find and to relocate conceptually discrete segments, which facilitates revision and reference usage. Together with extensive cross-linking, this allows students to construct individual learning pathways. Teachers download animations singly or in compressed folders for inclusion in lessons, blogs etc. Physclips is supported by Australia's Office of Learning and Teaching and the University of New South Wales.