Communications of the ACM
Georgia Tech Turns Stale Physics Book Into Mobile Experience
Georgia Tech researchers are transforming physics textbooks into applications for e-books.
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Georgia Tech researchers are turning physics textbooks into applications for e-books, making the lessons more interactive and more interesting for students.
For example, the researchers have already turned the first chapter of "The Infrared Handbook" into an e-book app. The first chapter of the physics textbook contained radiation theory and static graphs, along with calculator programming and the radiation calculator slide rule. The app allows users to calculate blackbody radiation by changing inputs including temperature, relative humidity, visibility, and range.
"That really allows you to understand how the graph changes depending on those input parameters, and just seeing it happen in real time is so much better I think than looking at static images," says Georgia Tech researcher Leanne West. She notes "the goal in the long term is to take pieces of [the book] and do just what we did with the first chapter where you make it more up to date, user friendly, with today's world."
From Center for Digital Education
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