Building interactive eTexts using Open Source Physics Tools

In this talk I will show two examples of how Open Source Physics tools makes it possible to create truly interactive textbooks for physics education that require students to actively participate in reading the material. The modern classroom is now often very interactive with many student-centered teaching methods being applied but we still use a lot of our technology in a mostly passive way. Faculty typically put PDF versions of their syllabus, readings, sample tests, assignments and maybe a few web links on a class management system and hope that students will read them. Some textbooks are now also available in electronic form but the only advantage of the electronic versions of all these teaching resources is that they are easier to access and search. Our teaching methods are up-to-date and well researched but our textbooks and handouts are not much different from the time of Gutenberg. Open Source Physics tools can help fix this.