Welcome to swfBook dot com. The purpose of this site is to explore the educational uses of interactive computer-based content. For the past 7 years, I have been working with educators in a variety of fields, trying to find the best ways to enhance learning through the use of web-based activities. The majority of these activities have been built using Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash and delivered on the web. Almost all this content has been made available to any user, free of charge.
Over the years, my thinking about how best to present Flash content for eLearning have evolved into the format I now use for virtually every project: the swfBook. A swfBook is nothing more than a container for Flash-based eLearning content, but it is a container with what I consider just the right amount of flexibility, and carefully chosen tool set. While the feature set of swfBook is still evolving, it has already proven it's worth in a fairly broad variety of settings. Using the swfBook container allows me to cut development time dramatically, while still offering clients a richly featured learning environment. It also allows me to put some of the editing power directly into the hands of the content experts.
Looking back...
Here is a quick list of some of my early efforts to create interactive learning online. From oldest to most recent...
- Recombinant DNA Animation - allows students to choose text vs animation.
- Circuit Board Simulation - this simulation offers too little guidance for students, and is, in my opinion, of little use. I include it by way of comparison.
- Binomial Distribution - early attempt to combine an activitiy with step-by-step instructions and quiz questions
- Slideshow Plus - while this package is not nearly as slick as a swfBook, the basic concept of combining interactive slides with notes and quiz questions was already in the works.
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Contemporary Chemistry - an early, and ongoing, attempt at an eBook
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Microscope Simulation - intended to help students learn how to operate a compound microscope.
- Architect's Rule - using the swfBook format without quizzing or narration
- Chemical Engineering - built to accompany a textbook on Mass and Heat Transfer. The centerpiece is a game in which the student engineer must provide engineering analysis for a company producing a chemical product in a competitive market space.
Latest Greatest
- Micropipette Simulation - learn to use this delicate instrument safely.
- swfBook Content - a sample swfBook that shows off the types of pages that are easiest to build
- iSpring for Educators - created using the most recent swfBook version, this is the best self-help swfBook creation process I have come up with to date.
- Online editor for creating swfBook content
