OER Reviewed: Light and Matter (www.lightandmatter.com)

Reviewer: Jennifer Kirkey, Instructor of Physics and Astronomy, Articulation Chair of Physics and Astronomy, Douglas College

Rating

Each criterion asks the reviewer to rate it on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = very poor and 5 = excellent).

Comprehensiveness – Rating: 2

The OER covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately and provides an effective index and/or glossary.

The OER does not cover all the areas in enough depth as there is not enough calculus.  This book, Light and Matter, covers the areas and ideas for the ENGR Common Core PHYS I, but a more in depth would be better.    More questions are needed at the end of every chapter.   Due to these reasons, I have to give this book a low rating.

As the author clearly states  “This is an introductory text intended for a one-year introductory course of the type typically taken by biology majors, or for AP Physics 1 and 2. Algebra and trig are used, and there are optional calculus-based sections. My text for physical science and engineering majors is Simple Nature.”

At the end of each chapter is a summary of the selected vocabulary, notation used and the ideas in the chapter.   No index, though of course the book is searchable as it is a PDF.

Content Accuracy – Rating: 2

Content, including diagrams and other supplementary material, is accurate, error-free, and unbiased.

I found no major errors as I reviewed this book. I have not used it in class.   No errors, but it is not the required “depth” for the ENGR Common Core, so I have to give it a low rating in this review.  What is there is accurate and error-free.

Relevance/Longevity – Rating: 4

Content is up-to-date, but not in a way that will quickly make the OER obsolete within a short period of time.  The OER is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

The nice thing about first year physics is that it is applying Newton’s Laws that are now more than 400 years old.  It does have up to date examples that illustrate the physics but nothing that make it obsolete within a short period of time.  The cell phones and other equipment looks very early 2000s but that is not a fatal flaw.  The book was published in 2010 and from the web page does not appear to have been updated since then.   It would be relatively easy and straightforward to implement new examples as our technology continues to change.   It is LaTeX based so any changes would have to be made using that program.

Clarity – Rating: 3

The OER is written in lucid, accessible prose, and provides adequate context for any jargon/technical terminology used.

It is well written.  It is full of little jokes and humour that is a little dated and annoying to me, such as  stating at the end of his first section on calculus that  “this bag of tricks will be explained in your math class”.

There is a nice summary at the end of each chapter that clearly explains the relevant vocabulary.

Consistency – Rating: 4

The OER is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

This book is well written by an author who cares deeply about this subject.  It was first published in 1998 and was last updated in 2010.  It appears to be internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.  As mentioned earlier, the fonts change for no reason that I can see.  Sometimes there are pictures and examples that appear in odd places or oddly aligned.

Modularity – Rating: 4.5

The OER is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided).  The OER should not be overly self-referential, and should be easily reorganized, and realigned with various subunits of a course without presenting much disruption to the reader.

This follows the standard first year physics textbook format of chapters.  Each chapter has about 5 subheadings, so it could be relatively easily reorganized.

Organization/Structure/Flow – Rating: 5

The topics in the OER are presented in a logical, clear fashion.

This textbook follows the standard order for first year physics books so the topics are presented in a logical, clear fashion.

Interface – Rating: 2

The OER is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader.

There are numerous changes in font and size for what appears to be no good reason.  I found the font overall to be very small, but I am almost 60 and use bifocals so that might not be an issue for most of the students who might be using this book.   I found it distracting.

It is only available as a PDF and uses columns a lot, so I find it difficult to navigate that on the computer. It is linked in the PDF so if you click on Chapter 5 in the table of contents, you go to Chapter 5.    You can buy a print copy of this book from Lulu for less than $15 and that is a bonus.

A nice feature is that a number of the problems at the back of each chapter can be checked online using Spotter software.  On the other hand, you have to leave the PDF text to check your answers and that can have navigation issues.

Grammatical/Spelling Errors – Rating: 5

The OER contains no grammatical or spelling errors.

I could find no grammatical or spelling errors.

Diversity and Inclusion – Rating: 3

The OER reflects diversity and inclusion regarding culture, gender, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, education, religion. It does not include insensitive or offensive language in these areas.

There are not many illustrations or photos of people a problem with this book.  There are not enough questions overall.

In those examples and questions were present, there is a nice mix of genders.  I do not recall seeing any images that were of a person from a different ethnicity.  Most of the drawings are black and white line drawings, such as of the “little old lady and a pro football player  who collide head-on”, which has the bonus of being difficult to determine ethnicity.

Recommendation

1. Do you recommend this resource for the specific course taught in the first-year engineering common curriculum (in place of a commercially available resource)?
   I do not recommend this book, Light and Matter, as a resource for the ENGR Common Core PHYS I, II and II in place of a commercially available text or other available OER.
2. If not, why not? What improvements, if any, could be made?
   Most importantly, due to the level, which as stated is for life science majors, the small amount of calculus and the small number of practice problems available.As well, this is only available to students as a PDF.  There are a lot of examples and text in two or more columns, which makes it very difficult to read on a small screen.  Many of our students use their phones as their main computer.   The good news is that the LaTeX code is available so it is relatively easy to modify.  Having a Pressbooks version that is both online and as PDF would be much preferred.

   I personally found the text quite small on the page.   I do use bifocals so that might not be a concern for many of the students.

   It has a lot of odd formatting issues.  Openstax is just a much better book.   This book, Light and Matter, was last updated in 2010 and it shows.  A good book for its time, but not now.

3. What gaps in content have you identified?
   As stated above, there is a general problem with the level.  This is an algebra based book for life science majors.Images.  I have concerns about the copyright of some of the images used.  As the author says in the photo credits at the back of the volumes “Except as specially noted below or in a parenthetical credit in the caption of a figure, all the illustrations in this book are under my own copyright, and are copyleft licensed under the same license as the rest of the book. ….In a few cases, I have made use of images under the fair use doctrine. However, I am not a lawyer, and the laws on fair use are vague, so you should not assume that it’s legal for you to use these images. In particular, fair use law may give you less leeway than it gives me, because I’m using the images for educational purposes, and giving

   the book away for free. Likewise, if the photo credit says \courtesy of …,” that means the copyright owner gave me permission to use it, but that doesn’t mean you have permission to use it.”  The copyright for each image is NOT given so it is difficult to track it down.