Teaching AP Physics 1 to the World

Since January, we have been teaching an online course on edX, called Preparing for the AP Physics 1 Exam. As it sounds, the course is designed to prepare high school students for the AP Physics 1 exam in early May. However, covering basic introductory physics, the course has also attracted a wide variety of students from around the world. Topics covered in this talk include statistics regarding student demographics and student involvement as the course has progressed; examples of the online labs we have set up, many based on direct-measurement videos or HTML5 simulations - this is aimed at the requirement that 25\% of the course be lab- based; and a discussion of our experiences teaching an online course. Course development has been supported by Boston University's Digital Learning Initiative, as well as by a grant from edX.