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During its last big event event in New York, Apple made an announcement that it would be getting into the textbook industry and has partnered up with some of the largest textbook publishers in North America. Along with that announcement, Apple also announced a new app that would allow others to create their own etextbooks called iBooks Author.

So what's the big deal? Tablets have been making their presence felt in classrooms all across North America. Students interact easily with this technology and most prefer this type of interface when consuming information. iBooks Author allows anyone who wants to, to create an interactive text for school, or for business. If they want they may even wish to take their material and sell it on the iBooks store.

How easy is the app to work with? Well in a word, very easy. Like most products that Apple has created Pages, and Keynote notably, it comes with a few templates to get a person started with creating their book.

Like Pages (their word processing application) you can add text and insert images. The text flows neatly around graphics giving the look of your book a professional feel. The templates also allow you to keep a consistent design throughout your book as well. What sets the application apart is the ability to add interactive elements to your text such as picture galleries, video, audio, interactive maps, Keynote slide shows and three dimensional objects. Apple calls these elements Widgets.

Now from a teacher perspective what does this mean? It means that I can create my own texts or units using this tool or from a project based learning standpoint have my students develop a textbook that could be used to evaluate their understanding of course materials. 

Now like any new technology what are the downsides to using this? 

1. You are locked into one device.

2. You are locked into one platform.

3. If you publish your work to the Itunes store, Apple will take its thirty percent cut for distribution.

4. You are locked into Apple.

Its a nice neat little loop that Apple has created for itself in terms of driving up demand for its products and services. Naturally this has made some people upset in Education who would rather see a more open approach to curating materials for learning. I would encourage you to read these differing viewpoints.

In my opinion it is an exciting tool to work with, and to be honest I ended upgrading to Lion so that I could try my hand at creating an etext. 

• Apple Announces iBooks Author (techie-buzz.com)
• iBooks Author (elearningstuff.net)
• What's the buzz on all this Apple publishing stuff? (lulu.com)
• Why All the Anti-Apple Sentiment Over iBooks Author? (q-ontech.blogspot.com)

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Today I attended a session hosted by a friend of mine on broadcast news.Every day his school produces a news segment which is viewed by the school. It has been one of my goals to do the same for our school because of the great opportunities for learning that can be had by participating in a project like this.

We started off the day learning about how this newscast has evolved over the years to what it is today. It takes quite a bit of organization and work. However it is quite evident that Jared's students have taken ownership of this project. Not just for school marks or for credits but because it will be seen by their classmates. The teachers in the school utilize this program to make announcements to the students.

Well the best way to learn I guess is to be thrown into the process of creating and producing the news program. Jared had us produce "streeters" which are just short segments where reporters film people and ask their opinion on a specific issue. This is a great activity in of itself because the students have to develop good questions to ask to the people they interview.

Before it all begins though, there is a preplanning requirement in which they have to pitch the story to the Producer aka the teacher before they can go ahead and the film the piece. Since ours was a relatively simple project it wasn't hard to develop a question and come up with a way we could film the segment. 

I learned about B roll footage today and that we had to film or source images/video we could use to help contextualize the footage we were filming. For instance, today our poll was about whether or not the Apple Iphone 4s was worth the extra money right now. We had to shoot people using their iPhones as well as giving us their opinion about the product. The B roll footage added visual interest as well. Of course these segments could not be longer than two minutes.

Additionally, I learned how to do some basic editing in Final Cut. This is one thing I have been putting off learning to do because it isn't available to my school yet. We have been using iMovie for our video edit

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ing and will probably continue to use this but learning final cut skills is an added bonus.

We created about 4 "streeters" or news packages to prepare for broadcast. These segments were then tweaked by adding graphics and fixing the sound levels before sending off to the news studio for the final production. Everyone in the workshop had a job. We had a tech director, anchors, teleprompt operators, and we were all responsible for the script. At this point the anchors read the news, had a break between the different segments, said their parts again, and this process continued until we finished airing the segments. I was working a video camera which was being monitored by someone in the booth to make sure that everything looked and sounded okay.

At the end of the day, we were able to see the final product. From start to finish the entire broadcast took us about three hours to produce. The end product for the show was about ten minutes in length.

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All in all, it was a great experience and I would like to thank Jared Nichol and all the other participants for making it such an enjoyable day of learning. I'd also like to thank the two students from Mr. Nichol's class who helped out with their technical expertise and experience. 

Conclusion

• iMovie Tricks (flatchat.wordpress.com)
• Using Film in Any Class (speedofcreativity.org)

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Now being a technology enthusiast, I do on occasion like to play video games. I'll admit it, i'm part of that generation where video gaming at home just started to take hold. Instead of heading down to your local arcade (some of you will remember this) and emptying your pockets full of quarters, you may have powered up your television and started to play your Nintendo, Atari, Intellivision, Sega, or the like. 

• Infographic on Video Games in Education (connectwithyourteens.net)
• Know What's in the Video Game (education.com)
• Video game rentals move online as GameFly follows Netflix (venturebeat.com)

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Sometimes you just wish there was a faster way you could enter data you need in a more efficient way. Sometimes you would like to have your students collect data and see the results change in real time. Sometimes you just need a time saving form you could send out and say "HERE!" tell me what you need. Well, if you are familiar with Google Docs then you should really check out the Google Forms section of the service.

Creating a form is easy and quick and it can be as complex or as simple as you need it to be. There are specific question types from which you can choose: multiple choice, checkboxes, scale, grid, and choose from a list. There are also options for short and longer text answers if you are looking for that kind of feedback.

Once you have created your form you can send the link out to your students or you can embed it in on your website. People from all over can respond to your form and you will see the results in real time. You can even customize the thank you message for your form when it is completed.

The first time I used this,was for a simple school wide survey. I sent the link to the teachers and the students could choose what reward they wanted for the awards assembly: medals or trophies. It didn't take long to tally the results which appear in real time onto a spreadsheet as they are being entered. You can also add a chart which updates automatically as more data is entered.

There are a ton of uses for this service which can be found on Tom Barrett's Edt.ech blog. He has a number of slide shows of different web tools to enhance teaching. They are created collaboratively by teachers all over the world.

Here is the short introduction from Google to give you an idea of how it works.

Also here is the 70+ Ways to Use Google Forms in the classroom as found on Tom's blog which is full of great ideas.

• New Interface for Google Docs Apps (mt-soft.com.ar)

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Considering the fact that educational practices haven't changed all that much in the last 100 years. What is the problem with looking into how we teach students?
It seems to me that there has been a lot of discussion about questioning our practices and methods when it comes to teaching our students. In order for any profession to develop, it must examine what has worked and what has not. We must question conventional wisdom and let's face it, traditions so that we can best adapt to meet the needs of new learners.
Although we hunger for change, it is a frightening proposition for many. Change is not easy. Change is difficult and fraught with many obstacles to overcome.
It tends to divide us into many camps about which method is the best for teaching our children. All those groups believe they are right. Many groups have had varying degrees of success with their students. So whose ideas are best? Which philosophies should we follow? At this point in my career, I don't know. Each teacher i've spoken with or blog I have read has contributed to my teaching. It has made me question the very things I do within my classroom and made me reevaluate how I teach. Some changes I made were difficult because it was out of my comfort zone.
So private vs. Public? Competition vs. Collaboration? Standardized Testing vs. Authentic assessment? Real vs theoretical study? These are just a few of the issues which face us in this time of change. I hope that I am open minded enough to accept this. I know I will be a better teacher for it.

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I was inspired to write this post because of what I was listening to on a BBC Radio Program called the Surgery. It seems that about this time that the students in Britain are studying for their exams and for many students this can be a make it or break it situation in terms of the schools that they are allowed into. This show deals with quite a number of different issues but this one discussed "Revision" or studying for us here on this side of the pond. As I listened to the calls, you could sense the panic and stress the students were facing as these exams approached.

Today, I was in a twitter conversation with some colleagues of mine about testing. While it is important to challenge and push our students to meet their potential, can this not be done in some other way then a test? Do these tests serve the purpose of real learning or do they serve the system to prove that students have covered the curriculum? A colleague pointed out and rightly so:

“@GraemeCampbell: @d_martin05 @pjenn86 bc we have a duty to prep students for ALL the challenges they will face, not just the ones we agree with :)”

However, are the tests we are using relevant pieces of assessment? I'm not so sure.

Realistically, are our students going to be tested? Yes. It is a simple fact that once they leave school they will be tested in some other way depending on the profession/career they enter into. Will these tests be a good indicator if they will be successul in said career? Maybe.

The debate of testing really puts one group at risk: our students. It deprives them of the desire to learn or it can crush the motivations of those students who really do care about their education. Ironically,we have created this world where numbers are more important than people. As Sir Ken Robinson put it the "..whole system of public education around the world [is] the protracted process of university entrance...."(TED Talk Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity), and goes on further to say that our children have been educated out of creativity because it wasn't a valued skill in our society.

Does testing do the same thing? Will a student remember the fantastic project they created in school or the relationships they develop or will they be more likely to remember how well or poorly they did in schools according to the tests?

I know that like every other educator out there, we want our kids to be healthy, happy, and live up to their potential. What can we do differently to emphasize that the reward is in the learning and the building of relationships rather than the number we score on the top of the exam?

(Photo courtesy of Katie Harris found on flick at http://www.flickr.com/photos/54333433@N00/4292446726)

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Of course we picked up all the accessories for the majority of our purchases, headsets, memory cards for the camera and video recorders. At this point, we had over $2000 left to spend in the store. We already amassed quite a pile of merchandise at the front counter and now we were being sent back into the store to pick up more. So, we decided on a time capsule for our macbooks so the students had a central place to store their data. We also picked up some dongles so we could hook up the laptops to projectors. At this point we still had hundred dollars to spend. We ended up purchasing a wireless headset which we thought we might use for a newscast project we want to start when we get the macbooks set up in the school. Now our school will be equipped with both macbooks and pc's.We spent about two hours in Best Buy filling our cart. I would like to send a big thank you out to Mark Wahl and the staff of the North End Bestbuy in Edmonton. They were extremely helpful. I should also mention that we are receiving three months of free Geek Squad service. Also, Best Buy is sending some of their techs to our school to help our teachers learn how to operate a Macbook and demonstrate what the laptops can do. As I have mentioned in previous posts, if you haven't applied for the Best in Class Fund, you should.

Related articles

• Best Buy Inventory Shot: New MacBook Pros on March 11 (slashgear.com)
• Did Intel Just Leak The New MacBook Pros? (crunchgear.com)
• MacBook or MacBook Pro. Which One is Right for Me? (brighthub.com)
• Tips for Shooting A Winning Video For Your Nonprofit (bethkanter.org)

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Related articles

• Embed Google Calendar on Your Linux Desktop [Linux] (lifehacker.com)
• Google Calendar gets optional attendees (downloadsquad.switched.com)
• Google Resurrecting Offline Access To Docs (informationweek.com)
• Review: Cloud Calendar, Google Calendar Client for iPad (macstories.net)

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11 Language Arts Resources to Try in 2011

via Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) on 1/5/11

To help you start off 2011 with some good resources to try in your classrooms, each day this week I'm posting a list of eleven good resources to try. Monday's list featured mathematics resources, yesterday's list featured science resources, and today's list features language arts resources. In creating this list I branched out a bit to include ESL/ ELL resources.

Wordia is a free visual, video dictionary. Wordia features a selection of user-submitted and professionally created videos explaining the meaning of a word. The videos focus on the everyday use of words while the text accompanying each video provides the dictionary definition of the word.

Visuwords uses a web design to show users the definitions of words and the connections between words. To use Visuwords just type a word into the search box and Visuwords will generate a web of related words. Place your cursor over any of the words and the definition appears. Use the color-coded key to understand the connections between the words in any web.

For someone learning the English language, particularly the American version of English, idioms can be difficult to understand. The Idiom Dictionary was created to help people understand the meanings of more than five thousand English idioms. To use the Idiom Dictionary just enter a phrase or part of a phrase into the search box and the Idiom Dictionary will offer an explanation of that idiom.

The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project has an outstanding interactive resource that everyone who teaches lessons on Romeo and Juliet should bookmark. Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet is an interactive display of the text of Romeo and Juliet. As students read the document they can click on any link in the text to view definitions, images, audio recordings, and videos related to the content they're reading. 

22 Frames is a new service that provides a central location for locating captioned videos for learning English and for Internet users who have hearing impairments. 22 Frames provides more than just captioned videos. For each video 22 Frames provides a list of idioms, slang words, and commonly mispronounced words in each video. 22 Frames tells viewers where each use of idioms, slang, and commonly mispronounced words appears in each video. Viewers can click on any of the words in the lists provided by 22 Frames to find a definition for each word and to find pronunciation tips.

Mind mapping or creating webs can help students develop a story outline. There are many good mind mapping tools online (see nine here), one that I really like is Bubbl.us. Bubbl.us is a free mind mapping/ graphic organization tool that allows users to collaboratively create and edit mind maps. Bubbl.us takes just seconds to figure out and you can try it before registering for an account. With Bubbl.us users can use their keyboard or use the drag and drop interface to arrange elements in their mind maps. Publishing work created with Bubbl.us can be done by exporting the file to a JPEG, PNG, or as an XML or HTML file. Any mind map created using Bubbl.us can be embedded into a blog or website.

Books Should Be Free is a provider of free audio books. Books Should Be Free hosts hundreds of free audio books in a wide range of genres. All of the audio books in the collection are either public domain or Creative Commons works. All of the audio books can be downloaded directly from Books Should Be Free and or iTunes. One of the aspects of Books Should Be Free that I think some students will really appreciate is the large display of book covers that they'll see when browsing by genre. It's true that we should teach students not to judge a book by its cover, yet at the same time a good cover might get students interested in books they would otherwise ignore. If you have a student in need of an audio book to support their reading, Books Should Be Free could be a good place to start your search.

Through Google for Educators Weekly Reader has published a small collection of pdf guides for teaching the collaborative revision process using Google Documents. Teaching Collaborative Revision with Google Docs includes step-by-step guides for using Google Docs, a set of four documents for student use, and a teachers' guide with suggested lesson plans.

Thumb Scribes is a platform for collaboratively creating poems and short stories. Thumb Scribes can be used in two ways. First, you can contribute to story or poem that someone else has started and placed in the public gallery. Second, you can start your own story or poem and either place it in the public gallery or invite others to collaborate with you. If you put your poem or story in the public gallery anyone can add to it. If you don't want the whole world adding to your poem or story you can mark it as "private" and invite individuals to add to it.

AdLit is a website that one of my colleagues who teaches reading shared with me. AdLit.org is all about adolescent literature. On AdLit teachers can find book lists, video interviews with authors, and a comprehensive list of strategies for teaching reading and writing. The strategies page gives detailed descriptions of how to implement each strategy. AdLit's strategies page also gives guidance as to the proper timing for implementing the suggested strategies.

60 Second Recap provides book summaries in sixty second video segments. There is a sixty second summary of each chapter of each book. Along with the chapter summaries there is a general overview of each book. 60 Second Recap offers registered users the option to record a video response to each video summary. If you don't have access to a web cam, you can record a simple text response.

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Here is the link to the Chrome Blog:

Gapps users everywhere will be happy.

http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-google-docs-offline-and-new....

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12 Ways to Create Videos Without a Camera or Software

via Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) on 12/7/10

It wasn't that long ago that creating videos in your classroom meant that you had to have access to cameras and editing software. That is no longer the case. Now with nothing more than a reliable Internet connection you and your students can create all kinds of documentary, entertainment, and how-to videos. Some of the resources listed below are also featured in my free guide Making Videos on the Web where you will find how-to directions with annotated screen captures.

JayCut is a free, online, video editing service. To use JayCut online you will need to join the JayCut community. Once you've joined you can immediately start creating a video. The JayCut editor allows you to use two video editing tracks, an audio track, and a transitions track to create your video. JayCut provides some stock video and stock transitions that you can use, but the best option is to upload your own images, video clips, and sound tracks. Earlier this fall JayCut also introduced new options for slow motion effects, direct recording from your webcam, a green screen, and color editing. The videos you create can be published online on the JayCut site, published directly to YouTube, or downloaded to your computer.

Masher is a great, free, tool for creating video mash-ups. Masher offers a large collection of video clips from the BBC's Motion Gallery and Rip Curl video. There is a large music library, an effects library, and a good selection of video player skins. If you don't find content that you like in Masher's library, you can add your own images, video clips, and music clips through the Masher uploader. Masher also gives you the option to insert text throughout your videos. Creating with Masher is a simple matter of dragging elements from the media gallery into the timeline editor. From there you can arrange the sequence of elements using the drag and drop interface. When you're happy with the sequence, publish and share your production.

Animoto makes it possible to quickly create a video using still images, music, and text. In the last year Animoto has added the option to include video clips in your videos too. If you can make a slideshow presentation, you can make a video using Animoto. Animoto's free service limits you to 30 second videos. You can create longer videos if you apply for an education account. I like to use Animoto early in the school year to introduce my new students to some of the basic skills that will be carried across to more complex video creation later in the year.

Flixtime is a video creation service that is quite similar to Animoto and Stupeflix. Flixtime gives users the ability to create 60 second videos by mixing together images, video clips, and music tracks. You can use your own images, video clips, and music tracks or you can choose media from the Flixtime galleries. Flixtime also gives you the option to record voiceovers for your videos through their site. Flixtime videos can be downloaded for use on your local computer, shared via email or social networks, or posted to YouTube.

Photo Peach is a new service that allows you to quickly and easily create an audio slideshow, with captions, from images in your Flickr, Picassa, or Facebook account. You can also use images saved on your local hard drive to create your slideshow. To add captions to your Photo Peach slideshow simply type your desired text into the caption box that appears as each image is automatically displayed by Photo Peach. Changing the sequence of images in Photo Peach is a simple drag and drop procedure.

Memoov is a free service for creating animated videos. Without downloading any software or having any special skills, Memoov allows users to create animated videos up to five minutes in length. Creating an animated video with Memoov can be as simple as selecting a setting image(s), selecting a character or characters, and adding dialogue. Memoov offers users a wide variety options that make it stand out amongst similar services. Memoov allows users to customize the appearance of the characters in their animated videos. On the dialogue front, Memoov gives users the option to record their own voices for use in their videos. Users can also upload pre-recorded dialogue in MP3 format. Memoov users have the option to add background music to their animated videos.

Stupeflix is a service that allows user to quickly and easily create video montages using their favorite images and audio clips. In many ways Stupeflix is similar to Animoto and Flix Time, but there are a couple of differences that are worth noting. Adding text to the images is slightly easier in Stupeflix than it is on Animoto. Stupeflix offers only one default soundtrack so you have to upload your own audio clips. That said the advantage of Stupeflix is that you can use more than one audio clip within the same video. Stupeflix is now offering Stupeflix for Education. Stupeflix for Education is currently looking for beta testers to use Stupeflix for Education for free in their classrooms. The sign-up form is live now on a first come, first served basis.

Shwup is a service similar to Animoto and Stupeflix for creating videos based on your images and audio files. At its most basic Shwup is a place for creating collaborative private photo albums. As the creator of an album you can select the best images and create a video for the group. You can choose to share your videos privately so that only those you invite can see them or you can share your videos on Facebook, Twitter, or embed them into your blog.

The Zimmer Twins is a neat site for introducing elementary school students to making simple animated video stories. On the Zimmer Twins site students can create a story from scratch or complete one of the "cliff hanger" story starters. Students do not need to have any drawing skills in order to create a story as all elements are added to the video through a simple drag and drop interface. Students select settings, characters, character actions, emotions, and text styles then drag those elements into the storyboard. Students then arrange those elements and type words into the conversation bubbles where appropriate.

Xtra Normal is a unique service that enables students to create animated, narrated movies just by typing the dialogue then dragging and dropping characters and set elements into the movies. There are free and paid plans for using Xtra Normal. The primary difference between the plans being that the paid plan offers more options for the setting of your story. The standard plan should be adequate for most academic applications.

Slide Six is a slideshow service that allows users to add narration to their slideshows directly through the Slide Six website. Slide Six also allows users to embed YouTube and Vimeo videos into their presentations. Users can also attach documents to accompany their presentations. Slide Six supports all PowerPoint formats, Open Office, PDF, and MOV presentations.

Screenr is a very simple, easy-to-use tool for creating screencast videos. You do not need to register in order to use Screenr, but if you want to save your recordings you do need a Twitter account. Screenr uses your Twitter ID to save your recording and publish it to Twitter (you can opt not to publish to Twitter). The recordings you make using Screenr can also be published to YouTube or you can download your recordings.

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Today, I'll be talking about the website BrainPop. The reason why I'll be talking about this particular site is that our division is getting a division wide license. BrainPop.com has a number of short animated clips on a wide variety of topics for students to view.  Accompanying the short animations are questions and activities to review the material presented in the video.

Here is an example of one of the videos:

They follow the adventures of the two main characters Tim and Moby.

I've only had a chance to just do a cursory look at the site but I was impressed with what I saw. There is an educators section which I thought was well organized and laid out. It listed the number of videos that happened to relate to the curriculum/learning standards for your area. It also has an area where it can give you ideas for using the vids in the classroom.

I incorporated one of the videos from the website for a mini-lesson on capitalization and followed it up with some material I created for the Smartboard. For the most part the students enjoyed the lesson, and since then when we do proofreading of their work they can tell me why they made an error or which capitalization rule they broke.

I'd be interested to learn more about others who are using it in their classrooms and do they feel that they are getting value for their money being invested into this product?

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