922-Session 9--Creating an OER from scratch

We'll start this week with a brief video on Carnegie Mellon's "Open Learning Initiative", then transition to a Curriki unit on "Creating an OER from Scratch".

I  hope that video gave you a brief snapshot of what the future will look like soon.  As the ability of technology to aid teachers increases exponentially, very quickly we will all begin to see practical models like this integrated into  K-12 schools.  The potential is mind-boggling, so I thought that this video would help inspire you and give you a little extra fuel for the next few weeks.

The focus of this session will be on a unit from the OERI project in Curriki.  It's called, "Creating an OER from Scratch".  Most of the links can be found in the syllabus.  This session will include:

• Exposure to an array of OER resource environments;
• Recognizing the value of creating and publishing curriculum within an OER environment;
• Constructing relevant curriculum using a well-defined model;
• Appropriately integrating technology into your curriculum;
• Studying the techniques of publishing to an OER environment; and
• Publishing a curriculum module to Curriki.

I'm working on a time when we can all meet again for our last f2f session. I'll speak to Jessica and keep you all posted.

Past participants' comments:
Spring '13

922-Session 8--eReaders

This week we are focusing on eReaders. Our session is embedded below and broken up into three parts, but if you'd like to download the entire session to your computer then you can do that from this link.

The syllabus has recently been updated so be sure to view it and check out this week's new required readings.  In your comments this week on our blog, please share your thoughts and experiences about your e-book reader preferences, and also do your own research (try to visit a store and test a few out, sometimes you need a push like this to get you some hands-on experience) and include a nugget of info that I didn’t cover this week to share with your peers. Next week we’ll delve into the merits of using these devices for education.  There is a lot of info here comparing and contrasting.  Don't get too worried if you can't retain it all.  Just save these links and use them for future reference and take plenty of notes.

Additionally this week, I'd like you all to practice embedding forms into your digital books/chapters.  There are more details below.

Getting digital content for your chapter was only the first step in making an eBook.  Its strength is compounded when we add elements to help differentiate instruction.  Elements like videos, edugames, hyperlinks, images, and forms. That's right--'Forms.'

It's really one-dimensional unless we add interactivity, so this week I would like you to practice embedding a Google Form into your digital chapter.  You've all created an account with Google (either gmail, blogger...).

There are step by step screenshot images walking you through how to create a 'Form' using Google Docs here.  Just read pages 52-63.

If you'd also like to see a screencast of how to create, a Google Form and embed one on a wiki page, then you can see that below.  This a great video if you put your chapter on a wiki page, but don't stress if you put it somewhere else.  The concept is the same for other online platforms.  As always, feel free to contact me with any questions along the way.  

Lastly, once you've mastered the 'Google Form' embed and placed one or two into your digital chapter,  I'd like you to post a link to it, so that the rest of the class can go to it and fill in your 'form' as your 'test students.'

Once you've done that, and if you're ready for some additionally depth on using this tool to facilitate learning, then please read, "22 Useful Google Forms for Teachers and Principals"   and lastly, "A New Collaboration Option in Google Forms"


 As this session was posted late; work isn't due until 5/12.

Have fun exploring this week.
Dave
PS--Please find past participants' comments below:
Spring '13
Summer '12

922-Session 7--Creating an OER from Scratch and Midterm Project Screencasts

I thought that we'd start with an inspirational video of students that seem to 'get-it'.

Now let's start with a 'comment' from Angela, (a teacher who took a version of this class a few iterations back) :

Angela Tarr said...

... I feel the need to share. I just had an aha moment. To explain to my staff the basic idea of what OER is all about, I’ll give my own experience as a new teacher for an example. When I started teaching at 22, I had no clue what I was doing. I was assigned a mentor, who said, “I’m down at the end of the hall; holler if you need me.” That was my mentor program. (It’s now much more specific in the requirements of the mentor and mentee.) The only other teacher who taught the same courses I did would not share. A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. He wouldn’t give me anything other than generic advice. (Don’t smile until Christmas. Don’t let them walk all over you.)
Somehow I managed to survive. I was not a very good teacher those first few years; I struggled. After ten years of teaching, I asked to switch to another grade level when a teacher in my department quit. (Not retired, quit.) The other teacher who taught this grade level in my department shared everything. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. She said she had already done the work, why should I start from scratch? She and I had very different styles, so I wasn’t totally comfortable using her exact plans and assignments. (Since I was working on a master’s and had two young children at the time, she suggested that.) I adapted most of her materials to suit my teaching (and learning) style. Her gift of a place to start other than ground zero was huge for me. I could go to her and ask questions, observe her in the classroom, get help.
When I moved into the library five years ago, I handed fifteen years of materials over to my 22 year old replacement. I volunteered to do anything she needed me to do to get her off on the right foot. I answered questions, came to her classroom a couple of times to present introductions to units, anything she needed. In her first year she was better than I was at five or six years of experience in the classroom. I’m not taking the credit for her success; she works hard. I will pat myself on the back for giving her some tools to work with to get rolling. She’s the classroom teacher I wish I could have been.
Isn’t this what OER is all about? Sharing? Learning from the experience of others? Why should we start from scratch? (Unless we want to, or the learning situation is better served by doing so.) Granted, I didn’t have the internet when I started teaching. I could only share locally. Now we can share globally. We have amazing tools to work with. We need to use them. Our districts need to let us.

 You can read other past teachers' comments below:
Spring '13 here
Summer '12 here
Spring '12  here
Summer '11 here

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This week we'll be covering how to create an OER from scratch.  Once again we'll be accessing Curriki's "Open Educational Resources Integration" project.  For this session we'll be accessing the module created by Dr. Michael Searson, the Executive Director for the School for Global Education and Innovation.

Mike created a CC licensed module aimed at both pre-service and in-service teachers.  His module will be particularly useful to you b/c you may very easily use it to guide yourself when you are training, or educating, others on OER's.  I've just gone through his module again and updated any dead links that I could find, but please let me know if you can't access something.  You may find all of the links in our syllabus under the Session 7's details.

Good luck and have fun!
DF

PS--Below  you will find some of the details for last year's cohort.  You may also see some of their screen recordings from the link above.

• Each course participant will create a 5 minute screencast using a recording tool like Screenr.com or Screencast-o-matic.com  demonstrating to the class what eBook project you have completed so far.  Here is an example.
• The demonstration should walk us through how to find your project (url), what content you have included so far up to this date, which specific course or courses it will support, and your plans to expand and improve upon it over the next two months.

922-Session 6--Personalizing, Customizing, Remixing, and Localizing

Welcome to Session 6!  

This week we will be discussing a topic I'm sure you are all interested in.  "How do we really customize this content to serve our local educational community?"

Before we address that I thought that I'd take a moment to address some possible gaps.  A few of you have asked for some more examples of 'open' content for the humanities or health education.  OpenLearn  is a site of free, open courses all CC licensed, so the material can be copied and shared, and you can create derivative works from them as well.  For those of you looking for Health and PE material, there should be plenty there if you haven't found success yet.

I just did a quick search for Spanish lessons and material and received these results.  And these for French, so it may be worth exploring. (I use Chrome, as opposed to Internet Explorer or Safari, so it was nice when I was exploring the lessons in foreign languages b/c there was a button to translate the page.  Worked pretty well from my layman's perspective.)  For those of you teaching English, I found this  and many more resources when you scroll through the list here.

Another great site to access and borrow from is OpenTapestry.  Give them a quick skim. One of our topics for this session is the 'personalization' of Digital Content that you cull/borrow.  Read about OpenTapestry's personalization on their 'about us' page.

They have lots of CC licensed material to support all disciplines (This link takes you to just the courses available.)  They also have lots of great 'open content' for Literature and Health.  (They even give you directions about how to put it into your wiki or webpage). Just be aware that there is also some copyrighted material here as well, so in that case you'll have to just link to it directly from your eTextbook.

They also have plenty of resources for those of you teaching World Languages.  Here's a brief video introduction. It's a little dry, but gets good during the demo around the 30 minute mark. And here's just a cursory search for 'cooking'.
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Next we are going to continue with following along with the "Integrating Open Educational Resources in the Classroom" material created by my team of professors for a Curriki Fellowship.  This session will walk you through the personalization, customization, and remixing of OER's to suit your specific goal or curricula.  Let's start with Dr. Cynthia Gautreau's introduction video here. (I know she says it's the third module, but I thought that it would fit best in our S6.)

When you've finished with that I'd like you to then go through her module here.  You don't have to complete every assignment here, but I would like you to reflect on questions 4a, b, and c that you will find here.

Please go through the material diligently to ensure that you gain a comprehensive level of knowledge with this content.

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Now, I debated whether or not to add this one, but sometimes my material can get rather heavy.  This video is the polar opposite.  Once you get through the silliness, the content is actually accurate.  Who's hungry for some CC Cake?




Lastly, the dreaded mid-term.  As I've mentioned repeatedly throughout the semester, my motivation for teaching this course is to have educators gain the most practical information and resources available for their particular setting.  Additionally, you've all noticed that I've been keeping tabs on the workload each week b/c I realize that you all have 'day-jobs' so the last thing I want to do is overwhelm you.

So in the past I've given an in-depth mid-term assignment, but the workload was heavy.  In place of that this semester I'd like you to still focus on the goals of the original midterm, but strip it down and simplify it.  The over-riding goal of this assignment is to convey the power, influence, and benefits (for your particular setting) to your organization if they begin to embrace OER's and incorporate more Digital Content.  Chariho already seems to be moving in that direction, so instead just focus on developing as much of your eTextbook as you can before our next face-to-face meeting which will be in the CHS Library on 4/14 @3:15pm. 


Good luck this week and as always, have fun!
DF

PS--I've added a screencast below to help guide you through the process of adding multimedia to your eTextbook.

How to embed multimedia into a CK12 page

A few of you have asked for a little more detail on how to embed multimedia into your eTextbook, so I made a little screencast to walk you through the process.

If this doesn't work for you, or if you are still running into obstacles, I'd be happy to schedule a teleconference and we can go through some procedures together.

Session 5--What Happens When You Merge Your Curriculum and a Wiki?

Session 5---Curriki.org

Wow has time flown.  We are now almost half-way through this course, so we should take the opportunity the week before April break (4/14) to meet again f2f for our second of three meetings. There we can go over coursework expectations for the rest of the semester, practice some hands-on content creation, and collaboratively modify the mid-term assignment to best suit Chariho High School's needs. Let pragmatism prevail!

We still have over three weeks before 4/14, so don't stress out too much. Please arrive with either a solid outline of what topics you'd like to realistically cover in you digital chapter, or the beginnings of what you have already begun to create.  (For those of you that have not gotten comfortable yet with how to start, please arrive with specific goals about what would be the most practical for your setting and we'll collaboratively get you moving in the right direction.)

This shouldn't be an overly-stressful course, so please feel free to ask questions, make mistakes, and communicate your obstacles, so that we can make this the most productive learning experience possible.

I'll reach out to Jessica and see if we can schedule that same room in the CHS Library from 3:15-6 for 4/14.  Now let's get started with S5!

Let's first watch this 5 min. video on the shift to Digital and Open Textbooks.

Now, on to Curriki. I had the good fortune to be speaking at a conference in DC in the Spring of '09 and that lead to a great networking opportunity.  I was lucky enough to be asked to join a cohort of six education professors from around the nation.  We were hired by Curriki to develop a series of online PD sessions on OER's (licensed under CC) that could be integrated into any teacher preparation program.

A great place to start is to hear about the history and mission behind the site. One of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, former Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, joins Curriki CEO Kim Jones to talk about their efforts to make learning materials free and open to everyone on the Internet.

Now there's no sense in re-creating the wheel, so I'll follow a similar procedure to Session 4.  Watch the videos below, pause them regularly, and try to re-create the instructions.  When we're finished you can explore on your own.

Let's start with, "Viewing a Resource in Curriki"

Now let's look at what members can do with resources.

With all of these resources available and at your fingertips, you'll need to be assured that your access the best and highest quality information, so let's next learn about, "Reviewed Resources."

We'll skip the screencasts on how to rate and comment on resources for now, b/c that's a little more advanced, but when you're ready you can view it here.

Now it's time for the fun part---finding useful stuff.  Let's start with, "Search Basics."

There are few things more frustrating than searching endlessly for a resource and not finding what you're looking for, so our next video will walk you through the "Advanced Search" options and filters.

Most of the benefits to using OER's can be increased exponentially by working collaboratively with a group of your peers, so the last video we'll watch will be on how to access and create 'groups' in Curriki.

I've always been a big proponent of pragmatism in teacher training, so for the rest of your time this week I'd like you to spend time exploring these resources and looking for material to suit your specific educational setting.  Please keep track of your thoughts and reflections and post them under S5's entry before next Tuesday.

For those chomping at the bit for us to cover eReaders and tablets---your time will be here soon.  Here's some of the latest data:


Have fun!

PS-Here are the comments from past teachers that took this course:
Spring '13
Summer '12

Session 4-eBooks--CK12

In Session 3's 'Readings' in the syllabus, I had you read a little about CK-12. (Based upon a comment from one of you last session, you can get carried away exploring its resources.) They currently have mostly STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subject material, but have now begun adding Humanities as well.

There are a few of you taking this course that teach in the latter subject areas, but if CK-12's model holds true, then they will have textbooks and workbooks in your disciplines w/i the next year or two.

Now you won't be taking this course in a year or two, so I'd like you to spend some time this week poring through CK-12's resources and practicing with the interface, so when that day comes you'll be the first one in your school to be using this great tool.

Let's start by watching this brief intro. video that my friend Neeru put together recently to introduce herself and CK-12.





Now, in case you didn't get a chance to do the readings from last week or need a refresher, give their, 'About Us' page a skim now.  When you've finished I'd like you to read the most recent news articles about them..

You should be pretty excited and inspired about the possibilities at this point.  I was when I first learned about them in 2008.  I reached out to Neeru to explore building a collaboration and she flew me out to Silicon Valley in November '08 to meet with her, and her co-founder, about their work. I was so enthralled that I decided to add their resources to this course to help share their vision, and also to help contribute to the movement myself.

Imagine if our entire state began to use open education resources (OER) to 'collectively' write our own textbooks and curriculum material, and then began sharing them with each other. Sounds beyond reach doesn't it? But some systems and State Dept.'s of Education are trying just that. Read about Virginia for example. (and that was six years ago!)  There's more about their plan here as well.

Now CK-12 just really began taking off around August of '08, so as I mentioned above, they don't have every discipline yet. But, like I said, they plan to broaden to other areas soon. Here's a brief demonstration to watch.  When you're done watch this one they had an intern pull together:

Introducing CK-12 Foundation's Digital Learning Tools - #2 from CK-12 Foundation on Vimeo.

Now if this all scares you a little or you feel a little intimidated---that's justified.  Some of you mentioned in your comments from the last session that you were apprehensive about 'publishing' your material until you reached a certain comfort level.  That's to be expected.

I'm sure that you have a lot of questions. The biggest concern I hear is about the quality of the information. We'll go into more detail about that in the next few sessions, but for now think about how many teachers stray from the textbooks in their classes and instead use quality, credible information that they have screened using their professional judgment.

Now think about how much information teachers have in their heads. If they took the time to write it out, and share it freely with the world, we would have a tremendously powerful tool.  I'd like you to spend the rest of your time trying to play with CK-12's Flexbooks. See if you can find one to use in your educational setting, and as I mentioned before, don't write it off so quickly b/c they don't have anything in your discipline or grade level just yet.  The practice today, will pay off tomorrow.

To be perfectly honest, most people just access and use these Flexbooks, rather than make changes to them to personalize things for their educational setting, but Id still like you too tutorials linked here.

So, for those of you that think you have topics w/i CK12's database, please begin to experiment and collate your flexbook.  Review the video tutorials a few times if you need to and remember, you can add additional content to these over time, perpetually improving upon your eTextbook.

For those of you that can't find content here, please focus your attention back on OER Commons (from Session 3) and begin to collate material, connect the content to CCSS, that you can use for your digital chapter or book. Keith and Jack, I'm hoping that you will contact each other and find some common ground to build a collaboration. Remember, your over arching goal for taking this course is to create a digital chapter, multiple chapters, or even an entire eTextbook to support your discipline.

Good luck and as always please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Past participants' comments:
Spring '13

Dave Fontaine

DaveFontaine1@gmail.com

922-Session 3-The Open Educational Resources Movement

Welcome to Session 3--"The Open Educational Resources Movement (continued)"

"OER's are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge."  William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

This week we'll stray from the usual format and work completely from this blog entry and the assignments/readings on the syllabus.

Start with this video.  I know that most of you have already gone through the OER Commons Tutorial, and that should have really given you a good overview, but watch this video.  The speaker gives you some additional 'quick' resources to gain more of a solid foundation on the concepts.  As he goes through resources, pause the video and try to recreate his steps.

Next, I'd like you to watch this video on the impact of  'open' on teaching and learning:  

)

1. Now I'd like you to read a little more about "How Resources are Organized" w/i OERcommons, then pore through the rest of the instructions to help you more easily find useful and practical Digital Content.
2. Once you've finished with the dull stuff from # 1, you can then dive in and really get to use this resource.  The only realistic way to get familiar with Digital Content that is free to use is to jump right in, so for the next hour or so, I'd like you explore the OERcommons site. (Ideally to find material that is practical for your setting.) They have a new tool there called, "Open Author".  I haven't used it yet, so spend some time playing with it to see if this might me a good spot for you to begin collating your content for your discipline. Once you've had your fill, share out under the 'comments' link below the Session 3 posting.  Let us know what you found, what your impression is, and forecast what this trend will mean for your workplace setting.
3. When you are done with posting your comments,  I'd like you to begin exploring the link below.  Dozens, if not hundreds, of colleges and universities are now offering many of their courses for free. Through podcasts, videocasts, and free downloads of supplemental material a motivated person could acquire the equivalent of a degree, completely on their own and for FREE! Spend some time visiting the schools from this link and check out some of the free material available for your discipline. If you visit the MIT link you'll see that they have over 2000 courses freely accessible. It's mind-blowing and exciting, but be careful not to spend too much time there. Every time I visit this site, 2-3 hours disappear in the blink of an eye.
4. Now if this all scares you a little or you feel a little intimidated---that's justified. I'm sure that you have a lot of questions. The biggest concern I hear is about the quality of the information. We'll go into more detail about that in the next few sessions, but for now think about how many teachers stray from the textbooks in their class and instead use high-quality, credible information that they have screened using their professional judgment.

Now think about how much information teachers have in their heads. If they took the time to write it out, and share it freely with the world, we would have a tremendously powerful tool.

Well, that's probably more than enough information for this week. If your eyes aren't going buggy by now then spend the rest of your time trying to exploring the different colleges linked from #3. See if you can find one to use in your educational setting.

You'll notice in the syllabus I had you read a little snippet or two on CK-12.org.  I had hoped to cover some of them this week, but I was afraid that I'd overwhelm you.  You'll notice that I have been 'polling' you to see how much time your spending going through these resources each week.  I'm trying not to overwhelm, while at the same time, I'm challenged with giving you enough information for you to gain a solid foundation.  I'll take another poll this week about the workload and will adjust each week's load accordingly.  Please keep the suggestions coming.

Good luck and as always please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Dave Fontaine

DaveFontaine1@gmail.com

PS--Read the comments from past participants:
Spring '13

922-Session 2-The Ultimate Tool for Collaboration

Welcome to Session 2-Where we'll get a great overview of wikis and their connection to our course curriculum and get a small taste of Open Educational Resources.

Most of you are getting the hang of using this forum and are becoming more adept at posting and downloading. Remember to post your insights and comments in the 'comment' section (demonstration video here) and also remember to return regularly to read your peers' comments.


In order to facilitate a truly collaborative setting (one in which we can begin to foster an environment where we can benefit from the 'Collective Knowledge' of all the participants here) I am asking that you make a special, concerted effort to try to respond or comment upon, at least, one other posting from w/i each session starting with Session 2. This may mean going back and revisiting the blog after you have posted because you may be the first or second person to post your thoughts. This is not a requirement, but it is a request---one that will help benefit all of us and truly foster a collaborative network of learners and educators!  The most efficient method for this is to make sure that you have signed up for a Blogger account.  If you already have a Google account with any of G's other services like gmail or Google Docs, then you may use that.  After you post your comment to our blog and before you hit the publish button, you'll see an option to have future comments emailed to you.  Choose that.  There is a tremendous font of knowledge among this group.  Don't miss out on the insights and experiences of your peers.

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This session will find us broadening the scope of our view of wikis. This information is pertinent to our discussions on digital content because as the semester unfolds we'll see our definition of user-created content evolve.  The merging and integration of e-books with additional multimedia (screencasts, interactive simulations, podcasts, videos,...) is changing so rapidly that no one can predict what our students will be using in just a few short years.  Some surveys predict eBook penetration w/i school libraries to increase 14 fold by 2016.

We will begin this session by taking a look at the benefits of wikis, and other Web 2.0 tools, for students, teachers, and the entire educational community. We'll view some screencasts and videos that give us students' perspectives, as well as hear from teachers from across the K-12 spectrum.  Each and every one will be focused upon how Web 2.0 tools have changed the way they teach and learn, and also demonstrate how teachers are becoming the authors of Digital Content shared with the world freely under an "Open" philosophy.

And lastly, we'll end by discussing the fluid definition of the word, "literacy" and try to pin it down in a 21st century classroom---a classroom where the walls have come down and the world is flat. There are lots of different interpretations out there.  And as I stated above--prior definitions are changing quickly.  Under the subject heading of Wikis there are an increasing number of sub-headings.  Google Docs has evolved to be a very wiki-like tool.

Before you download this week's session:

• Please read this article from SLJ called, "Things are Changing Fast."  It reminds us that those of us that run into technology-roadblocks are not alone (unfortunately). When you are finished reading that article, also read, "Not Just the Lucky Ones."
• Then visit: http://www.edweb.net/ebooks  and join the community if you haven't already.

Lastly, you may access and read past participants' comments about the educational uses of wikis here:
Spring '13 comments,
Summer '12 comments,
Spring '12 comments
as well as here and here.


Also, please watch this video introducing you to Google Play (now has Google's digitized books initiative integrated).

Good luck and I look forward to reading your comments, insights, and reflections.

DF
PS--You may find a back-up copy of this week's presentation here. Just search for the term: "edc922" and then choose the appropriate session to view and listen to.

Time for Introductions!!!

Welcome (again) to EDC922 - eBooks and Digital Content

This is our class blog. It will serve as our discussion forum, connection to each other, and the main webpage you will be accessing. If this is your first visit, then please first read the entry below (titled, 'Practice Session') and follow the instructions there--- then return to this spot and continue reading.

 The content here should keep you pretty busy for the next few days until Session 2 is posted--for now you only need to know a few things.

This blog can be viewed by anyone, but will only allow the participants of EDC922 to interact with it. When you would like to respond to someone or comment upon a session, just click on the 'comment' link below each of my postings (you should sign up for a Blogger account ASAP and choose a 'User Name' that is easily identifiable. Blogger is owned by Google, so if you already have a user account with Google for something like: gmail, gdocs,picassa..., then use that user name) until you've done that, choose the 'anonymous' button under 'choose an identity'; I'm sure some of you have already begun to practice a little.  If you run into any trouble and need to contact me, then please email me at DaveFontaine1@gmail.com.

In the left-hand margin you will see links to individual lessons (accessible every Monday evening).



This blog, in addition to its use as an interactive communication tool, will also be where you can access and download your weekly sessions. The presentation links to the left will be accessible on a week-to-week basis (Mon.  evenings). I've said it before, but it bears repeating---When attempting to download always choose 'save' rather than 'open.'

The syllabus is also linked to the left. Google has a free service (gDocs, gDrive) that allows you to just upload any Word document and with one additional click it gets published online with its own URL. The course syllabus is an example of how easy it is to use, and we'll practice with this tool.

One more aspect that will be unique about this course is that I support a completely collaborative teaching philosophy. Following that mindset, I will keep your assignments, comments, and reflections viewable and accessible to future participants of this course. The 'goal' of that is:

1. For future participants to gain from the collective knowledge of your experiences;
2. Benefit from what you have done; and
3. Incorporate new ideas into their classroom.

The bonus for you, of course, is that this information will also always be accessible to you. This way, in the future (many semesters from now) you may revisit this site and benefit from the ideas of all the participants that took it 'after' you. In this way---YOU will gain from all the 'learning speed bumps' of those that have come after you--even though they are not currently enrolled in this course.
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Some of the content for our sessions is also covered in my "Blogs and Wikis" course. Where that is the case I'll also give you a link to the 'comments' of past participants about that topic.

Before we go any further I would like each of you to practice using this forum and introduce yourself. We will be spending the semester together, so it is important to learn as much about each other as possible. Click on the 'comment' link below this posting, then you may click the 'anonymous' button and write a few paragraphs about yourself. (If you are feeling bold you may sign up for a Blogger account now and use the 'user name' that you create when you 'comment' rather than choosing 'anonymous.')

Please include:
-your name
-email address (so that you may contact each other directly if needed),
-your educational background,
-teaching history,
-current teaching position with location, and lastly
-what you hope to come away with when this semester is over, along with any additional information about you that you wish to share, like your motivation for choosing this course...

After you have finished posting this profile, come back to this page and read the '922-Session 1' posting (below this one), then find the 'Session 1' link (along the left-hand margin), download it, and view it. When you are finished with the session please click on the 'comment' link again and add any comments, insights, or reflections you have for Session 1, under this "Time for Introductions" posting.

Sometimes it takes a little while to get the hang of using this forum. I have taken this into consideration by reducing the workload of the first session. (Of course, if you get distracted easily, then you could spend hours exploring.)

Week 1's primary goal is to make sure everyone is on the same page and skill level before we sink our teeth into the meat of this course,  however, if you run into any 'techno-speed bumps' then please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Everything here is licensed by Creative Commons. This means that you have complete authority to download, save, share, and use all of the lessons in your classroom, but are prohibited from any commercial uses.

You will notice that each slide of the PowerPoint presentation has the narration transcribed in the 'notes section' of each slide. This is because each semester we have teachers from around the world taking this course. We've had teachers from Canada, China, Alaska, California, Phillipines, Sudan, Singapore...taking my courses (And they may need help understanding my "Ro-diland" accent) but more importantly, the transcribed narration allows you to take these slides and use them in your own classroom. (or, if you find my voice putting you to sleep, you can just read the slides instead)

Good luck this semester! I look forward to working and collaborating with you.

Dave Fontaine
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STOP--DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER UNTIL YOU HAVE FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE.

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922-Session 1 "eBooks-What They Are and What Do They Look Like!!!"

This semester will take us onto a new path!

A path that leads to more collaboration--

more cooperative learning---

and more opportunities to create differentiated instruction and visual learning---all with the goal of helping foster literacy, and learning, for our students.

 Here is a taste of the excitement that awaits you when you download our first session.

Good luck and take plenty of notes because I don't want to miss any of your ideas, excitement, and insights when you post your comments!

You may also read past participants' comments:
Spring '13 participants and older semesters'  here and here. Some people find reading them before the session helps with their perspective.

Have fun!

Dave

Practice Session

Welcome to EDC922---"eBooks and Digital Content"


Throughout these 10-13 weeks we will be covering a vast amount of information (but don't be too intimidated). Information and new developments about this content are exploding exponentially, so it's challenging even for me to stay current.


New sessions will be posted once a week (by the end of the day on Monday). 


Please keep in mind that there are new developments and trends in online information every day, therefore we may have to be flexible when interpreting the syllabus. This may mean some modifications, changes and condensing of information. I've already made changes to our first session's content.  

To ensure that we are covering the most current skills and content, I will be assimilating and collating information right up until the moment I post a session. This means that each session's link (over in the left-hand margin) will not be accessible until its respective Monday. Even so, there may be times during a session when a cited link is dead. If that is the case, I will try to keep saved copies of all the information. Just email me (davefontaine1@gmail.com) and I will forward the data to you.

During the first few sessions we will be covering foundational skills. This is to ensure that we all have the basic essentials ‘down pat’. Once this is covered, we will pick up the pace and begin to delve into the mechanics, nuances, and meat of our course.

To ensure continuous accessibility to the information within these presentations I suggest you immediately download, and save the sessions, to your computer.  Not every session will be downloadable, but many will be. I cannot emphasize this enough. Along the left-hand margin, there will be a link for each session. When you click on this link you may be prompted to 'save' or 'open' the session.

Always ‘save’ it to your desktop (or in a folder somewhere on your computer). Previous class participants have found it easiest to organize if they create a folder and store all the sessions in one place. Another option would be to right-click on the link and choose, 'save target as.'

‘Saving’ the sessions will decrease problems relating to your bandwidth. Also, although it may take a while for a presentation to download (up to 10 min. or more depending upon the speed of your connection) it will be much easier to toggle between a PowerPoint and the Internet if you have it saved to your hard drive. Weekly sessions will also become portable if you save them to a thumb drive, so if you want to take them from home to work, or vice-versa that will be easiest.

Additionally, you will need to have access to a computer that has PowerPoint version ’97 or above to view the presentations. (As a last resort I will also upload a copy each week's session to an online service where you can stream it live. You will find that link at the bottom of each weekly posting.) If you cannot hear the sound on them it is possible that the “wave” element of your volume is either on ‘mute’ or not turned up enough. 

Some of you may have already noticed that I teach this course completely from a blog.  This will help those of you who have little, to no, experience with blogs.  You get to practice, participate, and maybe even create your own after this class is finished. I'll give you all 24 hours to practice with this a little and contact you Sat. night with our first official weekly session, so look for an email from me.

Please remember that we are all educators, and that this is a collaborative course. So, as you post your reflections and comments we will all be responding to you. Therefore, timely responses are imperative. After you have posted your weekly assignment, make an effort to return again later to read and comment about other participants’ assignments.

Once again remember that we are all perpetual learners; constantly growing. I hope to learn as much from you---as you will from me.

Now I would like you to try a practice download. Saturday evening I will update this page with information about our first session. Along the left-hand margin you will see the words "PRACTICE SESSION." Please try to download this session to your computer, strictly following the directions above.

Once you have been successful with this process, you may also download the syllabus, but truthfully, I will be updating it weekly, so it might be a better idea if you just save a shortcut to the live version.   There isn't a required, purchasable text, but for those of you that want more depth on blogs and wikis then I recommend Will Richardson's book.  Don't worry if it takes a week to arrive.

You may order it from most online book sellers. Until then you may want to read it online (not ideal and you usually can't access the entire text), but here is the link: Wikis, Blogs, and Podcasts

You could also check your local library here.

If you run into problems, please review the directions again. It is not uncommon for participants to 'stumble' a little getting used to this forum.


If you run into any trouble after that, then please feel free to email me or call.


Thank you and please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have along the way.

Dave Fontaine
eBook, eLearning, and eContent Specialist
National Board Certified Educator
DaveFontaine1@gmail.com
401-835-3782

End of the semester recap

Well, it has been a pleasure working and collaborating with all of you this past semester.  You've made considerable progress with your digital textbooks and I'm sure with some more time they will grow into more than just classroom supplements.

For those of you that are visiting for the first time, I've put together a short video to summarize what this semester was all about.

You'll find links to all of the teachers' screencasts and eTextbooks along the left-hand margin.

Dave Fontaine
eBook, eLearning, and eContent Specialist
http://visualcv.com/davefontaine

Final Projects--due by midnight--5/10/13

This has been a unique pilot project, so thank you for your willingness to experiment in this 21st century endeavor.


On the 15th expect to present your completed work (aka 'Final Project') to me, your course peers, Mr. Ruscito, the Superintendent, and any other interested parties.

I have made lots of personalized changes this semester to suit the needs of this cohort, so don't focus upon the Final Project requirements on the syllabus. Instead use the information below for this semester.

Your Final Projects will be due by Midnight on Friday, May 10th.

You will create a new screencast and place its link (please triple-check to make sure it works) under the Final Projects posting on this blog.  Additionally, you will prepare a 6-8 minute presentation that will be given live on 5/15/13 in the WHS Library from 4-6.

The live presentation will be very similar to the Final Project screencast, but will provide more opportunity for discussion, demonstration, and Q & A from the audience (Principal, Superintendent, URI representatives...).

Both the screencast and the live presentation should include the following:

• A demonstration of your finished project (at least finished for the time-being b/c most of these projects will continue to develop over the next year)
• The practical uses you foresee for your students and yourself.
• How you envision this project will evolve over the next school year and over the next 5 years.
• The potential benefit to teaching and learning, as well as the financial benefit to the district or state, as a whole.
• Include directions for anyone watching about how to find your project on their own.  (what is the url, site it was uploaded to, saved location...), so that the world can benefit from your work.
• Lastly, please add any other important details that you feel should be mentioned or shared.

Additionally, for anyone that may be interested, there may be several opportunities to continue to share your experiences, after the semester closes.  


Holly Walsh, the Instructional Technology and eLearning staff member at RIDE, has expressed some interest in seeing your finished projects and possibly having some of you present them with me at the next "Innovations through Technology" conference that RIDE sponsors on October 5th, 2013.

Also, Senator O'Neill, the Chairman of the Joint Legislative Commission to Study the Use of eTextbooks in RI, has expressed interest in hearing about the Final Projects that you have developed.

I would like to thank all who participated for allowing me to lead you through this process and I look forward to continuing our collaboration in the future.

Once again, I our last face-to-face class is scheduled at WHS, in the Library, on May 15th from 4-6pm.  



Please double check all links to ensure that they are working.  Once I review your Final Projects, I will send you a confirmation and grade.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.  I've been fielding questions as they come in.

Good Luck!

922-Sessions 11---But wait there's more!

Welcome to the 'beginning' of the 'end', but not the 'end' of what has 'begun'!

This semester I've tried to guide you through what some people consider very complicated topics:

• Navigating through Open Source content, 
• Digital books, 
• Mobile devices... 

Through my "Internet travels and wanderings" while researching content for this course, I've come across countless resources that I knew were useful and valuable, but as the semester progressed, I was never quite sure where some of these items would best connect under a certain week's themes.  Therefore, throughout the semester, I collected many of these resources (from webinars, to videos, to readings) that I thought would be interesting to most of you with the hope of getting the chance to show you before the semester was over.  

Well, this is our last session, so it's now or never.  (After all, your Final Projects are due by midnight EST Friday, 5/10 which gives you two weeks to pull everything together.)    Let's tentatively plan on meeting for our last f2f meeting on the following Wednesday, 5/15 (3-6).  

This has been a unique pilot project, so thank you for your willingness to experiment in this 21st century endeavor.

On the 15th expect to present your completed work to me, your course peers, Mr. Ruscito, the Superintendent, and any other interested parties.

I have made lots of personalized changes this semester to suit the needs of this cohort, so don't focus upon the Final Project requirements on the syllabus. Instead use the information below for this semester.

Your Final Projects will be due by Midnight on Friday, May 10th.

You will create an additional screencast and place its link under the Final Project posting on this blog. (available by Wed. 5/8).  Additionally, you will prepare a 6-8 minute presentation that will be given live on 5/15.

The live presentation will be very similar to the Final Project screencast, but will provide more opportunity for discussion, and Q & A.

Both the screencast and the live presentation should include the following:

• A demonstration of your finished project (at least finished for the time-being b/c most of these projects will continue to develop over the next year)
• The practical uses you foresee for your students and yourself.
• How you envision this project will evolve over the next school year and over the next 5 years.
• The potential benefit to teaching and learning, as well as the financial benefit to the district or state, as a whole.
• Include directions for anyone watching about how to find your project on their own.  (what is the url, site it was uploaded to, save location...)
• Lastly, please add any other important details that you feel should be mentioned or shared.

Additionally, there may be several opportunities, after the semester closes, for anyone that may be interested.  


Holly Walsh,the Instructional Technology and eLearning staff member at RIDE, has expressed some interest in seeing your finished projects and possibly having some of you present them with me at the next "Innovations through Technology" conference that RIDE sponsors.

Also, Senator O'Neill, the Chairman of the Joint Legislative Commission to Study the Use of eTextbooks in RI, has expressed interest in hearing about the Final Projects that you have developed.

Once again,I would like to have our last face-to-face class at WHS on May 15th from 3-6pm.


====================================

In this, our concluding session, I've included this potpourri of remaining resources that I know to be powerful, useful, and practical.  These resources never made it into this semester's weekly sessions either due to the sheer size of the workload per week or b/c I just couldn't find the best fit for them. So, knowing the value of these items I couldn't very well not share them with you.  That's why I've added this compilation in Session 11.

As I stated above, your Final Projects will be due by midnight of May 10th.  


==============================================

Let's start this week with a video explaining Project Gutenberg. (If an ad comes up, make sure you skip it.)




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Readings: 

• "Who needs a bulky textbook?"

• SLJ's 2011 Technology Survey: Things Are Changing. Fast.

• "Textbook-free Schools Share Experiences, Insights"

• " The App Squad: SLJ's advisors weigh in on kids' book apps
• Student Comprehension of Books in Kindle and Traditional Formats
by Michael Milone, a research psychologist and educational writer at Renaissance Learning. He asked students in two fourth-grade classes located in the Upper Midwest to read up to six books from a selected list of a dozen popular fiction titles that included Eleanor Estes's Ginger Pye (Harcourt, 1951), Gary Paulsen's Lawn Boy (Random, 2007), Mary Pope Osborne's Sunset of the Sabertooth The 31 students—who read a total of 135 books, 69 on the Kindle and 66 in print—were asked to alternate between reading half of the books on the Kindle and the other half in a bound, printed format.

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Teachers and eBooks: What's the Story?
View the Recording
Read the Chat TranscriptFeb 8, 2011: e-Book Lending and Borrowing for Beginners

Webinar
Public Chat Transcript

Jan 11, 2011: eReader Device Comparison
WebinarPublic Chat Transcript

Watch and listen to: "eBooks, eReaders and the Role of Mobile Devices" and

March 8, 2011: Ereaders in the Classroom

"Using eBooks to Motivate Students"

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Kansas State Dept of Ed. 
This webpage contains open access resources and digital textbooks that are available within the public domain. They are not copyrighted and may be customized, modified, or combined with other materials.

Enjoy these resources! It was a pleasure working with you this semester. The enthusiasm in some of your posts was contagious. Through the years I've worked with plenty of districts that didn't encourage their employees to strive and reach for new goals. I hope this course has convinced you that over the next few years we're going to see exponential growth in the use of eBooks for all purposes. Education won't be far behind, and you, the participants of this course, will be the leaders of this movement.