922-Session 9-iPads and iBooks

Welcome to Session 9

You can't talk about eBooks and Digital Content  and not address Apple's dominance in the tablet arena.  There's no doubt that their current market share (51% in 2012) is a force to be reckoned with.  I've taught this course a few times before, but its content and focus has shifted a tremendous amount.  What was important and trendy in the 2010 Spring semester is very different today.  The first iPads didn't hit the shelves until April of 2010.  No one could have predicted the explosive growth, so given this information I've decided to spend the bulk of this week on Apple's iPad and the new iBooks product.  

In March of 2012 Apple came out with their newest version of the iPad.  Some call it the iPad 3, but that's not official.

Learn about it here, but I warn you, you'll probably want to buy one after this:

Then see some of the engineers demo the product:

And lastly, here are some of the additional features:

Now let's transition to their most recent publicity hype for the new iBooks project called the Apple Education Event read about it here.  Let's remember though that as interesting as this sounds it's all just a big commercial. Apple's in the business of making money, so you won't find many mentions of Open Content.  The first 10 minutes are just talking, but the demonstration starts around minute 10.   

Now a few of you may be interested in learning how to create books using Apple's iBooks Author tool.  It may be too advanced for most of you, but if you ever want to learn how you can always come back to our class web blog here and refresh your memories. We hear about that here.

Now if you wanted to find textbooks for your iPad then you can see an overview here:

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Now the flipside

We've now seen the promos, infomercials, and Apple employee demos, so let's balance things out with some outside reviews, analysis, and feedback.


First let's start with a webcast recording from Edukwest entitled: "What do iBooks mean for the eBook/eTextbook industry?"

Summary: The eTextbook industry got a big publicity and market education boost with Apple’s announcements in 2012. What it didn’t get was the market revolution it could have.





You can take a break now!  Go for a walk and clear your head.  I'm sure that's been a lot of video.  When you come back I'd like you to read, "The new iPad (2012) review"  from iMore.  They have a nice breakdown of the pros, cons, and overall assessment.
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Next you can use the following three sections as a go-to guide to help you answer most of the faq's.

2012 iPad buyer's guide

How to sell your old iPad before upgrading to the new iPad Buy vs upgrade vs skip: Should you get the new iPad? iPad 2 vs the new iPad: Which should you get? New iPad vs BlackBerry PlayBook vs Amazon Kindle Fire: Should you go big or go budget?

AT&T vs Verizon: Which 4G LTE new iPad should you get? Rogers vs Bell vs Telus: Which 4G LTE new iPad should Canadians get? 16GB vs 32GB vs 64GB: Which new iPad storage capacity should you get? Black vs white: Which new iPad should you choose?

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2012 iPad user's guide

How to set up your new iPad with iCloud or iTunes How to use: Email, iMessage, Contacts,Dictation, Wi-Fi Hotspot (Tethering),Playlists, Twitter, Facebook, Skype,AirPrint, AirPlay, Dictation, Find my iPad

• iOS 5 walkthrough, iOS 5.1 update
• How to get: Music, Movies, & TV Shows,Apps & Game, iBooks & Kindle books,Magazines & Newspapers

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I hope I didn't drown you too much in everything 'iPad'.  And if you didn't finish practicing embedding some Google Forms into your digital textbook (assigned under Session 8), then please try to complete it asap.

We have two more weeks until RI school's  April Break, so let's try to add as much material as we can to our eTextbook project before then and maybe we can take a week off from this work for vacation.

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 Session 8C below.

session8A

session8B

More PowerPoint presentations from Dave

session8C

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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, and this is a Holiday weekend for many, the comments, form embeds, and links to them will not be due until 4/6.

Have fun exploring this week.
Dave
PS--Please find past participants' comments below:
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:
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--I noticed that some people placed their midterm project screencasts under S6 and some under the "mid-term updates" session.  It's obviously best if we put them all in a central location, so if you could all make sure that you place them under this S7 entry in the comments that would be great.  Just to reiterate, please include the details below in your mid-term assignment:

• 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.

Mid-Term Updates

I thought that I would take a moment during our Spring Break to clarify some of the updates and changes that we discussed during our last f2f meeting about course requirements and expectations.

Usually the mid-term is to create a informative presentation geared towards your Administration.  You can see some examples from past semester participants here.

Given the unusual dynamic of having all of our participants from the same site-based cohort we decided to modify our mid-term requirements.  Please find expectations below due before Session 7 (3/18/13):

• 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.
• Demonstration should walk us through how to find your project, what you have included so far, which specific course or courses it will support and your plans to expand and improve upon it over the next two months.
• Not sure if I missed anything that we discussed, but if so, please feel free to chime in your two cents in the comments below.