Publish your own eTextbook with iBooks Author

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:55:01 +0000

Apple dropped an educational bombshell last week by announcing a new venture into the textbook market. Besides providing separate iTunesU access for course materials (more on this next week), the announcement included the release of iBooks Author, a free app for creating eTextbooks right on your Mac laptop or desktop computer. With the iBooks Author app, textbook writers can bring multimedia right into their book to help bring the content to life. An author can pull videos, podcasts, images and other media alongside their writing, allowing students to interact with the content as they read. This type of publication is really not new. People have been using Mac’s word processing program Pages to create ePubs for years. The downside, however, is that the ePub formatting in Pages could be a little daunting. iBooks Author simplifies the process tremendously. Just drag and drop different chapters and sections and paste your content in. Want to add a video? Just drag it in. Want to link to a webpage? Piece of cake. The best part is being able to preview your efforts on your iPad as you work. Once you’re finished writing and editing your book, simply publish it to the iTunesU site where users can purchase and download your text.

While the authoring process has been streamlined, some challenges and concerns emerge. First off, I experienced a little trouble previewing my eTextbook on my iPad 2 because I hadn’t updated my iBooks version. Also, the file (only about 25 pages with a few short videos) became so large that I couldn’t easily share it with anyone else. Coming in at 125 Mb, the file locked up my email and even crashed my DropBox! The only way that I could actually preview the book was to connect my iPad to my computer with a cable. At first, I thought this was just the nature of ePub. With all of the multimedia included in eBooks, the files were bound to get large. But as I’ve thought about this some more, I wonder whether this challenge is by design. The real motivation is to get authors to share their eBooks (or iBooks) through Apple’s iBookstore. I’m certain sharing the file through their system would be much easier.

But that’s where my other concerns emerge. I’ve been reading a lot about the iBooks Author’s End Users Licensing Agreement (EULA). The EULA governs what authors can and can’t do with the content they’ve written with the iBooks Author app and what they’ve uploaded to the iBookstore. Some authors are concerned that the EULA is overly restrictive, forbidding them from selling their iBook publications through any other service. Others are interpreting the EULA as restricting any content that is authored using the iBooks Author app, whether it is uploaded onto the iBookstore or not. This is pretty far reaching stuff. Imagine if Microsoft claimed some ownership documents produced with Word or presentation created with PowerPoint! That’s how some people are interpreting the EULA for the iBooks Author app. Personally, I’m holding off publishing my book to the iBookstore until more clarity emerges regarding the EULA.

To read a more comprehensive overview of the EULA concerns, check out:

Apple’s iBook Author EULA is more and less evil than you think

The Unprecedented Audacity of the iBooks Author EULA

Examining “what the pedagogy requires”

Ollie Dreon — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:55:03 +0000

Educause recently published a comprehensive examination of technology ownership by collegiate students. In the study of 3,000 students in 1,179 American institutions, Educause reported that almost 87% of undergraduate students owned laptops. They also reported that 55% of students owned web-enabled “smartphones” that allowed connection to the Internet. As a professor who teaches instructional technology courses and studies student use of technology, I see these statistics as a blessing and as a curse. While these devices can provide tremendous opportunities for educators and their students, they also can create distractions in classrooms and have the ability to undermine assessment integrity. Faced with these concerns, I understand when my colleagues ban the devices from their classrooms and teach in technology-free zones. But also I hope (and work) for better. One of the reasons I started this blog over two years ago was to help educators develop skills to utilize technology in meaningful ways in their classes. In this blog, I try to highlight instructional strategies that are pedagogically sound and incorporate technology to engage students and foster new means of collaboration and learning. While I feature a lot of different websites and tools on this blog, my focus is always on education and learning. I came across this quote by Diana Laurillard recently that captures my philosophy of technology integration and the motivation behind my work:

“We have to be careful not to focus simply on what the technology offers, but rather on what the pedagogy requires.”

While I agree completely with Ms. Laurillard, before educators can effectively integrate technology, they need to have a grasp of what technology can offer and how it can support any pedagogical requirements. This involves educators having more than a passing knowledge of the digital terrain. They need to know how technology can support collaboration and communication and how it can help to form learning communities. I don’t take a “technology first” approach when planning lessons for my students. I don’t squeeze blogging artificially into some lesson just to have my students blog. This is like having a hammer and treating every lesson like a nail. I start with my instructional objectives and choose instructional strategies based on these objectives. At times, this might mean utilizing no technology at all for a lesson. Other times, it might involve developing a fully online lesson where students communicate via a chat room. The important component, however, is that we as educators need to a have a variety of pedagogical strategies to draw upon when we plan and teach lessons. We wouldn’t want to artificially squeeze blogging into a lesson any more than we would want to lecture to students every day. We absolutely need to focus on what the pedagogy requires. But we also need to have a strong understanding of what technology can offer in order to make informed pedagogical decisions.

Social Reading on your iPad with Subtext

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:39:17 +0000

It seems that almost everything is going social these days. Want to watch an online video with friends? You can do it through Facebook or in a Google Hangout. Want to work on a presentation or a document with some colleagues? Check out Google Docs. But what if you want to read a book with someone else? Traditionally to add a social element to the reading experience, we’d loan the book to a friend or join a book club. With the increasing prevalence of connected reading devices like the Kindle, the iPad and the Nook, it was only a matter of time before someone brought a social networking aspect to the books we read. That’s where a free iPad app called Subtext comes in!

Subtext offers all of the functionality of other eReader apps but adds a unique social element that other apps lack. With Subtext, you can download eBooks from the Google eBookstore and engage in conversations with your friends. The app also allows readers to connect directly with authors from around the world and explore links to relevant articles, images and multimedia on the Internet. Subtext creates an online reading community where users can browse and preview books from their friends’ bookshelves. It creates a platform where “social reading” becomes a reality in the eBook world.

Used with students, Subtext can help educators create an online book club for their classroom where students discuss the content they’re reading with one another. This type of online interaction can help students construct meaning with the content they’re reading. Using an app like Subtext can help take the reader out of the book and encourage them to make connections, draw conclusions and summarize their thoughts by engaging in conversations with their peers. The online world has become a social place. With Subtext, reading eBooks has gone social as well.

Incorporate cellphone interaction with Celly

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:12:16 +0000

When I was twelve years old, my family purchased its first computer, a TRS-80. My father was sort of a computer guy and first learned to program using punch cards on a mainframe at a local university. He wanted his sons to learn to program as well and presented us with the TRS-80 for Christmas. My brothers and I learned to program in BASIC and we stored these very simple programs on cassettes after hours and hours of “coding.” We would anxiously run the program, hopeful that no error messages would disrupt the process.

I share these nerdy holiday memories to demonstrate how far we’ve come as a society. Thirty years ago, the TRS-80 was a relative novelty. Now, almost every teenager walks around with a device that is far more powerful than that computer. The Pew Internet Research Center reports that 75% of teenagers (ages 12-17) own cell phones. While educators often complain about these devices being huge distractions in classrooms, I think we miss the power that these devices hold. Although I doubt anyone is learning to program in BASIC on their cell phone, mobile devices can be tremendous tools, especially in classroom settings. Sites like PollEverywhere allow educators to easily create free cell phone polls to engage their students and assess their understanding. The downside of Polleverywhere, however, is that it only allows one-way communication. While its great that students can respond to a poll with a text message, the site isn’t really designed to promote teacher-student or student-student interaction.

That’s where Celly comes in. While Celly allows for student polling, it also offers so much more. With Celly, an educator can create a “cell” to promote communication and interaction across a group of students. The cell can be tailored in a variety of ways, allowing teachers to customize how they interact with their students. A teacher can create a cell to send out text announcements to students or create a cell that allows students to interact with one another. For those of you who may be concerned about privacy, Celly blocks the phone numbers from text messages so you don’t need to be worried about being texted by students in the middle of the night.

The important thing to remember is that cell phones can be powerful communication devices when used properly. While we don’t want to promote texting while driving or personal texting during class time, we can’t forget that cell phones are mini-computers with tremendous computing power. Celly can help us expand how we communicate and interact with our students and, best of all, it’s free! For help getting started, check out this Celly guide and this short tutorial.

Top 8 from the 8 Blog for 2011

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:10:27 +0000

As the year comes to an end, I thought I’d get in the “Tops of 2011″ spirit. Instead of sharing the top movies or songs of the year as often happens, I decided to share the 8 most viewed posts from the 8 Blog for this calendar year. 2011 was a great year for the 8 Blog. The site had over 13,000 views from people around the world. I continue to be humbled by the response to this blog and I wish all of the 8 Blog readers a Happy 2012!

1. Nine copyright-friendly sites for student multimedia projects

2. Turn your iPad into an Interactive Whiteboard

3. Capture lessons on your iPad and flip your classroom

4. Sites for students to create their own comics

5. Exploring group video conferencing option

6. Public domain images for student projects

7. Find and download images easily from Microsoft Clip Art Online

8. Telling stories digitally

Google Docs introduces stock photos

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:38:08 +0000

Google Docs just keeps getting better! For those of you who have used Google Docs, I’m sure you already appreciate its ability to allow real-time collaboration in online word processing documents, presentations and spreadsheets. Used in educational settings, Google Docs can be a tremendous tool to help groups of students work together on projects and to allow them to edit the work of their peers.

One of the challenges with Google Docs, however, is that there is no real clip art or image library. I know this may seem like a minor feature, but for many educators, this is a deal breaker. If students are using Microsoft Office applications, for instance, they have access to a full library of copyright-free images to support their work. If they are developing a document, they can easily incorporate images without searching the web or worrying about determining the copyright status of an image they’ve obtained. Until recently, Google Docs did not offer the same functionality. To incorporate an image, a student needed to upload one of their own or search through Google Images to find one, which could expose students to undesirable material. Google Docs has alleviated these challenges by incorporating stock photos into their Office suite. Now, students can search through an online library to find appropriate images that relate to their topic and simply click to include them. It really couldn’t be any easier. To access the stock photography features, however, be sure that you’re using the new version of Google Docs. That’s one of the best parts of using a service like Google Docs. New features are constantly being added without the need to purchase anything. In the current economic climate that many schools face, free educational tools that offer a wide range of services are critical.

Backchanneling with TodaysMeet

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:14:52 +0000

As class sizes continue to grow, educators are exploring new ways to connect with students and engage them in classroom discussions. For instance, “clickers” are becoming more popular as assessment tools in classrooms. Clickers function like game show response systems and can provide real time data on what students understand and what they are struggling with. When used effectively, clickers can be great tools to interact with a large class of students. One of my reservations about clickers, however, is that the system is fundamentally built upon the educator asking questions (usually of the multiple choice variety) and students responding. While this type of classroom discourse can be beneficial for students, I feel we need to create more opportunities to dialogue with students in large classes, allowing to students to ask their questions and contribute to the discussion.

One technology-based solution is called a “backchannel.” A backchannel is the practice of having an online conversation alongside a face-to-face presentation. Backchannels are hardly new but the tools are becoming easier to use and more mobile. For instance, I’ve attended a handful of presentations recently that used TodaysMeet to allow attendees to discuss concepts and to ask questions during the presentation. TodaysMeet is easy to set up and works with smartphones, laptops and iPads. Simply name your backchannel room, select how long you want the room to be active and you’re ready to go. Once the link is shared with students, they can begin contributing to the backchannel during a classroom lesson after they’ve created a backchannel alias.

While the backchannel is a viable solution for creating discussions in large classes, I want to caution educators who may want to jump into the backchanneling world. Many students are not used to this type of communication and may struggle at first with how to use the tool effectively. Although it may be easy to technically participate in a backchannel, using the space for real productive dialogue may take some time to develop. Educators may want to outline some basic ground rules beforehand to help guide students to use the backchannel appropriately. Once these ground rules are set, however, students may respond positively to the backchannel platform and may find having an “alias” liberating. The backchannel may free them to ask questions they may be less comfortable asking in the face-to-face environment, especially when they’re sitting a big classroom with a large group of students.

More communication options with extras in Google Hangouts

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:24:58 +0000

Google continues to develop it’s social networking platform (Google+) by adding a bunch of new features to make the tool more social and collaborative. This week, I thought I’d outline some of the new features and how the features can be used in education. While some people may be happy to hear that Google has recently added games like Angry Birds to the Google+ plaform, I’m really excited that they’ve incorporated more communication and collaboration options in Hangouts. For those of you who might not know, Hangouts is Google+’s collaboration commons area. With this tool, a Google+ user can create a Hangout and invite some friends. Inside the Hangout, the group can chat, video chat and watch Youtube videos together. A Hangout can support up to 10 friends simultaneously, which rivals sites like Skype. When Google+ first came out, I thought the Hangouts feature was really promising and hoped they would expand its collaboration ability by adding connectivity to Google Docs. I figured it was a natural progression to the site and would allow the Hangout to be more work related and less of a place to …. hang out.

Google+ has added Google Docs connectivity (and several other features) be releasing a “Hangouts with Extras” option which can expand the ways we interact with another and with our students. Imagine you want to meet with a group of students online. If all of the students are on Google+, you can invite them to a Hangout, open a file from Google Docs and the group can edit the document together. This would be great for groups who are writing a paper together or collaborating on a group project. A teacher could also use this feature to lead small group lessons by pulling presentation slides from Google Docs. The teacher could also let students give their presentations to the rest of the group in the Hangout or use the slides as a means for displaying artwork for critique.

My only real reservation with the Google Docs feature is that individual users control what they see in their Hangout. Even though I can share a presentation with an entire group of students in a Hangout, each student individually would need to view the presentation and advance the slides on their own. This is hardly ideal and would create some confusion with students undoubtedly being on different slides or advancing the presentation at different rates. I was, however, able to use another new feature (screen sharing) to conduct a presentation that was a little more pedagogically sound. With screen sharing, a user can replace their video feed with any window on their computer. This would be great for demonstrating some computer function, showing some website, walking through manipulating some file or for conducting a presentation. To show a presentation, I opened a Google Doc slideshow in a new window and then chose “screen sharing” which displayed the presentation to everyone in the Hangout. While they could no longer see me (my video feed was replaced by the presentation), they could still hear me as I advanced through the slides. While this functionality is certainly available in a bunch of commercial course tools (Eluminate, Wimba, etc), Google+ is a free resource and is available to a wider audience. In fact, Google+ has appropriated some other features from commercial synchronous course tools that would be helpful. For instance, you can now invite people into a Hangout by calling their phone number, which would be great for bringing guest speakers into an online class or for involving students in an online discussion who might not be near a computer. Besides these features, Hangouts also offers a collaborative Sketchpad and a Notes page. All of these extra options are only available when you click “Hangouts with extras” when you log in. Used in concert, however, these “extra” Hangout tools can allow us to create productive learning environments for our students, even when we interact and teach online.

Use QR codes to share documents with TagMyDoc

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:53:33 +0000

The invasion of QR codes continues. I went to the movies recently and was attacked by those little square images. They were in the lobby, on the popcorn box, on my soda cup and even on the movie screen during the previews. QR codes are like UPC codes that grocery stores use except they can be used to communicate all sorts of information. QR codes can to link to websites, videos and online surveys, which makes them really popular commercially. Look around and it seems that everyone is getting into the QR code business.

For regular readers of the 8 Blog, you may remember that I discussed how to create QR codes a few months ago and provided some ideas for using QR codes educationally. With TagMyDoc, however, QR codes are now even more useful. TagMyDoc allows users to add QR codes to a document which can redirect others to a digital copy of the document online. Imagine including QR codes on your handouts. A student who loses a copy can simply scan the QR code from a classmate and she can download a digital copy for herself. TagMyDoc can also be used with conference presentations. Instead of emailing Powerpoint slides to interested attendees, include a QR code into the final slide of your presentation and let people download copies themselves.

While the site is in Beta development, TagMyDoc still offers a great deal of functionality at this time. Signing up for a free Basic account gives users 1 GB of space to upload their documents and unlimited scanning of documents. This means that once a document is saved onto TagMyDoc, an unlimited number of people can scan the QR code and download the associated file. Another benefit is that the site can handle a variety of file types, allowing users to share their digital images (jpg, tiff, png, bmp or gif) or their documents (doc, docx, ppt, pptx or pdf). securely.

By uploading files to TagMyDoc, educators can help support environmentally responsible actions by replacing paper copies with digital ones. TagMyDoc also allows educators to provide resources for students using mobile devices. There are TagMyDoc apps in development for iOS and Android devices and Add-ins for Microsoft Word and Powerpoint are also being planned. The site can also act as cloud storage for educators who may not have access to similar services in their schools. Whether you plan to use TagMyDoc or QR codes in your classroom, get used to seeing the little square monsters around. The invasion is almost complete.

Collaborate on documents with Crocodoc

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:27:43 +0000

Sometimes, sharing and collaborating on documents can be a real challenge. If I want to share a document with someone, I have to make sure they’re using a word processing application that can open and edit my document. I also have to make sure that my document doesn’t get lost in their email inbox or caught in their spam filter. If I’m sharing the document with a group of people, the collaboration problems multiply. Who has the latest version? Who has contributed so far? How can I coordinate all of the individual comments and suggestions efficiently? It can be a real headache.

Crocodoc was built to alleviate some of these collaboration challenges, diminishing the need to email attachments back and forth, print and pass around hard copies, or install expensive collaboration software. With Crocodoc, users can upload PDFs, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations and view and mark them up online. Documents can be shared with others, who can collaboratively highlight or strikeout text, add notes and comments, and make revisions. All files are stored securely on the Crocodoc servers, and can be password protected and encrypted for maximum security. Crocodoc even works with iPads, allowing people to collaborate on documents from a variety of platforms.

Used educationally, Crocodoc can allow groups of students to share their comments on an article they’re reading. Art educators can upload a photograph for discussion and assign their students to share their critiques. In a writing class, groups of students could edit one another’s compositions and provide feedback to each other. Since Crocodoc records the history of each document, educators can see who has contributed so far, which can be really helpful for assessing student work. With its intuitive navigation, Crocodoc really takes a bite out of the challenges of collaboration.

Remembering our most important mission: Keeping children safe!

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:49:00 +0000

For those of you who might not know, I’m a proud Penn State alumnus. Recent allegations of sexual abuse at my alma mater has really shaken me to my core. As more information came to light last week, my initial feelings of disbelief evolved into complete anger and then lastly into utter sadness. While I am still struggling with these intense emotions, I feel like I need to do something to channel my anger and sadness for something productive and educational. The courts will ultimately decide the guilt and innocence for those involved but I think one observation is clear from the information released so far: more could have been done to protect the victims. This week, rather than feature some innovative instructional tool, I’m going to highlight a few online resources for keeping students safe. As educators, I believe that’s our most critical mission.

Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW)

Coordinated by the US Department of Justice, this website contains a searchable database for registered sex offenders across the country. Following Megan’s Law, people convicted of sex crimes against children are required to notify local law enforcement of any change of address or employment after release from custody. Different states disclose different information about sex offenders but the information is house in local and national databases. Both can be accessed through the NSOPW. Besides the searchable database, the NSOPW also contains important educational materials for preventing sexual abuse and warning signs for identifying possible abuse and offenders.

Parents for Megan’s Law

Parents for Megan’s Law (PFML) is a tremendous resource dedicated to the prevention and treatment of sexual abuse through “the provision of education, advocacy, counseling, victim services, policy and legislative support services.” PFML provides links to a multitude of sites and services that can support victims, parents and educators. Funded through a not-for-profit agency, PFML also maintains a 24-Hour hotline which can assist victims and refer them to necessary services. The hotline is based in New York state and can be reached at 1-800- ASK- PFML.

Stop it Now!

Stop it Now! provides resources and publications to address key concerns around child sexual abuse. It provides materials to help identify warning signs of victims and offenders and resources to educate parents and community members on how to prevent child abuse. While copies of publications can be ordered through the site, free downloads are also available. Besides these materials, the site also provides links to different advocacy groups and several support lines. The site even offers an Online Help Center which walks visitors through a series of questions to gauge individual situations and provide information, guidance and support based on the responses provided. In addition to these services, the site also maintains a Helpline at 1-888-PREVENT. While the Helpline is not manned daily, it does provide an outlet for those in need.

Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline

Childhelp maintains the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD. This service is dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and serves the United States, its territories, and Canada. The Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with professional crisis counselors who, through interpreters, can provide assistance in 170 languages. The Hotline offers crisis intervention, information, literature, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are anonymous and confidential.

Give presentations using your iPad with SlideShark

Ollie Dreon — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:17:43 +0000

As iPads become more prevalent, I’m starting to see more and more apps that allow people to use their iPad in new ways. Take SlideShark for example. SlideShark is a free app that allows people to use their iPads to show presentations they’ve created with Powerpoint. The process couldn’t be easier. After creating an account with SlideShark, simply upload your Powerpoint file to the website and the site will convert the presentation to play on your iPad. When you run the SlideShark app on your iPad, all of your presentations will appear. Just download the individual files you need and you can show the presentation even when you don’t have a wireless Internet connection. The site claims that it will maintain all of the transitions and effects in a presentation, but I haven’t tested out all of the possibilities to confirm this claim. If you have a presentation with loads of non-linear navigation, I would suggest trying out the presentation before you actually use it academically.

SlideShark is a great application to use when you’re giving presentations at conferences or meeting with students one-on-one. It utilizes the iPad’s mobility features and its intuitive gestures to make showing a Powerpoint presentation effortless. That being said, I have a couple of minor reservations with SlideShark. First, the site only offers 25 Mb of online storage for free. A few image intensive presentations could easily surpass the free account, which is probably by design. There are also some management issues that users need to be aware of. For a presentation to appear on an iPad, it must be stored online. If it’s deleted online, it will not be available on your iPad, even if you downloaded it previously. Again, this process is probably by design to prompt users to purchase more storage through SlideShark. With some thoughtful maneuvering of files, however, someone could easily avoid paying anything to store their files. I plan to just cycle the files I currently need and back-up the files offline. That way, I’ll have the ability to show the files I’m currently using but avoid paying any storage fees at all.

For help getting starting with SlideShark, be sure to check out this tutorial: