Reading Book Creator Books on a Macbook and More

I was so very excited to receive the newest update for the Book Creator app for iPad last night. This update offers extra support for ePub 3 which now makes it possible to read Book Creator multimedia books on a Macbook or even a Windows computer.

I eagerly tried it out and it works really well! I even tried it on my husband's Windows computer. Take a look!

A lot of my books that I have already made with Book Creator can already work using Chrome with the free Readium app.

Here's how you make it work ...

Download the Chrome browser here and then be sure to add the Readium app from the Chrome store. Get it from here.

Then you click on the + sign to add books from your computer hard drive. Here is a photo of the book  'Our Batak House' made in Sumatra during the Backpack Classroom project being read on a Windows computer. In case you're wondering ... yes all of the voice recordings work well.

Here is a screen shot from within the browser. I am so excited about this development. The new update for Book Creator offers even more support for this. Now you no longer need an iPad to read books that have been created on an iPad. This means that even more people can read the books that we create.
Perhaps even Android might get into this and make an app to support Chrome with Readium?

iPad Learning - Using iPads as a Learning Tool

I am often asked what are the best apps for learning with iPads. Actually it's not just about the apps. It's about the teaching and learning. I am fortunate to work in an IB school and as a part of a team. This team compromises of another year level teacher, an EAL teacher (just for our two classes) and an Indonesian teacher with a strong inquiry background.

We plan together and teach together. One of the great things about that is amongst us there is a lot of experience from which we can draw so many ideas. I want to give you a glimpse into the current learning in my class.

The inquiry is all about conflict. What is conflict, how it is caused and the different ways it is resolved ... or not resolved. I teach 9 year old children and the point of this unit of learning is for my students to learn to describe everyday conflicts and to learn how these conflicts are resolved and hopefully learn about some strategies for themselves.

Have you noticed yet that I'm not talking about apps but about the learning?

During Literacy time I have been doing a novel study with the class. I chose to study Anne of Green Gables as there are so many examples of conflict in this story that my class can relate to. I have 1:1 iPads in my classroom. I was able to locate many iPad books of Anne of Green Gables but I have chosen an ESL version which is simplified and much more accessible for my students.

I like this version because it has illustrations throughout the text and it comes complete with comprehension tasks at the end of the book. My students are creating a book review using the Book Creator app on their iPads as we read the story and watch the movie in parts. We don't need any paper because we read and create the review directly on the iPads.

Anyways, back to the iMovie Conflict Theatre task. As my class is developing their understanding of how to describe conflicts, they have been placed in small groups of 3 to create a script based on a conflict that they have experienced themselves at school.

I really like for my students to work in groups to write. This gives them an opportunity to learn from one another. The students were asked to write for 3 roles; the narrator, the protagonist and the antagonist.

Here is an example script written by one of the groups using Pages on the iPad:

     

 Being a Bully

Narrator : There was a girl called Amy. She had a big problem about being bullied at school. Kelly was a bully and she was always saying bad words to Amy.

Amy : I don't have any friends to play with so I don't want to go to school.

Kelly : How come you don't have any friends like me!

Amy : ...

Narrator : Amy always ignores her. She always using the avoiding strategy.

Narrator : The next day Kelly came to Amy to bully her again.

Kelly : Give me that iPad!

Amy : No I don't want you to take my iPad because you already have one.

Keily : Hey I said give me your iPad!

Amy : But I am still using it right now.

Kelly : I said now Amy!!!

Amy : Fine I will read a book instead of using my iPad. You can have my iPad now. I can continue my work with my iPad later on when you return it.

Narrator : Amy was using the accommodating strategy.

Narrator : At lunch time Kelly approached Amy at the cafe.

Kelly : Hey you ugly girl.

Narrator : Amy couldn't deal with this problem anymore so she decided to force Kelly to stop bullying her. Kelly pushed Amy.

Amy : Try to hit me more. I will hit you back!

Kelly : Ok, if you lose you have to buy lunch for me.

Narrator : So they started fighting but the fight didn't stop. Then school was over for the day. This is using the forcing strategy.

Narrator : The next day Amy tried to trade something that Kelly needs so she would be nicer to Amy. Kelly tried to using the compromising strategy.

Amy : I really want to be good friends with you.

Kelly : I don't want any friends like you.

Amy : If you will be friends with me, I will help you with math.

Kelly : hmmm.. Let me think.....

Narrator : They became friends just for that day.

Narrator : The following week, Kelly bullied  Amy again. So Amy tried to find a new tactic. This time she tried the collaborating strategy.

Amy : Kelly if you don't stop bullying me I will write this problem my the blog so everyone will read it and know who you really are.

Kelly : I dare you, you jerk!!

Amy : I don't care if I am a jerk but I want to stop this bullying forever.

Kelly : mmmmmm....... Ok. Lets just stop this thing.

Kelly : I'm so sorry......

Narrator : So they became best friends forever after they had tried so many different solutions. 

This script was written by two girls and a boy. Now that the script is ready having been emailed to the teacher and checked and emailed back, the next step was to make it into an iMovie. Here is a short film of some of the students actually filming their iMovies. Before each group went out to film, they sat with a teacher and broke their script into scenes. They also learned about camera angles, how best to shoot with an iPad and how to act out their scene making it interesting and full of action! 

So far it's looking very nice. The kids are learning about using their voice, facial expressions and their hands to convey emotion. How can kids learn this? Well, I simply project the video clips via airplay to my Mac and project them up in the classroom. As we watch each take, we can discuss what works and what doesn't. I'm looking forward to tomorrow to finishing the captures so that we can begin the editing process.

An International Audience

Yesterday I took at look at the download stats for my 6 students who have recently published to the Apple iBookstore. We were thrilled to discover on the US iBookstore all six of my published students are currently in the top 150 downloads for children's non-fiction books. It was quite awe inspiring to project this screen up in the classroom. We decided to take a small 'world tour' of different iBookstores to see just how many countries are featuring these books. 

We learned that in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and the Netherlands, some or even all of these students are ranked in the top 200 downloads. That's quite an achievement for a group of 9 year old students.

The books that these kids have written are research-based and focus on a particular body system. The kids had to cite their sources correctly with author, year, title and page number or website and all photos, videos and diagrams were produced my the students themselves.

We also noticed that some students from our school who published last academic year are still ranking. It is obvious that most of the downloading is happening in the US. We have consistently had the most attention from that country. This is being closely followed by the UK and Australia.

What an exciting time to be a student!!

The Backpack Classroom Part 1

I want to try to tell you all the story of the Backpack Classroom. This is part one. I am going to need several attempts to tell this story. The Backpack Classroom was an initiative led by me to teach storytelling on iPads at the Tambunan Village in North Sumatra. I intend to publish an iBook on the whole project later. This blog will act as a place to get my thoughts organized for that iBook.

I am married to a Batak. His family comes from North Sumatra and we have been to visit our village several times. Our village is very remote. It takes about 8 hours (if there is no traffic) to drive there from Medan. Villages in Sumatra are quite small. There are about 40 houses in this village. Some houses are new and some are the traditional ones with the big curved roofs that look like boats.

This time we visited our village we had a new goal. I have been wanting for some time to do some storytelling workshops with the local children. I loaded up my backpack with 5 iPads (3 iPad 2s, an iPad 1 and an iPad Mini) along with an iPad camera kit, a DSLR and my Macbook Air. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do much teaching as it is school holidays, but I was hoping that I could run some informal workshops.

The night we arrived the word passed around and to my delight our house soon filled up with children from Kindergarten to Grade 9. I am fortunate to have wonderful children of my own who were able to act as mentors. That night we pulled out the 5 iPads and introduced the village to interactive stories on the iPad. The kids were amazed and loved to read the stories that I had loaded that were all written by my students in Jakarta.

I tried my best to explain that these stories had been written by children and published to the iBookstore. Then I pulled out Kayla's book 'The Skeletal System' that had been printed up, they finally understood that these books were actually books. Everyone wanted to write a story - but then came the tricky part - the kids had to come up with their own stories.

I knew that my best strategy is to lead by example so I decided to make a story about the house next door. This house is a traditional house. I decided to make a simple story about the four grand daughters of the house. Here is the cover of the book.

I will have to finish this post later. I need to put the final touches on this book and upload it to the iBookstore.

Kids in My Current Class Are Now Published!

I have been teaching my current students to write non-fiction books. These books are research-based and contain direct field research as well and book-based research.

We are proud to announce these books have been published.

The first one was written by Sharon Prijanto and can be found on the Apple iBookstore here.

The second one was written by Kayla Kurnia and can be found on the Apple iBookstore here.

The third one was written by Xavier Smith and can be found on the Apple iBookstore here.

Write Now 1000 - Kids Writing for Kids

My school, Sinarmas World Academy has started on a huge publishing project called Write Now 1000. The aim is to publish 1000 books over the next 7 months! If you want to read up about this project - take a look here Write Now 1000.

I am proud that this project is a direct result of a Publishing Project sandbox that I led from January to May, 2012. I worked with several students to create and publish iBooks to the Apple iBookstore. This resulted in the publishing of 10 books, some were written by students and some were written by me. As well as the 10 that were published to the iBookstore, there were about 70 other books created by students that were published to the school website.

In my own current class of Grade 4 students, I have been working with the class to write non-fiction books about the latest Unit of Inquiry. Each student has written their own book on their iPad. We used the app called Book Creator for iPad.

The difference ...

I have witnessed the awesome difference when you put publishing in the hands of students. 

My students are each creating a resource that will be available for download across the world. This is authentic learning at its' best. My students have a voice. The books that they are creating are giving them a platform to share their work as a finished product. Writing a book is a very different experience to writing on a website or blog. The book is created as a finished product - it becomes an artifact. 

Writing a book is a fantastic way to make connections in learning and to reflect on learning. Each book in my class has been research-based, includes student created photos, videos, voice recordings and hand-drawn diagrams. The students have learned about cover design, contents page, how to cite information, layout, font, color, relating pictures to text, creating accurate diagrams and how to put it all into a sequence from the beginning to the end of the book.

I am witnessing some deep thinking and there is such an excitement about the books. I am constantly seeking different ways for students to communicate their learning. I use a LOT of visual learning. In these books the students had to really demonstrate their understanding of their chosen body system by creating diagrams to go along with their text.

Each student wrote an explanation about a body system and an information report about a focus part of that body system. To go beyond the text, each student had to draw accurate diagrams to accompany their words. They also had to create a movie showing an experiment or demonstration that linked to the body system. As well as this they also took their iPads home and took pictures showing how they can actively keep their body system healthy at home.

iPads are so great for this. They are easy to use, capture is so immediate and creating dynamic digital inter-actives is very easy to do. It changes the whole way we think about learning. So much of education is text based. I love being able to create opportunities for my students to communicate visually.

Recently my class had the opportunity to share their books with a younger class. They were so excited to show their books and talk about the body system that they had researched. Each of these books averages at about 35 pages. It's become a very big task but a very interesting one.

Mind you I have read the books many, many times to check for spelling, grammar, factual text, that the facts have been reported correctly and information cited properly. I also have to check the quality of the images (not blurry and connects well to the text), that the font is consistent and easy to read. I also check that the layout is balanced. Even that a good contrast between text and page color has been achieved.

My students are fortunate that they also have access to Ms Ade (Indonesian teacher with Science background) and Mr Lindsay (our grade level EAL teacher) who can check their writing and give valuable input.

Like I said, it is a BIG process but then again we are really publishing these books and putting them online.

The system that I use is as these children are under 13 years old, I invite the parents to come to school where I help them to set up the iTunes and iTunes Connect accounts. This means that the parent becomes the publisher and has full control over the book accounts.

Here below are two of the books that I have already uploaded to the Apple iBookstore. 

 

All the information in the books has been written by the students themselves and all the images and movies have been created by them as well.

My students are 9 years old but I have taught them a simple referencing style with author, year, book title and page number.





This week I hope to upload some more books to the iBookstore. Every book created in my class will go to the School Bookstore as a part of the Write Now 1000 project.

It's such an exciting process. The parents are really excited too and I look forward to blogging about the books after Apple has approved them.

The Ups and Downs of Being Back in the Classroom

This year I am back in the classroom full-time. I have been the Technology Coach at my school for the past four years and felt that I was getting too removed from teaching as a homeroom teacher. Last year I was back in the class part time but I really needed to go back in full time so that I could have the full responsibility for the class.

It has been four months and I need to reflect on my practice ...

Homeroom teachers are very busy people. There is so much to juggle but at the same time it is all about setting routines and sticking to them. Sometimes I do well and sometimes it's very hard. I am constantly struggling with keeping a balance, hitting all my goals and keeping it on track. I also work as a part of a team which can be very hard as we are all busy, all have commitments and all have different teaching styles and opinions.

The Ups ...

I love being able to connect with the students again. I am getting to know them more and more everyday and starting to see some progress. What I love is seeing how the whole writing process has gotten so much easier. At the start of the year I was lucky to get a few sentences from each student. Now most of my class can write in greater detail and much more quickly. I am even getting some consistency with paragraphing.

I am very proud of my students' most recent work which was to each write a digital book on a body system. They created these books on their iPads. Each student has written a book which is research based, includes a video, voice recordings, hand-drawn diagrams and photos that were taken by the students themselves. I have uploaded the first two books already to the Apple iBookstore and we now wait for them to be published. This week I hope to upload three more. 

Writing books is a very big process, especially when the books are research-based. I have proof-read these books over and over and over and yet I still find small errors. I have had to check each fact to make sure that the students have not changed the meaning when writing it into their own words. I have also had to check that they cited the resource correctly. I will write about this process in more depth in the next blog post.

In Math we started with a geometry unit which was fun and very practical. The following unit was measurement which has shown me how many students needed some explicit teaching but - now we are past that and into the final stretch. The upcoming unit is number which is proving to be more challenging. I have started some PD on my own which has already taught me so much. A colleague of mine put me onto this resource - NZ Numeracy Project. I have started to diagnose my class through a series of personal interviews. Wow! I am learning so much. It does take a long time to get through each one but I feel that learning about how my students actually think when working with numbers is invaluable.

The Downs ...

Differentiation is hard. I have a typical class which as you know has students who can work easily and those who struggle. There are learning needs in the mix that are really challenging me. I can ability group and I do but sometimes it is hard to work with groups that have such a great need for explicit teaching. I try hard to give personal attention to each student but often my focus will drift to those who have the greatest needs. I strive to give ample focus to the top students as they deserve attention too. Ohhh it's such a balancing act!! I often feel quite frustrated but this just makes me like it all the more. Teaching is the hardest job I know and that's exactly why I do it.

Now that I have settled into this year, I feel that the hard work is just about to begin and I look forward to the challenge.

Why I Gave Back the MacBooks and Asked for iPads

Yes - I gave back the MacBooks! Why? I have always been interested in the 'What if?'. When I first began to use iPads in classrooms (just after they had been released), I always wondered what it would be like to use iPads in a 1:1 environment instead of MacBooks.

I had only ever used iPads as an extra tool not as the 'go to' tool. I had always run back to using the MacBooks because that was how I knew how to do things. I wondered - what would it be like to just use iPads only?

I got the chance to do this for a couple months about 2 years ago. I did a small 1:1 program with K2 students. At that time I was the Technology Coach and only worked in that classroom once a week. The program ran for only 3 months and just as we were getting into it, the school year ended.

This year I am back in the classroom full time as the homeroom teacher. I felt that this was my chance to really put the iPads through their paces and see what could be done.

Many of my colleagues were skeptical - many doubted that I could make it work ...

I am writing this after about 3 weeks of using iPads in my class. Yes, there are things that work and things that don't work. There is good and bad. So many teachers expect technology to be able to 'do it all'. I'm not one of those people. I have no problem accepting that there are things that I cannot do.

The difference here is there are so many MORE things that I can do BETTER with iPads.

#1 Differentiation

Ok, I have a typical class. There are the high achievers, the middle and the strugglers. iPads can help me differentiate so well. It's easy to put different apps on different machines to cater to the learner.

#2 Instant-ness

Ok, maybe this is not really a word, but the iPads work a little like using instant noodles - or IndoMie as we call it in Indonesia. It looks up the word, it speaks the word all in the same screen just by a simple tap. In most apps you can take photos right inside the app. I particularly like the WP Blog app and being able to photograph and post 'on the fly'. Oh - and if you want to undo your typing - just shake the iPad.

#3 No Multi-tasking

Yes, our students love to multi-task but that can compromise their concentration on the task at hand. On an iPad, you can only really do one thing at a time. This is a good thing for younger learners.

#5 Apps

The range of apps are fantastic! I can customize the learning as needed with apps that are right on target. Many apps that I use are even free ones. On a MacBook I am limited to the image put on by school. That image generally doesn't change for the whole year.

#6 Portability - Better for Younger Learners

iPads are light and easy to carry. They can be taken to wherever the learning is.

#7 Long Lasting Charge

I can use the iPads on one full charge for a few days. Not bad considering that I use the iPads a lot!!

#8 Front and Back Camera

Wow - this makes capturing photos or film so easy!

#9 Accessibility

If you have learners that require the iPad to speak in different languages - you can customize it just to do that. The iPad can read books in iBooks in 36 different languages. Wow - just wow!

Ok, so what doesn't it do? Yes, transferring work can get sticky - especially videos. Of course there are 'work arounds' and you do need to be a little more organized to get the job done. It's essential to have a setup where students can easily push their work to somewhere else. In my class we use blogs which helps with that. Some of the work is pushed to a dropbox too. That's fine - a small price to pay.

I know that a lot of you reading this post will be thinking of things that iPads can't do. The reality is that some schools don't have the funds to opt into MacBooks. In Indonesia many schools are seriously considering opting into iPads. I want to encourage that. The more we can make the student learning experience more personalized the better!!

Create - Publish - iBookstore

How can teachers support students to create books and publish them?

Yesterday I helped to upload the 9th book from SWA to the iBookstore. This book was created by my own daughter so I can explain each step here for those of you who may wish to publish a book.

You can download the book here for free. It is called 'Catch a Dragonfly' http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/catch-a-dragonfly/id536106960?mt=11 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Choosing an idea. 

This seems simple enough yet it can be the hardest part of the process. Luli, my daughter loves nature and we were chatting about when she first learned how to catch a dragonfly. Luli is a very caring girl and only likes to catch the dragonflies to take a closer look. She then releases them again to fly away free.

We chatted about how she could turn this into a story book.

2. Making the book. 

When making a book with children, it's best to keep it simple. Luli and I went for a drive to find a rice field. We found a few but we needed the rice plants to be tall and almost ready for harvest. This is what attracts the dragonflies. We also needed to go late in the day when it is cooler.

I asked Luli to think about what needed to be included in the book. I took the photos so that Luli could concentrate on the story.

3. Choosing the photos. 

I downloaded all the pictures onto my Macbook and Luli chose which ones she wanted to include to tell the story. She then put them into order and we imported them onto my iPad. It is very easy to create picture books directly on the iPad. This allows children to focus more on the story because learning to use the App only takes a few minutes.

4. Book Creator App  

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/book-creator-for-ipad/id442378070?mt=8
We used the Book Creator app for iPad to make the story. I really like the professional finish that Book Creator produces. Luli was easily able to insert all the pictures into the book and type in the text to go with each page. We decided to use a lot of double page images to really show off the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Previewing the book. 

Book Creator allows for an easy preview in the iBooks free app. You just tap the export to iBooks button which automatically opens the iBooks app and opens your new book. After previewing her book, Luli was able to change the order of some of the pages and then preview again by clicking export to iBooks.

6. Recording the book reading.

Luli wanted to include a recording on each page of her reading the book. This is so that her book can be more accessible for younger readers. She did this easily using the Book Creator app by separately recording each page. She was careful to read slowly and clearly.

7. Exporting the finished book.

When the story was complete. Luli added one last page 'About the Author'. I insist on all my students including a page about the author. I think that it is important for the reader to know who wrote the book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Uploading to iTunes

To upload the book to the iBookstore, you need to have the parent create an iTunes account (with a credit card on file) and then an iTunes Connect account. To create a Paid account you need many things such as a US Tax file number, ISBN for each book and also complete tax requirements for the country in which you reside. For students I recommend creating a Free account as it is instant and the iBookstore supply each ISBN for free.

If the child is under age, the parent must be the one creating these accounts as the parent will become the publisher for the child. 

Once the account has been created, any subsequent books can be easily published via that same account.
I had already created an iTunes Connect, so it was easy for me to upload this book to my account.

9. Creating the Publishing Package

It is important to read the instructions that are inside the iTunes Connect account as to what requirements are necessary for your book. There is a limit on images used for publishing to the iBookstore. Each image must be less than 2 million pixels. I needed to reduce the size of all of the photos for Luli's book as I had taken them with a DSLR and they were 10 MB each. To do that you can open each photo on your Macbook using Preview and in the Tools section reduce the size for each image.

In the publishing package you will need to include a category for your book, title, description and target audience. You will also need the exported ePub file, cover image and some sample pages. The sample pages must be 1024 X 768 pixels which is easy enough to re size using Preview on a Mac.

10. Publishing

The iBookstore will run several checks on your book. In my experience, if the images are under 2 million pixels, there is little more to worry about as Book Creator produces a file that is standards compliant with the iBookstore requirements. The iBookstore does check the content which can mean delays in publishing. My daughters book that I uploaded yesterday at 6pm was published only 6 hours later! This depends on your content. Not all books are released that quickly. Some books produced by my students have taken as long as 6 weeks to publish.

Good luck to you who wish to publish. My daughter is so happy today. She is already planning book 2!!

eBook Little Fish Hits 3,000 Downloads!

The success of Little Fish the eBook has been quite staggering. I first made this book with my son, John about a year ago in a printed version. John came home one day from playing to show me a tiny fish that he had caught from a river in the housing complex that we live in. He had so much to tell me about this fish and I encouraged him to take me to the river to show me where he caught it.

I took my iPhone to take photos and John rode his bike. I asked John to tell me the story as we went and I took photos to be later put into the book.

We downloaded the photos onto my Macbook and I put the story together using the program called Keynote. John was able to retell the story easily. We put a sentence for each photo keeping the story simple yet engaging.

Originally we wrote the story in Indonesian as John had only just turned 5 at the time and his English wasn't very fluent. Later I translated it into English. The result was then printed onto paper and I took it to a book binder to put a hard cover on it. John was able to share his book with his class but that's as far as it went.

I have been making books such as these for years here in Indonesia. Simple stories that can be printed up and hard bound for classroom use. It is very difficult to publish a book here in Indonesia. Most publishers will only print 3000 and so therefore will only choose books that have the potential to sell well.

'Little Fish' was well received by John's class and we kept a copy at home on our bookshelf. At that time there were no apps for creating books which allowed the user to have control over the layout. I have always used a simple layout style featuring large photos and simple text. I have preferred to use a landscape page orientation for picture books as I can make the picture really fill the page.

A few months ago I learned about an app on the iPad called Book Creator. I read that it can produce a file that is compliant with the requirements for the iBookstore. I started to use the app in different classes to produce books but I had not thought of publishing any of them. I decided that I needed a test product so I quickly revised 'Little Fish' making it in English only and adding voice recordings to make it more engaging.

I uploaded the book to iTunes Connect and set about getting it published. I have already written about that experience in a post here.

To date the book has been downloaded 3,000 times. I find myself thinking about why ...

It is simple and personal
It has full colour photos that show what happened
It has a voice recording which can help young children learning to read
It has been created by a child with help from his mother - not by a professional publishing house
What this means ...
It is amazing to think that people can now share their stories in this way. My son's book is regularly featured by Apple in the iBookstore alongside professional authors such as Beatrix Potter.  John gets feedback about his book from people on the other side of the world.  

 

The difference here is this book has gone through the same system that other authors experience - yet it was made by ordinary people.

Production - Editing - Selection (by Apple) - Marketing - Feedback

I know I keep saying this but this is the beginnings of the publishing revolution.