Customized: Build Curriculum for any Mobile Device

Build curriculum for any mobile device, with a free online eBuilder from Digital Wish!

If you can drag-and-drop, you can build an eBook. In this Sept. 4, 2013 webinar hosted by the NMC Horizon Project, Digital Wish's Executive Director, Heather Chirtea demonstrates how to build digital eTextbooks, activities, and lesson plans with very simple drag-and-drop skills through a computer's browser. Digital content can be saved as an app that can be downloaded to any smartphone, tablet, Apple or Android device.



Teachers can sign up for a free eBuilder account at http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/ebuilder. Completed eBooks are hosted on a "Marketplace" channel within the eBuilder account.

Connected! Readmill redefines eBooks as Social Networks

The Future of Media Lab recently reviewed Readmill, an eReader app released late last year for both iOS and Android:

Readmill makes each and every book its own self-contained social network, allowing readers to discuss, share and review from inside of the e-book. If you find a passage you like, you can highlight it and comment on it right from within the book. Other users reading the book and even the author can see these comments and add their own thoughts, starting a discussion within the book, without ever having to leave it.

According to the Readmill.com website, however, it's noted that discussions are not limited to the app:

Highlight and comment on passages as you read, and share them with friends and followers. Every highlight can be viewed on the web (at Readmill.com), making it easy to start a discussion with other people, even if they are not using Readmill. 

Readmill supports ebook formats ePub, PDF and Adobe DRM, and books from stores such as Kobo and Feedbooks can be bought and brought into Readmill. The Readmill.com website will allow you to manage your library and store all of your books in the cloud for free. Readers are invited to join their community of readers and authors, and Readmill will periodically send emails recommending "books of interest," based on what is on your reading shelf.

Connected! "Reading with Others" using Subtext

I am happy to announce that we have arrived in the future -- and it is amazing!

"I want to be able to share my thoughts with my students, my friends, and my colleagues, and to hear their thoughts and ideas. Books of the future will be connected: connected to other books, connected to other users -- to see what others are highlighting, to see their notes -- in essence, reading with others." These words (from the "Books of the Future" video created at the 2010 Apple Distinguished Educators Summer Institute) expressed our dream, as educators, for what we described as books of the future.

During that summer of 2010, when we were dreaming about the future of digital text, the iPad was only a few months old. We were excited about the personalization the iPad offers readers using the iBooks app: changing font size and type, adjusting the background color, dynamically looking up dictionary definitions, text to speech, and the ability to create digital highlights and notes. E-mail provided the ability to share notes from the book, however, we dreamed of the possibility of reading becoming a social experience. Little did we know, that others had a similar dream.

Our vision of a connected book has arrived -- it's name is Subtext!

Subtext is a free iPad app that allows classroom groups to exchange ideas in the pages of digital texts. Teachers use our tools to layer enrichment materials, lesson plans and assessments into the pages of texts; while students build a reading history and body of content with lifelong benefits. Subtext’s service extends the reading experience far beyond traditional books and aligns with the Common Core Standards across reading, writing and 21st century digital skills.

Teachers can access their Subtext accounts using a web browser, however, at this time, only to create and share digital assignments. And, although Subtext is an iPad only app, access from other devices and web browser Subtext reading, is under development.

Here's what teachers are saying about Subtext:

Teachers Talk About Subtext from Subtext Video on Vimeo.

Watch the following video from the 2013 EdReach.us Summer PD series to learn how Subtext is being used by teachers in a variety of grade levels and subjects:

   

Getting Started with Subtext:

• If your students have access to iPads, you will want to visit the Subtext website to learn more about the special features for teachers, such as the ability to monitor your students' individual progress, and to connect (there's that word again) with other educators, who may be teaching with the same text, and see what they are highlighting, discussing and ways they are challenging their students thinking!
• Watch more Subtext videos on Vimeo.
• Follow Subtext on Twitter.
• Take advantage of the "Free Book for Teachers" offer from Subtext and start a reading group at your school!

Is it time to break the Textbook habit?

From Education Week:

"Maybe now is the time to break the dependency on textbooks.

Breaking the Habit
There are numerous reasons why many schools believe it's time to break the textbook habit. Most schools have a variety of ways to meet the needs of students and those typically revolve around the use of technology. It's time for teachers to be treated like professionals again, and an over-reliance on textbooks makes the book the expert and not the teacher. If used at all anymore, the textbook should be a base and not be the driver behind the conversation or the information."

Read the full article here.

Customized: More than just a textbook

From USA Today,

Due to the control that college textbook publishers have on the industry, there has been a recent push for open-source material in what Slate called the open educational resources (OER) movement. Heading the pack for OER is Boundless, a start-up company that uses open-source (free) information to rebuild textbooks for students. The digitized copies of the textbooks are then available for students to use on their tablets or laptops.

(Read the full story here)

From the Boundless.com website:

Beyond a textbook. Way beyond. 

Textbooks haven't changed in centuries, except for their price. Boundless textbooks offer innovative features that help you make the most of your study time. For free.

• SmartNotes: Your full book, condensed to just the essential key points, key terms, and examples.
• Interactive Notebook: Highlight important terms and add notes to key concepts. View all your notes and highlights in an easily sortable notebook that you can organize by time or book chapter.
• Flashcards and Quizzes: Study key terms and more with flashcards, then quiz yourself to see how much you know
• Study Guides: Boundless lets you condense all your notes and highlights, view and edit on any device, and share as a PDF with your friends, classmates, or study groups.
• Instant Search: Chapters, key term definitions, and anything else at your fingertips. Fast and intuitive navigation so you can spend more time studying and less time searching.