Create Beautiful eBooks

Drop your manuscript into Vellum and it will open as a book divided into chapters. While in Vellum, you can edit your book or start writing a new one. Books may be shared with family and friends and uploaded to online stores. There’s a free download to try the software; if you wish to purchase, the cost is $49.99 for a single book, $99.99 for three books, and $149.00 for five books. The product was developed by Pixar veterans, so one wonders if Vellum may evolve to include interactive capabilities appropriate for exciting eTexts? In the meantime, it looks like a very nice solution for students and educators who want to create good-looking eBooks.

Paper Vs. Electronic Texts

Do students learn better when reading from and studying from traditional books or digital books? An article in ISM (Independent School Management), “Paper Versus Electronic: Debating Comprehension,” cites research relating to the topic. Digital resources were found to be more mobile, easier to carry, and greener than paper. Two studies, one in the Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education (2012) and another to be published in College & Research Libraries in 9/2014 found that although college students “relied heavily on their mobile devices”, they reported that study tools such as highlighting, bookmarking, and even searching worked better when they use traditional text. Although, a study by Ferris Jabr, in the Scientific American, found that “modern screens and e-readers drain more of our mental resources ... and make it harder to remember”, this study did not, according to John Jones of DML Central, include various types of electronic readers and “did not support his [Jabr’s] claims about the nature of paper versus screen reading for comprehension.”

The argument continues with some preferring paper and others, digital. It seems that only time will tell, because we must remember that the college students in these studies grew up using paper texts. Only recently have we seen digital textbooks starting to replace paper.

Edudemic: Connection Education & Technology

Looking for loads of great information that will help you and your students? Try Edudemic. It’s filled with teachers’ guides, the best in educational technology, and information for both teachers and students. Educators who are migrating to eBooks for their courses and want to publish their own text should check the article “How to Publish a Class E-Book Using iTunes”.  Some of the October 2013 articles you may want to browse include: “How to Gamify Your Classroom”, “5 Fabulous Ways to Use Google Apps in the Classroom”, and “7 Signs Your School Needs a Technology Makeover.” You’ll also enjoy the “best math chart ever” and learning about innovative ways students are using technologies. Nice site.

Storia: A Scholastic Reading Experience

Scholastic’s Storia is a place for your students to find over 2000 eBooks to read at home and at school. There are Read-to-Me books with highlighted text; Enriched eBooks that tackle topics in mathematics, science, geography, and history; reference tools and a dictionary; books with puzzles and quizzes; personal bookshelves; and tools for teachers. Many Scholastic favorites and classics are part of the Storia list, which is divided into categories according to Age (2 to 13 and up), Product Type (eBooks, Enriched eBooks, Read-to-Me Books, Reading Challenge, ePacks, eCollections), Reading Level, Grade Level (Pre-K to 8 and Teen), and Character & Series (Clifford, Harry Potter, Magic School Bus, etc.). Prices vary according to the book or pack selected. The eBooks may be used on iPad, Kindle Fire, Android devices, and Windows PCs. A Mac version will be out soon.

textHelp: Lots of Great Resources for Reading, Writing, & Speech

Dedicated to the development of innovative software for those with reading, writing, speech, and language difficulties, textHelp provides excellent products that students can use with Macs, PCs, and mobile devices. The software is especially designed for students with literacy problems and those learning English as a second language. New to the textHelp library of resources is Read&Write for Google and the iPad app, Reading Champion. Read&Write for Google works with Google Drive in the Chrome browser making Google Docs, PDF files, and ePubs all available on PCs, Macs, and Chromebooks. The Reading Champion app gives students the impetus to practice and enjoy their reading. (You can try the $6.99 app free for 30 days.)  Other products offered by textHelp include Read&Write, Fluency Tutor, BrowseAloud, English Hero, Lexiflow, Read&Write app, and SpeechStream.

Reading Eggs & Eggspress—Edmentum

Edmentum’s Reading Eggs helps PreKindergarten through Grade 2 students become proficient readers by giving them lessons that feature phonics, sight words, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, in addition to spelling and writing. The self-paced program is interactive and treats students to “egg” awards. Eggspress, for students in Grades 2-6, focuses on reading comprehension and motivation for reading. The library includes more than 600 full-colored fiction and non-fiction ebooks and a wealth of exciting educational games.

Playful Learning’s Bite-Sized eCourses

The Playful Learning site offers a free eBook that is designed to help teachers and parents provide activities that will enhance children’s love of learning. The eBook, Raising Lifelong Learners, may be read online or downloaded.  The site features a great list of science apps and an abundance of activities you might be able to use in your classroom. The activities are grouped into categories such as Arts & Crafts, Math, Science, Seasonal, Social Studies, Well Being, and Writing. This is a very nice site to recommend to parents of young students.

Can e-Readers Entice Reluctant Readers to Read?

Matt Renwick, a Wisconsin elementary school principal and former elementary teacher, believes that digital books encourage students to read. Renwick noticed that even though students are surrounded by books, they often do not pick them up to read. So, he put e-Readers to work in the student book club because the language students speak today is “technology”. The readers make reading interactive; students can change font sizes to suit their preferences and can highlight and annotate digitally. Even though Renwick is a fan of e-Readers, he makes sure that students know that “Lifelong readers rely on a variety of formats,” since some books lend themselves better to traditional text and printed picture presentation and some books lend themselves better to interactivity.

The Flying Kids’ Bookstore App

The Flying Kids’ Bookstore is an app that sends children “soaring” with their reading.  The Bookstore is free; the books students can load on their personal shelves are priced at about $2 to $3 each. Brief descriptions of books that may be purchased appear when the book images are clicked. These interactive books are divided into categories for ages 2+, 3+, 4+, and all books are available in English, Spanish, French, and German. The Bookstore app is a nice way to introduce young children to good books, good reading, and fun literature on bookshelves online. It’s also an excellent way to help children learn to read in foreign languages.

Use Net Texts App to Create Great Courses for iPad and Android Devices

Looking for ways to get coursework your students can use on mobile devices? With the free Net Texts app, you can use the app’s content management website to find already prepared texts or to prepare your own courses by selecting materials and matching content from Net Text’s library of resources. The interactive texts you create or select work with iPad and Android systems.  Download the iPad version from iTunes and the Android version from Google Play. To see how easy this eText maker is to use, go to the site and click on the video introduction to the product.