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.

Adam Bellows Says Create, Not Just Consume

Adam Bellow, who gave the closing keynote, “Change the World” at ISTE 2013, says that we need a “start up culture” in our schools.  This culture would embrace individualization, not standardization, in “environments that ‘respect failure, embrace curiosity, and grow dreams.’” To bring about these changes, Bellow suggested that we use tools like MineKeeper, Minecraft, and Raspberry Pi, and that we share with each other through social media and personal interaction. Bellow is an inspiring speaker; his ISTE speech is available online. If you listen to it, you’ll get some excellent ideas for starting the 2013-2014 school year.

Canvas App Center—App Library

Instructure’s Canvas App Center could be called an App Library, since it provides an open apps suite with over 100 apps and allows teachers and administrators to install other apps in the Apps Center, as well. With this system, your IT people will not need to install the apps you want because you can do it yourself. Instructure’s Canvas, for Higher Ed and K-12, is an open-source learning management system, which has garnered praise from those using it.

Lucidchart: Free Graphic Organizer—the Best

Blogger Brad Hanks calls Lucidchart “the best free learning tool you’ve ever heard of.” That’s quite an endorsement considering all the free tools available for students and teachers. Lucidchart, even though it is free, is, according to Hanks, supported by a for-profit company, which mean it won’t disappear after you’ve created your best work on the organizer. Hanks suggests you use it for leading discussions; for thinking, pairing, and sharing; for real time feedback on assigned tasks; for exploring concepts; for individual and group assignments; for brainstorming with mind maps; for teaching logic with Venn diagrams; for use with tablets; and for moving beyond the classroom with Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, personal sites, and more.

Creating Access to the Internet

It’s a great idea to put digital devices to work in classrooms, but the more digital devices we have, the more access we need.  To get everyone online as classes demand, schools need robust wireless and wired networks. When several classes in the vicinity of each other are busy with lessons that require wireless, will some students be denied access? Suppose your school installed enough access for the number of students and staff in your school. Will this be adequate? Not if parents and others coming into your school want to connect wirelessly and your students come to school with their own personal digital devices. Think of the students who have digital devices in their lockers and backpacks, and remember that some students come to school with more than one device that seek access to your network. Perhaps, you say that those coming into the school can only connect with one device. How do you go about making sure this system works—passwords, getting the Mac addresses of all authorized devices. . . . ?

The Center for DIGITAL Education, in an article by Tanya Roscoria in December 2012, quotes Shane Buckley, CEO of Xirrus, saying, “build out 10 times more capacity today than you think you need. By the time these devices get deployed, you’re going to eat all that up straightaway.”

The Education Week article, School Districts Seek Faster Internet Connections, tells of how limits in bandwidth cause problems with use of online video, educational games, video editing, etc.  The article also reminds us that problems of slower access may be caused by outdated wiring, routers, switches—all the ingredients that make access possible.

Read&Write GOLD Assistive Software Use Training for Teachers

textHelp, which provides excellent software for students with special needs, has teamed with Atomic Learning to provide free training videos for teachers. Using 2-3 minute videos for each of the features of the software, those who work with students who need special help are better able to meet the needs of their students.  Atomic Learning’s learning sessions takes users on a “walk” through the menu options for reading, writing, and self-editing. Both Mac and PC training versions are available for you to browse.

Self-Confidence for Students with Learning Problems

Designed for all ages, textHelp’s Read&Write GOLD provides students with literacy support for applications they’ll use at school, at home, and in the Cloud. Documents in applications such as Microsoft Word and Apple’s Pages can be changed from text to speech. The program allows students to hear what is on a PDF or text that may be inaccessible. Options include a picture dictionary, pronunciation tutor, and a translator that can translate single words and paragraphs from English to Spanish, French, German, or Italian. Some of the writing, editing, and study skills options are: Spell Check, Word Prediction, Sounds Like, Confusable Words, Verb Checker, Fact Finder, Fact Mapper, and Vocabulary List Builder. textHelp’s  Web apps are compatible with Mac, PC, iPad, and iPhone. If you are interested in Read&Write GOLD, download a trial version.

Pearson Answers eText Questions

Pearson, the publisher that seems to be leading the way in development of eTexts, offers answers to questions for those worried about the transition to Pearson eTexts. At the eText FAQ page, you will find information about hardware requirements, whether Flash is required, where to get the Pearson eText app, access codes, compatibility with eText readers, collaborative learning, email between students and teachers, and use with iPad, iPod Touch, and smart phones.

PC CleanUp Software 60% Off

Serif, together with Iolo Technologies, is offering System Mechanic 11, software to speed up and clean up your PC computers, at 50% off the regular price.  The Mechanic has received excellent ratings from PC Magazine and c/net for its 229 point diagnostic computer inspection, its ability to automatically fix over 30,000 problems and errors, its ability to nullify threats that antivirus software misses, and much more. Originally priced at $49. 95, the software is now available for $24.95.

Motivation for Practicing Math?

In order to combat distractions that are created by the pull of technologies and social networking on teens, Pierce and Ronan Higgins teamed with others at Trinity College, Dublin, to create Aftermath. The software, designed for 12 to 16-year-olds includes a math skills game through which students can earn time for social networking. With the software, parents can select which sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Minecraft, etc.) to limit. The software authors have noticed that students using Aftermath become interested in the math skills in the game so that they can get a higher score. They also start thinking about how much time they are spending online and set up their own limits.