iBooks author – Page 3

November 21, 2015November 29, 2015

Class 13: Don’t Hand It In, Publish It

William Caxton showing specimens of his printing to King Edward IV and his Queen. 1877

Digital technologies have put us in charge of the information we access, store, analyze and share. Creating an iBook harnesses those motivational factors into an engaging learning experience. The ease of distribution across the world (via iTunes) means students can communicate with a broader, and more authentic audience than just their teacher and class peers.

This is the third iBook published by our EdMethods students. Available free at iTunes:

Exploring History Vol I: Fall 2013
Exploring History Vol I: Fall 2014

Note: EdMethods students regularly post to our course blog. See posts here.

This week we will wrap up our first drafts of our DBLs for inclusion into our collaborative iBook. The iBooks will be designed using iBooks Author in the library digital lab. Students will bring digital versions of their DBLs to the lab – including all image and sound files, text files, citations and URLs.

Workflow? See this guide Getting Ready for iBooks Author 57KB pdf

For more see my resource site: Get Started with IBA

I’ve created a YouTube channel with some short tutorials that students may wish to refer to. See iBooks Author Tips

Assignment:

Write a reflection on the document-based lesson project. It should be turned into your final blog post by 12/6. (Add an image from your lesson). Note: It will also be included in the final version of your iBook chapter.

Here’s our first draft Exploring History Vol III 23MB pdf

Image Credit: Wikipedia The Graphic, June 30, 1877, p617.

William Caxton showing specimens of his printing to King Edward IV and his Queen. Published in The Graphic in 1877 refering to The Caxton Celebration. The Caxton Celebration, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first printed book in England, took place in London in the summer of 1877.

March 20, 2015

Effective Tech in the Connected Classroom

I recently was a guest on the UP Tech Talk Podcast produced by University of Portland’s Academic Technology Services and hosted by Maria Erb (Instructional Designer) and Sam Williams (Dir of Academic Tech Services). Kudos for the great ATS podcast studio!

What’s the least amount of technology you could use to get the job done.

We had a lively 18 minute discussion about my UP social studies methods class and technology’s role in instructional design – it opened like this …

Maria: Peter, so glad to have you on the podcast. We just had a great conversation … you managed to rattle off probably half a dozen Web 2.0 tools that you’re using just like you were a fish swimming in water; it just seems so easy and natural for you. I’m just wondering, how do you go about choosing which tools you’re going to use for these great projects that you’re working on? What piques your interest?

Peter: I think it really begins with seeing yourself as a designer of a learning experience. You work with the tools you have and with the setting you have. You’ve got X number of students; you’re meeting once a week; you’ve got three hours with them. You think about the instructional goals that you want to achieve, and then from there, you say, okay, so what kind of tools are out there. For example, there was a situation where I wanted them to collaborate and design some lessons. I wanted them to be able to share their work with one another and be able to comment on it. I also think it’s important that there always be a public product, because I think we find our students producing content for their instructor as opposed to … which is kind of a ritualized thing as opposed to real-world content.

And ended with this exchange …

Sam: Are there any words of wisdom around it’s not about the technology that you could leave us at the end of this podcast?

Peter: I would say the big question is what’s the least amount of technology you could use to get the job done. Taking something and making it prettier by putting it on a white board when you could have written it up on the chalk board really doesn’t get you anywhere. I think that the transformative part of technology is getting it in the hands of the students so that they can research and create and produce in ways you couldn’t do without it. For me, those are the essential elements that I’m looking at, not simply just something that’s a bright shiny object.

Text transcript (word file) | Show notes and links | Podcast at iTunes: #12

The University of Portland uses the SmartEval system to gather student feedback on courses and faculty. Here’s a few comments from my UP students that are relevant to this podcast:

Peter challenged us to think and be designers of curriculum, instead of just lecturers. We learned how to get students working and thinking critically in the classroom.
I liked that the focus of the class was on making a product.
He also showed us how to move from the lecture mode to engaging students as architects in their own learning process.
Very well connected with other educators on Twitter. He has promoted every student in the class using his connections to help us build professional connections and build a professional online presence.

Originally posted at Copy / Paste Jan 21, 2015

November 30, 2014

Class 14: Proofing Our DBQs

This is the final activity in our DBQ design project. It began with exploring historic thinking skills and ends with students designing their own DBQs for inclusion in a class published iBook.

During the last few classes we have had 45 min sessions in the Mac lab (only a few students have their own Macs with iBooks Author). Students have arrived with their prewritten text, source material, images and YouTube video links. They used a total of about 2 hours of lab time to complete rough drafts their chapters. They shared their chapter files with me and following class, I compiled their chapters into a single iBook. Link to a PDF version 27MB pdf.

I’ve arranged to have the iBooks draft file loaded on to iPads for the students to use. In Class 14 we will proof and peer review our chapters and take one last trip to the Mac lab to use iBooks Author to do a final version. After the final edits, I’ll upload to iTunes. Net result – a student publication in just a few hours of lab time (with all research and writing done in advance)

Update Exploring History: Vol II is now available free at iTunes

November 22, 2014

Class 13: Working with iBooks Author

This week we will wrap up our first drafts of our DBQs for inclusion into our collaborative iBook. During the first 2/3s of class students will finalize their content and be sure to have their DBQ reflection written. Then in the last 1/3 of class we will transfer content to iBooks.

Technical aspects
The iBooks will be designed using iBooks Author in the Mac lab. Students will bring digital versions of their DBQs to the lab – including all image and sound files, text files, citations and URLs. Here’s a quick guide to managing your files to get ready for iBooks Author: Get Started with IBA

I’ve created a YouTube channel with some short tutorials that students may wish to refer to. See iBooks Author Tips

Image credit: Image from page 94 of “History of the Bassandyne Bible, the first printed in Scotland with notices of the early printers of Edinburgh” (1887) William T Dobson,