Bring your own device...

If we could decide on a base format, such as EPUB, then we could instead of buying textbooks, just set a textbook DRM to one year, and then lend digital textbooks to students using their own devices. The idea of students using their own devices could open up lots of opportunities and savings for school systems. Yes, I'm sure that some student's wouldn't have their own device, but there the school could lease or check out ones to the students who don't have their own. As a non-tax or deductible item parents could purchase ebook devices for their students - perhaps at a discount, and then use them in schools. Schools wouldn't have to purchase an ebook device for every student, just those who were unable to get their own. I'm pretty sure also that as the devices become more available and customization occurs (skins and such) that more students would want to get their own, instead of the school issued one. I believe that cell phones could be a proof of concept tool. Right now most high schools find that cellphones are at about 90-100% saturation, every student has one. A large number of those are already smart phones, such as the iPhone, which already can be ebook devices. This idea could indeed bridge the tech gap between schools and home, actually opening up opportunities for both.

Ariz. district considers bring-your-own-technology policy
District officials in Scottsdale, Ariz., are considering allowing students to bring their own mobile devices to school to give students more access to technology for learning purposes. "For many students, they have much more access to technology at home than at school, and this would be one way to bridge that gap," district technology official Tom Clark said. However, concerns over security, infrastructure and appropriate-use policies must be addressed before such a policy can be implemented, he added. The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (7/13)

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Auto Summarization

In dealing with textbooks and students with disabilities, one of the most common things that we would do is to get the textbook in a digital format, as an ebook. By doing this we were able to use a number of tools based on the need of the student. I've had students who could not lift their physical printed textbook, but would be able to access though a laptop installed in their electronic wheelchair, for students with vision issues we could boost the font size or use a text-to-speech tool to have the book read aloud to them. One tool that I used with a number of my students who had issues was the Auto Summarize tool in Word. The tool works well with textbook, but wouldn't work for other texts, such as novels. I used this to reduce the amount of text that they had to read, the "cognitive load" of the text, but would still enable be able to get the information. Word did a great job, and depending on the student I would reduce the text to about 66% for facts and support...

Ebooks as Textbooks - Part 2 - Highlighting

Highlighting can be a very effective tool in reading and learning no matter the kind of text being read: from novels to textbooks. Most textbooks or other forms of information text will usually used text features along with graphics to help organize information presented in the text. These elements are done to help focus attention on important or key concepts and provide additional information. The text organization itself can include structural elements such as heading, subheading, index, glossary, paragraph spacing, bulleted or numbered lists, sidebars or side boxes, italics, underlines or bold for words or even sections. Graphic content can include the use of symbols, colors, illustrations, pictures, diagrams, charts, and graphs. Poor highlighting design - too much text has been highlighted. The act of highlighting is less time consuming and much easier than note-taking ( to be discussed in an upcoming posting). To be ...

StoryBots - free for early childhood teachers

Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers can have free access to StoryBots from http://www.storybots.com/educate . StoryBots Classroom offers an expansive new suite of classroom-ready activities and resources,including: Math Skills – Common Core-aligned kindergarten-level math games Learning Videos – a library of 110+ animated musical videos that explore a wide range of topics Starring You® and Learning Books – 90+ eBooks that help kids practice reading Starring You® Videos – offering fun, quick and personalized reward for the classroom and can be used for brain breaks Activity Sheets – 20 printable books and 350+ sheets for teachers to use in their classrooms Teacher Tools – including Class Roster, Lesson Planner, Group Builder — to help educators manage their classroom and create custom plans.

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