Minnesota eLearning Summit: Publish Amazing Interactive Books With iBooks Author

Attend my session today at the Minnesota eLearning Summit if you are interested in creating textbooks, long or short, for students using classroom content you have created or curated from Creative Commons licensed resources.

Image Source

Session Description:
Looking for creative ways to publish student writing or to create a textbook tailored for your students to distribute in your classroom, school, college, or university or even to share globally? iBooks Author is the answer! Come learn how to create interactive books with this amazing easy-to-use Mac software and widgets.

Presentation
The presentation is embedded below:

Why iBooks Author?
Are you interested in creating your own curriculum materials and developing an interactive textbook that combines flipped classroom content and creative commons licensed materials to create a personalized learning experience that students can take on the go with them and access on their iPads with or without wifi access? This session explores how to create interactive content with a variety of free and low-cost tools that can then be easily imported into the free iBooks Author program to create and publish your own iBooks that can be downloaded onto the iPad or onto a Mac computer running the iBooks app. A variety of ways to use widgets, video, and interactive elements to enrich your text and make the learning experience more personalized, engaging, and interactive will be shared and demonstrated.

iBook and eBook Creation Tools
iBooks Author - app for Mac computers
iBooks - iPad and Mac computer app for reading iBooks
Book Creator - iPad app and PC computer app

Creative Commons Licensed Images
Morgue File
Wylie Image Search
World Images
Animal Photos
The Noun Project
Google Images Advanced Search - Free to Use and Share

Video
Format - .mp4 file extension

Audio
Format - AAC  - .m4a file extension

Other Widget Creation Tools
Bookry - sign up for free account
BookWidgets
iAD Producer - free
Tumult Hype

File Types
iba - editable iBooks Author file
ibooks - finished book - cannot be edited

Distribution
Dropbox
Website
Google Drive
iTunes - with iTunes Producer
iTunes U

eLearning Summit Interactive Book Example
Sample book showing some of the interactivity that you can quickly create with iBooks Author, the standard iBooks Author widgets, and some of the Bookry widgets.
11.9MB
Downloading on an iPad:
Tap on the link above > Download > Direct download > No thanks, continue to download (at the bottom of the pop up window) > Open in "iBooks" (This won't appear until the book has downloaded to your iPad so there may be a short pause depending on your Internet connection.)

Mirroring iPad to Computer
You can mirror the screen of your iPad onto your computer, which can then be projected by using the Reflector app on your computer. This makes it easy to project your iPad for your students or for a presentation while still allowing you to move around the room.

Minnesota eLearning Summit Poster Session: 30 Plus Ways To Use Your iPad For Personalized Professional Development

Are you looking for free or low cost professional development opportunities? Do you have an iPad? You can use several apps to find the content to create your own personalized professional development.

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Session Description:
Use your iPad to build your professional learning network, engage in self-selected professional development, and transform your learning.

Resources:
I listed the apps below in categories of how the apps can be used for personalized professional development. Most apps are free but there are a few that are not but they do something really well that makes them worth the cost.


Click on the image below and then click on the colored dots on the image to learn more about the apps shown.

Record Yourself and Others 
(With Permission - Some conferences and presenters do not allow recording) 
Camera
iMovie
YouTube Capture

Record Your Voice
GarageBand
Recorder


Collect Artifacts
Camera
Photos

Create Podcasts
GarageBand
TouchCast
Adobe Voice
Camera
iMovie
DoInk
Tellagami
Tellaprompter

Capture Your Learning - Take Notes
Notes
Pages
Evernote
Google Docs
Notability
GoodNote
Microsoft Word
Penultimate
Moleskine

Create and Expand Your PLN (Personal Learning Network)
Twitter
Hootsuite
Voxer
FaceBook
Google+

QR Code Readers
QR Code Reader by Scan
Qrafter

Curate Resources
FlipBoard
Scoop.It
Pocket
Slideshare
Pinterest
Learnist
Instapaper
YouTube
iTunes U
Pearltrees

Create Publications
Pages
Book Creator
iBooks Author (On Your Mac)

Professional Reading
iBooks
Kindle

Expand Your Skill Set
YouTube
iTunes U
Tips app
Drippler
Simple K12
Lynda.com
Udemy.com

Create Professional Development Resources
iTunes U
Blogger
Zaption

Connect and Learn
FaceTime
Skype
Google Hangouts
BlackBoard Collaborate
WebEx
Adobe Connect
FlipGrid

Collect and Organize Your Learning
Evernote
Penultimate
OneNote
Notability
GoodNotes
Paperport Notes
Google Drive
Google Docs
Google Slides

Organize Your Thoughts
Inspiration
Padlet
Lineoit
Sticky Notes
Total Recall
Popplet

Organize and Transfer Resources
Google Drive
Box
Dropbox

Inspire Yourself
YouTube
TED

Create Presentations
Keynote
Google Slides
Haiku Deck
Prezi
Microsoft PowerPoint

Track Your Time
Timer
Do Now Then

Health and Well-being
Health
Hydrate
Waterlogged
Pedometer

Illustrate Your Ideas
Notability
GoodNotes
Paper 53
Adobe Draw
Tayasui Sketches

Blog - Reflect On Your Learning
Blogger

Schedule Your Time
Calendar
Google Calendar

Explain - Create Screencasts
Educreations
Skitch
Explain Everything
30Hands
Doceri
Reflector
QuickTime (On Your Mac)
ShowMe
ScreenChomp
Stage
Knowmia Teach
TechSmith Fuse

Expand Your Programming Knowledge
Scratch
Hopscotch

Collaboratively Brainstorm
Baiboard

Create Flyers and Infographics
Keynote
Canva

Relax
Metronome
Zen Garden

Reminders and Task Lists
Remember The Milk
2Do

PDF Annotations/Scanning
PDF Scanner
Cam Scanner
iAnnotate PDF
Tiny PDF
Notability
GoodNotes
Paperport Notes
Skitch

Siri
Search internet
Answer questions
Take notes and reminders

Accessibility Settings
Screen zoom
Screen brightness
Font size
Color contrast
Text to speech

Presenting
Reflector is a must-have app for your Mac computer if you are presenting on an iPad. Reflector mirrors your iPad screen to your computer, allowing you to move around without any VGA or HDMI cables attached to your iPad.

Other Apps or Resources?
Are there other apps or resources that I did not mention that you use for expanding your PLN (Personal Learning Network) or for curating, consuming, or creating personalized professional development resources? If yes, please share them in a comment below.

EdCamp Global - iBook and eBook Creation: Personalizing and Publishing Student Learning

Are you interested in Creating iBooks and eBooks to Personalize and Publish Student Learning? If you are thinking "Yes!," then you will want to join the Google Hangout for this EdCamp Global session on Saturday, August 1 at 12:00 P.M. CST.

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Session Description: 

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There are lots of reasons to create iBooks/eBooks for your students. Maybe the textbook for the content area that you teach is out dated and you want your students to have up-to-date information. Perhaps it is difficult to find or expensive to purchase leveled reading books or books with a controlled set of vocabulary for your students. Maybe you are creating supplemental materials to go along with your content area text and you want to nicely package text and multimedia together. Or
maybe you want to  provide a more authentic, project-based, and shareable method for students to show what they learned in your class or during Genius Time. Whatever the reason, it is easy to publish iBooks/eBooks and distribute them. Join the conversation and share your knowledge as part of EdCamp Global.

Session Link:
The link to join the Google Hangout will be posted on this blog on Saturday, August 1 shortly before 12:00 P.M. CST.

FlipCon15 - Flipped Classroom Learning On The Go With iBooks

Thanks to everyone who attended my session at the 8th Annual Flipped Learning Conference held in East Lansing, Michigan on creating textbooks, long or short, for students using flipped classroom content created by yourself or curated from Creative Commons licensed resources.

Image Source

Session Description:
Are you interested in creating your own curriculum materials and developing an interactive textbook that combines flipped classroom content and creative commons licensed materials to create a personalized learning experience that students can take on the go with them and access on their iPads with or without wifi access? This session explores how to create interactive flipped content with a variety of free and low-cost tools that can then be easily imported into the free iBooks Author program to create and publish your own iBooks that can be downloaded onto the iPad. A variety of ways to use widgets, video, and interactive elements to enrich your text and make the learning experience more personalized, engaging, and interactive will be shared and demonstrated.


Shared Notes
Please contribute to the shared notes doc if you know of resources not included in this blog post.

iBook and eBook Creation Tools
iBooks Author - app for Mac computers
iBooks - iPad and Mac app for reading iBooks
Book Creator - iPad app and PC app

Creative Commons Licensed Images
Morgue File
Wylie Image Search
World Images
Animal Photos
The Noun Project
Google Images Advanced Search - Free to Use and Share

Video
Format - .mp4 file extension

Audio
Format - AAC  - .m4a file extension

Other Widget Creation Tools
Bookry - sign up for free account
BookWidgets
iAD Producer - free
Tumult Hype


File Types
iba - editable iBooks Author file
ibooks - finished book - cannot be edited

Distribution
Dropbox
Website
iTunes - with iTunes Producer
iTunes U

FlipCon15 Interactive Book Example
Sample book showing some of the interactivity that you can quickly create with iBooks Author, the standard iBooks Author widgets, and some of the Bookry widgets.
11.9MB
Tap on the link above > Download > Direct download > No thanks, continue to download (at the bottom of the pop up window) > Open in "iBooks" (This won't appear until the book has downloaded to your iPad so there may be a short pause depending on your Internet connection.)

Great Example Available in iTunes iBooks Store
Uses iBooks Author widgets and widgets created with iAD Producer and Tumult Hype
Writing Tune-Ups: Adjectives & Opening Adjectives by Shawn Jacob, East Zeeland East High School

Mirroring iPad to Computer
You can mirror the screen of your iPad onto your computer, which can then be projected by using the Reflector app on your computer. This makes it easy to project your iPad for your students or for a presentation while still allowing you to move around the room.

FlipCon15 - Creating Flipped Lessons On And For The iPad Poster Session

Thanks to everyone who stopped by during the poster session today at the 8th Annual Flipped Learning Conference held in East Lansing, Michigan. I had some great conversations with a variety of educators who work at different educational levels and in a variety of job roles about apps and Web 2.0 websites for creating lessons and resources for students to use on the the iPad to learn with and to demonstrate their learning.

Image Source

Session Description:
An iPad is all your students have to work with – no problem! Learn how to use a dozen or so key apps on the iPad to build, create, annotate, narrate, record, curate, and deliver flipped learning lessons to maximize your students’ learning time with you and beyond the classroom walls. Create your content and build flexible interactive online self-guided lessons and content that deliver timely and informative feedback to students to improve their content retention and allow you to focus on hands-on or discussion-based learning in your face-to-face time with students. Use a variety of free and low cost apps and online tools to create your own iPad learning toolkit that can be used for all grade levels and for professional development courses too.

Click On Image For Links

More Resources
In addition to the crowd-sourced suggestions from the survey I sent out on Twitter, I've added a few more great tools that I use below. Some are free and some are paid apps that do something better/extra that is worth the cost.

iPad Apps for Creating Content for Lessons
Baiboard
Blogger
BookCreator
Doceri
Doodlecast Pro
EDpuzzzle
eduCanon
Educreations
Explain Everything
FlipGrid
GarageBand
Google Forms
iBooks
iMovie
iTunes U
Knowmia
QR Reader
Quizlet
Screen Chomp
ShowMe
Skitch
Stage Pro
ThingLink
TouchCast
Vimeo
VoiceThread
Voxer
Zaption
YouTube

Web 2.0 Websites for Creating Content for Lessons
Blogger
eduCanon
EDpuzzzle
Educreations
FlipGrid
Google Forms
iTunes U
Knovio
Padlet
QR Codes
Quizlet
Screencast-O-Matic
ShowMe
Sophia
Vimeo
VoiceThread
YouTube
Zaption

Mac Apps for Creating Content for Lessons
Camtasia
Doceri
GarageBand
iBooks Author
iMovie
Jing
QuickTime
Reflector
Screencast-O-Matic
Screenflow
Skitch

PC Apps for Creating Content for Lessons
Camtasia Studio
Jing
QuickTime
Reflector
Screencast-O-Matic

iPad Apps Students Can Use To Demonstrate Learning
Baiboard
Blogger
Book Creator
Doodlecast Pro
Educreations
Explain Everything
FlipGrid
Google Forms
iBooks
iMovie
iTunes U
Reflector
Screen Chomp
ShowMe
Skitch
Stage Pro
ThingLink
TouchCast
Vimeo
VoiceThread
Voxer
Zaption
YouTube

Web 2.0 Websites Students Can Use On The iPad To Demonstrate Learning
Blogger
Educreations
FlipGrid
Google Forms
Padlet
ShowMe
Vimeo
VoiceThread
Zaption
YouTube

FlipCon15 Poster Session Crowd-Sourced Results

In May I sent out a link to a survey on Twitter to crowd source apps and Web 2.0 websites teachers use to create flipped learning resources for students to use on iPads and that students can use to demonstrate their learning.

Image Adapted From Source

The results are in! I believe as connected educators that we should always reach out to our colleagues and tap into the collective wisdom and experience of the group rather than trying to find all the answers ourselves. 

The Crowd-Sourced Results From Twitter:

iPad apps to create flipped learning resources like screencasts and videos, ebooks, and other resources for students to use on the iPad as part of instruction

Edpuzzle

Educreations

Explain Everything

Paper

Pinnacle

Plotagon

Screencast-O-matic

YouTube

Web 2.0 tools and websites to create flipped learning resources like screencasts and videos, ebooks, and other resources for your students to use on the iPad as part of instruction

Audacity

Classflow

EDpuzzle

Explain Everything

Google Drive

iMovie

One Drive

Screencast-O-matic

Teacher Tube

YouTube

TED Talks and TED Ed

Apple/Mac computer software applications to create flipped learning resources like screencasts and videos, ebooks, and other resources for your students to use on the iPad as part of instruction

EDpuzzle

iMovie

iMovie trailer maker

PC computer software applications to create flipped learning resources like screencasts and videos, ebooks, and other resources for your students to use on the iPad as part of instruction

Articulate Storyline

EDpuzzle

iPad apps students use to create flipped learning resources like screencasts and videos, ebooks, and other resources to demonstrate their learning

EDpuzzle

Educreations

iMovie

Web 2.0 tools and websites students use to create flipped learning resources like screencasts and videos, ebooks, and other resources to use on the iPad to demonstrate their learning

EDpuzzle

Thanks to everyone who took the survey and contributed to the results!

If you use other resources that are not listed above, please take the survey and I will continue to update the results on this blog.

ISTE2015 - Poster Session - Bridging The Digital Divide With A Racial Equity Lens

Thank you to everyone who stopped by during the poster session to chat about Bridging The Digital Divide with a Racial Equity Lens. So many great conversations about this important topic.

Resources
Pacific Educational Group
Saint Paul Public Schools Office of Personalized Learning
Project Tomorrow Speak Up Survey
Saint Paul Public Schools Racial Equity Department 
Universal Design for Learning Graphic Organizer