iPadpaloozaMN - App Smash Superhero Buddy Books With Book Creator

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Looking for ways to inspire and publish student writing? Come explore how to use the amazing Book Creator For iPad app in combination with a handful of other free apps to app smash a superhero buddy book to publish student writing and build a relationship between upper and lower grade elementary students. Follow the epic journey of book buddy superheroes as you walk through the features of the easy-to-use Book Creator app, explore image editing and drawing apps and app smash your own book. Export options allow the book to be shared and read on a variety of devices.

Resources
Presentation

App Smash Superhero Book Creator Books from cturnbull

Student Examples
St. Anthony Park Elementary 5th Grade Book Buddy Books

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Book Creator
Book Creator for iPad
Book Creator Free - Try it out - you will love it!
Book Creator is also available for Windows and Android.

Book Creator Basics - How to get started creating your first book.
Book Creator Support - Help topics and tutorials for iPads and Android devices.

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Paper by FiftyThree
Paper by FiftyThree - Sketch, draw, take notes, and more

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PicCollage
PicCollage - Photo collage editor and grid layout
Pic Collage For Kids

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Reflector 2
Reflector 2 - Mirror your iPad screen to your computer.
Available for Apple, Windows, and Android.

Reflector 2 Support - Help topics for iOS, Android, and Windows.
Mirroring iPad Screen
Recording and Narrating iPad Actions


Alternative Mobile Learning Apps
Here's a link to add other apps or websites that you might use in addition to or instead of the ones listed here.
Please add your suggestions.

Responses - Check out alternative apps and websites to accomplish these same tasks.

Minnesota eLearning Summit - Publish Amazing Interactive Books With iBooks Author & Book Creator

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Looking for creative ways to create a textbook tailored for your students’ needs or with up-to-date information to supplement your textbook, to distribute in your classroom or school, to make available through your learning management system, or even to publish commercially or to share globally? iBooks Author for the Mac computer and the Book Creator app for iPad, Android, and Windows are the answer! Come learn how to create interactive books with this amazing easy-to-use Mac software and widgets and multi-platform app that make creating an eye-catching, engaging, interactive book as easy as 1-2-3.

Resources
Apps featured:
iBooks Author (runs on Mac computer)
Book Creator (available for iOS, Android, and Windows)
iBooks (runs on Mac computer and iOS devices)
Reflector 2 (runs on computer)

iBooks Author
This application allows you to easily create your own textbooks, long or short, by dragging and dropping content into templates. Built-in and third party widgets allow you to create interactive elements that help students to engage with your content as they read.

Content that you can drag into your iBook:
Images (png, jpeg, jpg)
Word documents
Pages documents

Widgets:

• Keynote - Keynotes, Powerpoints
• Gallery - multiple images
• Review - self-check quizzes
• Media - video
• Interactive Image - drag labels to appropriate location on image
• 3D - add 3D images to can be rotated and manipulated
• Scrolling Sidebar - add long text to a page
• Pop-Over - pop up boxes with additional information about parts of images and diagrams
• HTML - add all sorts of content from the Internet that can be linked to or embedded

Third Party Widgets:
Bookry
This website service allows you to create interactive widgets that you can customize with content from the internet or from your own files. Widgets can be downloaded and dropped into iBooks Author to add the interactive feature to your book.

• Library of free widgets

BookWidgets
This subscription website service allows you to create interactive widgets that you can customize with content from the internet or from your own files. Widgets can be downloaded and dropped into iBooks Author to add the interactive feature to your book.

• Widget library

iBooks Author Getting Started Guide
The iBooks Author Getting Started Guide is a great iBook available from Apple iBooks Store that guide you step by step through the process of learning to use iBooks Author by having you create an iBook. Sample media files are included in the book to help you get started without needing to gather all of your own files.

Example Textbooks
E.O. Wilson's Life on Earth Textbooks
Unit 1: Unity & Diversity of Life on Earth
Unit 2: Guided Tour of the Living Cell
Unit 3: Genetics
Unit 4: Animal Physiology
Unit 5: Plant Physiology
Unit 6: Guided Tour of Biodiversity
Unit 7: Guided Tour of Ecosystems


Book Creator
This simple-to-use but powerful app allows you to easily create your own books or textbooks with your own content to customize for student needs. Books can be collaboratively created or exported in ePub format and read in iBooks or as PDFs.

Content that you can add to your book:
Images
Text
Video
Pen tool allows for handwriting
Audio narration

Sample Books
Pinterest Library of Books Made In Book Creator

Getting Started with Book Creator
Tutorials and Support

iBooks
This app for iOS and Mac computers allows for the creation of libraries of ibooks, ePubs, ebooks, and PDFs so that students can take books with them on the go and open up books that were previously read. Depending on the format of the books, students may be able to highlight and take notes while reading, sync notes across devices, and automatically create study cards from highlights and notes.


Reflector 2
This Mac and Windows computer application allows iOS users to mirror their device screens to the computer to allow for projection for the whole class via an LCD projector connected to the computer. Teachers/instructors can mirror their own iPad content or have students share for the whole class as well.

EdCamp Global - iBook and eBook Creation

Are you interested in Creating iBooks and eBooks to Personalize and Publish Student Learning? If you are thinking "Yes!," then click the link below to join the Google Hangout for this EdCamp Global session.

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Session Description: August 1, 12:00 P.M. CDT

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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 create and publish iBooks/eBooks and distribute them. Join the conversation and share your knowledge as part of EdCamp Global.

Click here to participate in the Hangouts On Air Event Page

Shared Resources:
Join the conversation and chime in during the hangout and add resources to the shared Google Doc.

Resources:
Several resources are listed below, but please add more resources in the shared Doc or in the comments at the end of the blog post.

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


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

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Book Creator For iPad
Great app that allows you to easily create iBooks featuring images, great fonts, narration, music, and video right on the iPad. Simple enough for young students to use but capable of creating beautiful books loaded with interactive elements.

Video
Imports video from Photos/Camera Roll.

Audio
Built-in recording tool or import audio from iTunes library.

Distribution
Dropbox
Website
Google Drive
iTunes - with iTunes Producer
iTunes U
Learning Management System

Sample Books
Book Creator has many sample books pinned on the Book Creator Pinterest page.

Student-created books: (You may need to tap on the image below and wait a few seconds for the dots to appear. Tap on the dots to see student-created books from @MathyCathy.)


Support
There are lots of helpful articles in the Support section of the Book Creator Red Jumper website.

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iBooks Author
iBooks Author is an app that runs on Mac computers and allows you to create multimedia-rich books loaded with swappable and tappable interactive elements in addition to a myriad of fonts, images, slideshows, video, and audio. Built-in and third party widgets allow for self-check reviews, slideshows, image galleries, and 3D objects that can be manipulated.

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

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

Distribution
Dropbox
Website
Google Drive
iTunes - with iTunes Producer
iTunes U
Learning Management System

Interactive iBook 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.)

Many free books created with iBooks Author are available for download from the iTunes Store.


Mirroring iPad to Computer

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You can mirror the screen of your iPad onto your computer, which can then be projected or recorded 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 and to make videos or screencast tutorials of your iPad screen.


Other Apps or Resources?
Are there other apps or resources that I did not mention that you use for creating and publishing books? If yes, please share them in a comment below.

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.

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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.

Google Translate Makes Blog Content Language-Friendly

Have you ever wanted to be fluent in a foreign language?  Well now you can be!

Not by spending  hours listening to self-paced Rosetta Stone language lessons or by living in a foreign country with a host family.  Thanks to a Google widget you can install in your blog layout, you can instantly become fluent in multiple foreign languages with the click of a simple drop-down menu widget that makes it quick and simple to translate the text content of your blog post on Google Blogger to another language.

You can quickly revert to the original language of your blog, especially if you're not as fluent as you used to be in the translated language and don't quite remember the original content of your blog, by simply clicking the X at the top right corner of your blog.

Imagine having a collaborating classroom partner in another country with students who speak an entirely different language than your own students do.  Now your students can easily use Google Blogger to create a blog of classroom writing and connections that can become instantly multi-lingual with a click of the Google Translate button, making the experience much more personalized for the collaborating classroom students while enabling global connections.

Almost 1000 Hits!

Tonight I logged into Blogger to write a blog post in an renewed effort to keep up with blogging, especially since listing my blog on the ISTE Blog Registration.   Amazingly, my blog has received 999 hits!  Wow! So somebody out there is reading...

I'm not quite sure that I understand the ClustrMap though since it lists only 32 visitors since April 7.  From the ClustrMap "notes" section, it seems that counts are only being added each time a unique computer IP address accesses the blog as opposed to Bloggers "Visits" widget which tallies every time the blog is accessed.  This would imply that 32 people have visited my blog a total of 999 times all together, resulting in maybe 30 visits per person or a handful of
the 32 people accessing the blog many more times and others only a few times.

However, when I looked at the list of locations of the "Recent" visitors and the Current Country Totals, I realized that this thinking is flawed because last week I noticed that there were visitors listed on the location list from France, Germany, Norway, and Finland, and those do not appear on either list now.   The ClustrMap widget is listed as updating every day, so I'm guessing then that the "Recent" location list is purged every 24 hours, but I'm not sure why the countries are not all represented on the Current Country Totals chart.


When I checked the Blogger Stats section, I noticed that the Pageviews chart does not equal up to 999.

I find these disparities in data between and within counters frustrating.  I love data - really love it, seriously.  But I want it to add up, to make sense, and without fully understanding the algorithm behind either counter, I am unsure how the data totals are derived and question whether or not they are accurate and why they do not list the same countries.

Hmm.  And I was so excited when I first began this post!  I think my takeaway is going to be that I have 999 hits (somehow) and I need to raise the bar for myself in terms of keeping up with posting and finishing all of the half-finished (or half-started if your glass is half-full) posts that are still sitting in the Blogger post queue as drafts.

I'm hoping someone reads this blog post in the morning, or overnight too I guess since a handful of European countries more than seven hours ahead of me on the international time line are listed as having readers who are checking my blog (Does that really make it overnight if it is really already tomorrow for them?), so that at least I can start my day off tomorrow morning with 1000 hits!

Creative Ways To Publish Student Writing

How can you take the writing that students are doing in their writers' notebooks and publish it in ways that will motivate students to keep writing and share their writing with the global community.

Webpage
Urban Planet
Google Sites


RealeWriter
Free mini book creation software
Can do page, text, and picture formatting
Program does page layout for you

Blabberize
Upload a photo, outline the mouth, and copy in text, and create an talking photo.

Creating Radio Shows
Have students write stories first and then create all the sound effects with common objects and record with GarageBand or Audacity.

Wikis
Free online webpages that allow you to set up who has viewing and editing rights

VoiceThread
Create slideshows that allow you and others to annotate photos and add audio comments
Explantion