Tuesday 5 February 2019
This week we were looking at creating eBooks using the IPad application Book Creator.
An eBook is a digital version of a paper book, eBooks can be accessed through a kindle, a computer, phone or IPad. EBooks aren’t like traditional books and aren’t simply just words and some graphics. EBooks can include music, video clips, links to articles and interactive elements such as games.
There has been evidence that most children are more engaged and find interactive eBooks fun (Reading Rockets, 2013). EBooks offer a different reading experience than traditional books as the children can become more involved in the story and therefore understand it a lot better than they might if they were just reading a paper copy that isn’t interactive at all. Using iPads for eBooks is a good thing as generally iPads engage teachers and students. Children believe that using iPads should be normal within a classroom and shouldn’t just be brought out at golden time as a reward, so using iPads for eBooks is another way of integrating the use of technology into the classroom (Children’s Parliament Consultation, 2016). Pupils often like using the iPad as it is an item they enjoy using at home and learning in this way is something they’re used to (Burden et al, 2012). I agree with this and think using the iPad is great when teaching, but children have to be clear on the uses of the iPad, so they don’t get distracted from their learning.
EBooks are good as they are portable, and children can read on them anywhere. EBooks often remember what page you last read so you can just jump back in, whether with a traditional book, some children tend to forget what page they last read and don’t continue the book from the correct page (Jarvis, 2015). EBooks can be useful in the classroom but there’s evidence children need support from an adult for progress to be made, especially with younger children in regard to their phonological awareness and word writing (Beauchamp, 2012). I agree that lessons with eBooks should still be supported by a teacher as children can often get distracted and caught up with all the other interactive features that they might forget about the storyline and their learning. It is important that the device doesn’t take over and the teacher keeps them on track with the learning.
It could also be a good idea to not only read eBooks with a class but allow them to make their own eBooks on the Book Creator app. As a lesson it could be fun to read a traditional book and then let the children make a continuation of the story or make a new story using the same characters. Allowing children to finish the story can help a teacher to see to what extent the children understood the story. I think the children would really enjoy doing this as in groups they would get to record their voices and make sounds, and this allows them to have some creative freedom. “Class teachers feel the functionality of these devices better supports students of all abilities” (Burden et al, 2012) allowing children to make their own eBook can engage children who might struggle with reading and writing as they can use a digital format which they are probably used to using and might enjoy more. I think eBooks can really enhance learning and make something like Literacy very interesting, but with the iPad there is always a danger that the children get distracted with the digital features and forget to focus on their learning within other curricular areas.
If this were a lesson it could fall under Literacy, Digital Technologies and Expressive Arts within the Curriculum for Excellence. I feel as though this would be a great lesson to carry out within first level under the following experiences and outcomes:
I have the opportunity to choose and explore a range of media and technologies to create images and objects, discovering their effects and suitability for specific tasks.
EXA 1-02a
Using digital technologies responsibly I can access, retrieve and use information to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts.
TCH 1-02a
I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience.
LIT 1-20a / LIT 2-20a
Within today’s session we created our own eBooks based off of a traditional book. We used the application for iPad called ‘Book Creator’.
I actually had to miss this session and so I went over the PowerPoint at home and made some notes. I then looked at some Book Creator tutorials and downloaded the app on my iPad and carried out the task at home.
I made an eBook version of a children’s story called ‘The Teddy Show’. This story is about a teddy who enters a talent show doing an act as a magician and it is very much an early level read.
I found Book Creator very easy to use, and I understood how it worked after only watching a very basic tutorial video. I thought I would have difficulties making my eBook since I didn’t attend the session but I was really surprised at how fast I came to terms with all of the features. I inserted photos of the book and edited each page with text, added some shapes, questions and I also added the sounds of people cheering and some music.
I had no idea there was an app which allowed you to edit books and make them multi-modal and interactive this way and I really enjoyed using it. I liked how you could not only insert text, but you could change the colour and font too. I found it very straightforward to use once I played around with it for around 5 minutes and think that it would be a really easy app for children to use too.
While doing this task I noticed how my skills within digital technologies have improved since the first session as I was a lot faster with the iPad and understood some of Book Creators features as they were similar to other apps like Scratch Jr which we used in our coding session. Much like Scratch Jr, I really liked that there was a feature where you could draw your own shapes or objects and I think that’s something children could have a lot of fun with when creating an eBook of their own but it could also distract them from creating and writing their story as some children could get caught up wanting to draw everything and forget about the learning.
I was impressed with the end product of my eBook and how professional it looked. I really liked how Book Creator let you flip through the pages as if it were a paper book and I liked how the book could also be read out to you by the app.
Overall, I think reading an eBook with your class, or getting pupils to create their own eBook would enhance the teaching and learning as it allows the children to learn from a curricular area such as literacy while also getting to use technologies which should be integrated and used in the classroom as much as possible. A lot more children would be engaged this way and it can also mean children have the opportunity to work collaboratively. There is a risk that some children could get distracted but as long as the teacher makes the iPad use and the learning clear I think using eBooks in the classroom is a great idea and I would love to do it with a class.
REFERENCES
Week 5 (5th Feb)
Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.
Burden, K et al. (2012) iPad Scotland Evaluation. [pdf] Available: file:///C:/Users/User/Desktop/Uni%20Work%20BA1/Digital%20Technologies/EBOOKS%205TH%20FEB/Scotland-iPad-Evaluation.pdf [Accessed 10 February 2019]
Children’s Parliament Consultation (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland: The Views of Children. [pdf] Available: https://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/REPORT_digital-learning-consultation_Childrens-Parliament-1.pdf [Accessed 10 February 2019]
Education Scotland (2019) Experiences and outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes#arts [Accessed 9 February 2019]
Jarvis, M., (2015) Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Classroom. Routledge.
Reading Rockets. (2013) How to Read an E-Book with Your Child. [Online] Available: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-read-e-book-your-child [Accessed 9 February 2019]
