Welcome back to my digital Technologies reflective blog. Here we are at week number 5 already, halfway through the module where does the time go? I hope You are still following alright and not yet bored.
This week we have been learning about E-books. Naturally my first thoughts went to my Kindle, then I feared I would have to write a novel and adapt the format to make it E-book reader compatible, how wrong was I. We used the Book creator app for this task, and it was a lot easier than I first anticipated and somewhat linked into the multimodal texts lesson.
So, what exactly is Book Creator and how does it work? How can E-books be used in the classroom? How does Book creator link with multimodal texts? What would a class of children gain by developing their own E-book? All my dear reader shall be revealed in due course.
This week’s task was to create an e-book by developing a readymade children’s book, featuring at least one hyperlink, one audio file and a video if possible. The book I chose to develop into an e-book was the Gruffalo in scots. This task was once again carried out using the iPads so again at first this made me apprehensive as they are not my strong point, however each app I have used on the iPads in this module has been simple to use, granted that’s the apps that are simple to use and not the iPad itself.
We were using the book creator application to carry out this task. The first thing I had to do was to read through the physical book, so I could remind myself of how the story goes and to familiarise myself with the scot’s version of the story. Once I had done this it was a case of selecting the key parts of the story to adapt into my interactive e-book version.
Following the story, I selected the key parts of the story and fond images online which illustrated them clearly. I recorded some animal sounds which I found online and imbedded these audio files into the book. After looking on the internet I found the official Gruffalo website so I thought this was the perfect website to link, using the link to directly go to the interactive activities section, thinking this would be a good addition at the end of the book after a child has read the whole e-book. Throughout the book there were questions asking about what was happening in the story and how the plot was developing as well as asking what the reader thought was going to happen next. By doing this the book has a more personal feel to it and the reader becomes more engaged with the text.
E-books can be useful in the classroom as they can encourage children to read more since the books are more interactive and provides something other than just sitting with a physical book and quietly reading it alone. By using e-books in the classroom children are encouraged to think more about what they are reading as well as make them more likely to enjoy reading which will in turn make them more inclined to engage with and enjoy books. Moreover, with the availability of the Book-Creator app it could potentially make a good classroom project to create an E-book of their own. This project would further actively engage children in reading to collect inspiration as well as allow them to be more creative.
Reading is an important part of life and developing reading skills can be a challenge, especially when books are becoming less popular. However, by using applications such as Book creator reading can become more appealing to children and they will be found to voluntarily pick up a book. This coincides with the CfE E’s & O’s for literacy: LIT 1-11a / LIT 2-11a
“I regularly select and read, listen to or watch texts which I enjoy and find interesting, and I can explain why I prefer certain texts and authors”.
Signing off.
References:
Education Scotland. (2019) Curriculum for excellence 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 [Accessed: 6th April 2019].
