This weeks Digital Technologies workshop was about the benefits of using “eBooks” in the classroom. We explored this by using “Book Creator” to make the brochure “Life at UWS” and a teaching aid or summary about a children’s book.
According to The Oxford Dictionary, an eBook is the same as a printed book but in an electronic form. It can be read on a computer or a specifically designed hand-held device.
In class, we used “Book Creator”, and app on iPads, to make our own books. “Book Creator” is ideal for making all kinds of books, such as:
· Children’s picture books
· Comic books
· Photo books
· Journals
· Textbooks
I was able to use the “Book Creator” app to create a brochure called “Life at UWS” in a group of three and a book which acted as a teaching aid. My teaching summarised the children’s book “Mr. Tickle” and had questions at the end which required the pupil(s) to use adjectives and story writing skills, the pupil(s) had to make up their own ending to the story. Both of my “Book Creator” projects included:
· Pictures
· Sound
· Text
· Written text
· Front cover
My experience and outcomes for my projects are for literacy and technology. For literacy, “I enjoy exploring and playing with the patterns and sounds of language and can use what I learn” (LIT 0-01a / LIT 0-11a / LIT 0-20), and for technology, “I can experiment with and identify uses of a range of computing technology in the world around me” (TCH 0-14b).
According to the Scottish Government, the benefits of digital technologies are not being put across in all schools, despite its pervasive nature.
Therefore, their “Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland” aims to improve the current situation by creating the conditions to allow all of Scotland’s educators, learners and parents to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technology to raise attainment, ambition and opportunities for all.
This strategy has four essential objectives:
· Develop the skills and confidence of teachers.
· Improve access to digital technology for all learners.
· Ensure that digital technology is a central consideration in all areas of curriculum and assessment delivery.
· Ensure leaders of a change to drive innovation and investment in digital technology for learning and teaching.
It has come to my attention that many teachers are including a range of digital technology in their lessons. The Scottish Government states that 10 local authorities, almost 20 schools and hundreds of pupils are already using a range of digital technology (BBC, 2012).
Primary teacher, David Andrews, is very enthusiastic about Apple and wanted to introduce iPads and iPods to the school he works in. He shares the reasons his school “jumped on the iPad bandwagon” with “The Guardian”. He said that his three-year-old daughter was interested in his own iPad2 when he first bought it, and this was when his “iPad journey” began. His daughter was learning to count, do simple subtraction and addition problems, recognise different shapes, listen to stories, learn her alphabet, beginning to spell out words and learn how to write letters. She was learning all this with very little guidance or support and was enjoying learning.
Andrews has many reasons for his fascination with the iPads and they are as follows:
· The ease, speed of use and accessibility.
· Audio visual (AV) tools.
· Creativity
(The Guardian, 2012)
In conclusion, I enjoyed learning about eBooks and using “Book Creator” and now understand the importance of them being used in the classroom. I plan to practice using “Book Creator” more so I can improve and use it in the future.
References
· BBC News. (2012) Education Scotland looks to expand use of tablets computers in schools. [Online] Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-18081005 [Accessed: 12 February 2018].
· The Guardian. (2012) An Apple for the teacher: are iPads the future in class? [Online] Available: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/aug/13/schools-secondary-schools [Accessed: 12 February 2018].
