Guest blogger: Summertime Professional Reading

Today's blog recommends two books that will bring you up to speed on the impact of the maker movement in schools. Paula Hollohan is the Instructional Technologies & Information Specialist in the Doucette Library who keeps up with technology trends in education. Check in with Paula's blog, Doucette Ed Tech if you'd like to keep up with all sorts of cool and interesting, wide-ranging topics.

I, too, will be coming up with some summertime reading recommendations in about two weeks - NOT focused on technology, as you might expect. So stay tuned for fiction and nonfiction reads whether you're at the  beach, cabin, or in the back garden. There will be something for everyone.

Tammy

Summer Reading

By: Paula Hollohan

Summer is a time to re-energize and have some time for new learning in a more relaxed atmosphere.  That’s everything I love about summer reading except that the location can and be the beach or the deck.  Set your sights on something you are interested in, get a big set of post it notes and away you go.

This summer, I am recommending two reads to reinforce the notion of the “Maker Mindset.”

Both books, while not published this year, are new enough to speak to the notion of making embedded in curriculum and in school culture more completely than a room called a “Maker Space” ever could be.  That is not to say that having a makerspace in any facility that you educate in is not a great bonus but without a leading edge, expensive maker space, any educator can still advance the notion of making in any environment.

The first book is “Free to Make: How the Maker Movement is changing our schools, our jobs, and our minds” by Dale Dougherty with Ariane Conrad. 

Beginning with Chapter 1, “We are all Makers,” this book, published in 2016, gives a generous overview of the maker movement and some specifics about how it fits in education and more generally, how it is changing the real world.  Chapter 7 specifically addresses the nature and conditions needed to adopt a “maker mindset.”  This book is a quick read to give educators a great foundation in what maker is and what is looks like within each community.

The second book is by Edmonton’s own, George Couros, “The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower learning, unleash talent, and lead a culture ofcreativity.”  

This book speaks directly to educators no matter what stage they are at in embracing the maker movement.  He addresses, because of his own experience, just how difficult it is to lead a revolution in a school system.  However, the information contained here will give educators much to talk and think about.  Many questions will be addressed, like how to create meaningful learning while having innovative students and educators leading the way.

Have a great summer and allow these two great books to help inform your practice in September.

Both books are currently being catalogued and will shortly be available in the Doucette Library.

Getting the word out

A new crop of undergraduate student-teachers start classes today. The energy is most palpable at the moment.

So with lots of new faces in mind, I thought I’d go over a few of the ways we in the Doucette Library try to convey information about resources.

Workshops: We do workshops – lots and lots. We should rename ourselves Workshops-R-Us, in fact. These are not your typical library workshops that review research strategies or searching databases or catalogues. We promote the resources that can be found in the Doucette and also illustrate our workshops with the very resources that student-teachers can also use in their work as both students and teachers. We often teach about how to think about the resources: why would I use this? how would I use this? what do I hope to provoke from the students with this? is this the best resources to accomplish my objectives? etc. These sessions are challenging but really fun to do – almost like playing, really. We offer these workshops through classes, the Education Student Association and on our own in something called Black Chair Sessions. The BCS sessions are 20-30 minutes and super focused on a very narrow topic. Bing. Bang. Boom. You’re in. You’re out. You’re better informed.

Library/Subject/Research Guides: Whatever you want to call them, these are incredibly rich resources that the staff in the Doucette Library have created that again direct student-teachers to materials that will help them with their own school work, when they’re out on practicums or even once they’ve become teachers. We organize them around topics that are centred around lesson planning, teaching specific curriculum topics such as social studies, science, or fine arts, specific areas of importance in teaching K-12 grades such as children’s literature, English language learners, technology, interdisciplinary teaching, early childhood education and so on. We recommend web resources, online journal articles and Doucette Library books and kits, of course. It’s about finding information even when you’re not on campus.

Blogs: Well, if you’re reading this you know that I blog in the name of the Doucette Library. But you may not be aware that a colleague, Paula Hollohan, also writes a blog about using technology in the classroom. Doucette Ed Tech reviews many types of resources including apps, gadgets, and trends. It’s a great place to start with getting a grasp on the Maker movement or design thinking, for example.

Pinterest:  Both Paula and I have created Pinterest boards that are filled with resources (again, mostly from the Doucette Library) specific to topics relevant to curriculum or classroom practice. My boards (found as Doucette Library) are really focused on the Alberta program of studies and there are boards for elementary social studies, science and math. Every topic in very grade level has a board dedicated to listing mostly juvenile resources appropriate for classroom use.  Paula has boards related to educational technology.

Goodreads: Again, this is something both Paula and I have joined to help us keep track of the books we read. It also allows student-teachers or anyone else for that matter to see what we’re reading. I’ve made a link from this blog to get to my account and welcome you to ‘friend’ me if you wish to join in.

Litsy: This is brand new for us. Recently, Paula and I have been struggling with trying to revamp a book club that we use to run for student-teachers. This wasn’t the kind of book club that required everyone to read the same book and then discuss it. It was a way for Paula and me to recommend fiction and nonfiction with curriculum tie-ins to students. We also encouraged students to talk about the books they were using or seeing in the classrooms when they were on practicum. But with program changes, there has been a real time crunch for students and we haven’t been able to run it. This year we thought we’d try something new with a new social media-type app. It’s being described as: if Goodreads and Instagram had a baby it would look like Litsy. So Litsy lets us (and you) list the books you’re reading (or have read) plus add pictures and comments much like what you’d see on Instagram. It is easy to use and I’d recommend you stop by for a look and perhaps sign up.

And that’s about it – at least, for now.  We’re always looking for ways to share our expertise and recommend the resources that will help student-teachers excel and enrich their own teaching practices.

Evaluating E-Book Apps for K-12

Toady's blog is written by Paula Hollohan, the Doucette Library's Instructional Technologies and Information Specialist.She writes the blog Doucette Ed Tech. 

Student-teachers often ask us what our opinions are about e-books so I asked Paula to provide a few points to consider when selecting e-books. The Doucette Library has the book apps mentioned here available on iPads that can be loaned out to students from the Werklund School of Education here at the University of Calgary.

By Paula Hollohan

I've been looking at e-book apps for almost a year now and I have to say, evaluating them is an involved process. It is getting easier but e-book content is evolving at the same time.  Here is some advice for evaluating e-book apps for a class set of iPads:

1. Find an e-book that you feel exemplifies what you are looking for. Many evaluators  look at  Bats! Furry Fliers of the Night for a great non-fiction e-book app that exemplifies great augmentation while not being distracting.

2. Strike a balance between the basic book as a hard copy and the enhancements of the e-book app.  Are the add-ons truly enhancing the reader's experience or distracting from the enjoyment of the book? In this case, you must know your reader or the kinds of readers in your classroom and the amount of interactivity present in the app.  Test out Even Monsters are Shy to see activity, music, and a story. I thought this e-book was mostly balanced but, depending on your readers, it may have too much going on.

3. Are you looking for an e-book app that you can be embedded in your curriculum or are you looking for technology to check off in the :"I am a technology forward teacher" box?  Adding an e-book app is great if it means that the book is an embedded part of your teaching. Many students learn differently and an enhanced e-book app may reach some very visual students.  For example, Water by Edward Burtynsky can be used across many curriculum areas and grades. It is very visual but has interesting information embedded for units on climate change, environmental responsibility, global citizenship and many social studies and science topics.

4. Think about how you choose great books for you classroom library. Most of the same criteria apply to e-book apps.  Do you love the illustrations? Can the story be used to model writing? Is it interesting enough for students to go back to again and again.? I would be extra careful with e-book apps. I would experiment with many and read reviews but the ones that you feel are keepers for your classroom may differ from what the critics say.  Can you see yourself recommending an e-book app over and over to different students? Then it is a winner. Do you need one copy or a series of copies on ipads throughout your classroom? That is more expensive and may need to be refreshed from year to year.

5. Have fun! Experiment! Download apps for a panel of students to try.  They are so experienced with technology, you will find out pretty quickly which e-book apps are engaging and which ones are not. And like a hard copy book, an e-book app has a lifespan within your classroom and can be deleted when students are no longer using it. There is no shortage of new apps appearing each day.

Choose-your-own-adventure technology

Tammy’s discussion of “Choose your own adventures” books  led us to an interesting conversation on the appeal of these books to non-readers and then further, to if these  type of books might appeal to on-line game players and X-Box players (do they call them X-Boxers?).  Our sense of this was no – but were there on-line versions that might incorporate some of the decision making and thought processes?

Some Googling and trials of different search terms (choose your own adventure, interactive character stories) brought me to  Choice of Games, a company devoted to “producing high-quality, text-based, multiple choice games”. Their belief is that text-based games are an underutilized format in computer games, and that the use of text interacts with the imagination in different ways than a graphics-based game. (Hmmmm – interesting premise. I like it.)

They have many, many games that they have produced – the one that Tammy and I played is called “Dragon”. It starts off with a knight who attacks a dragon (the character that the player assumes). The choices that are made determine the arc of the story.  Whoever wrote this one clearly has a sense of humour and a willingness to push the boundaries of stereotypes. Here is an example:

“As you think about it, the knight’s attack was probably inevitable. After all, you did just kidnap the princess from right out of her tower. Although…Isn’t it a little sexist to always kidnap princesses?

o   Maybe, but tradition demands that dragons kidnap princesses, even if that is sexist.

o   You dare question my actions?

o   You know, I never thought about that before. In fact, I think I kidnapped a prince, just to avoid being sexist.

o   I’ll have you know that I make a careful point of alternating between princes and princesses, but it happened to be time for a princess.

Good humour displayed here and at a level that kids would get, I think. As you move through the game, the choices that you make determine things about your character (or you) – in this case, whether you, the dragon lose or gain brutality, cunning, disdain and infamy, what your wealth is and if you have wounds. 

The adventure continues – unlike physical books however, if you don’t like the way it is going, you have to go back and start again, which can certainly change the entire focus.

But what Tammy and I thought had huge potential was that Choice of Games offers the opportunity for you to write your own multiple choice games. They offer a basic guide to their programming language that enables someone to post their adventure online. Of course, you cannot just randomly start writing the program. And this is where an opportunity to capture the attention of reluctant writers and addicted gamers comes in. The story line will have to be plotted out, include what happens at each choice point – students would need to know about plot development, think through the impact at each choice point and perhaps even read a few books/short stories to get some ideas for story ideas and what might appeal to a particular age group.

This would not be a quick project – but the inspiration of being able to see a game that you have written on line might just appeal to those who are reluctant writers and readers.  It certainly would have more appeal than a book report – at least from my perspective.  And certainly, in Alberta, at any rate, a project of this nature would go a long way toward achieving not only the vision set out in  Alberta Learning’s Learning and Technology Framework, but the ability to foster cross-curricular learning is invaluable.

Choice of Games can be played both online and as downloads through iTunes and Android. In addition, authored games can be placed on iTunes and Choice of Games will split proceeds with the author. Kind of a win-win for everyone!!
                                                                                                                                                       --Janet

This time a book – instead of an app

Guest blogger - Janet Hutchinson

Janet has recently taken on learning about instructional technologies for the classroom.  Part of her time has been learning about iPads, their usefulness as a classroom tool and related apps.  We've gotten into a few discussions about some of the questions that arise when looking at some of these 'educational tools.'  Do these apps add anything to the reading experience?  Are they educational, entertaining, distracting or altogether off-putting? Do they replace the physical book?  What is lost without the physical book if anything? and so on.   

Finding current books that direct you to worthy apps is important however fleeting their relevancy.

With my new-found interest in iPads and apps (OK, who am I kidding, I have always been a bit of a geek….), I have been discovering books that are about technology and technology integration into the classroom. One could argue that by the time a book gets through the stages of production, at least 30,000 new apps will have been introduced in the iTunes store (that’s a conservative estimate – a quick Google tells me that according to about.com, apps available on iTunes have gone from 50,000 in June of 2009 to 775,000 in January of 2013 – other sites cite different numbers. The point is, it is a quickly growing market). However, whether these apps are useful or achieve learning goals can be difficult to measure without some reading and thinking about incorporating them into the classroom.

I have been reading several books about technology and technology in the classroom to help me with understanding this process. Tammy has asked me to review some of what I am finding.

So the first book  that I am reviewing is Apps forlearning – middle school iPad, iPod touch and iPhone by Harry Dickens and Andrew Churches.

There are several reasons why I liked this book. To start, the authors have not covered huge numbers of apps. They have selected 5 to 8 apps in each category and expanded on how a student or teacher might use this in learning and research.

 I also liked the fact that the chapters were broken down by subject area. For example, the Social Studies chapter lists 6 apps and gives examples of the types of information that a student might gather from the app, or how the teacher might use the app in their classroom.

Each chapter ends with a brief synopsis of each app listed in the chapter, along with the URL, the purchase price and the device availability. (If you are Canadian, some of the apps listed are American based, so might be of limited use in some aspects of the curriculum – but I am continually on the lookout for quality Canadian apps that mirror some of the American ones I have found – I’ll keep you posted.)

Finally, the authors have not limited themselves to curriculum subject. They have devoted several chapters to basics, literacy, apps and tools for sharing and talking and tools for creating.

This book might get dated quickly – but the authors’ principles about what to look for in an app and why it is important to integrate them into the classroom mirrors much of my thinking on the subject.

And the other reason I liked this book? Most chapters feature at least one app that I thought would be great for classroom use. Nothing like positive reinforcement in a field where I feel like as much as I have learned, I still have so far to go!!

An educational app looking to make a difference

One of the most beautiful apps that I have downloaded in my quest for apps is the one developed by the World Wildlife Fund. There is exceptional detail to the layout and the stories within the story and the photography is gorgeous. The app explores a number of animals on WWF’s list of endangered animals. The list is (sadly) ever-expanding, and WWF does a really good job of adding stories to the list.

The app is well-constructed and once you get the hang of it, easy to navigate. Each animal is introduced by a single word. The word is meant (I think) to typify one fact about them. The Tiger’s word is Solitude, the Snow leopard’s word is Rarity and the Panda’s word is Charisma. Inside each story, the user receives facts about the animal, including 3 threats to their existence, their current population, their habitat and the distance that they are from where the user is (The snow leopard is 6,700 miles from me – the polar bear is 1327 miles and the bison is just down the road, at 503 miles). Each story includes photos of the animals at various spots in their habitats and video and interactivity to keep it interesting. For example, in the Gorilla story, one page shows leaves that need to be gathered up into a circle. Once they are all gathered, another fact about the gorilla’s foraging and movement activity is revealed. On another screen a number of dots move towards a centre dot. When you tap on the dot, it mimics the thumping behaviour that gorillas use as aggression displays to warn off other males. The thumping that you do also brings up other types of behaviours used by the gorilla male.

This app is free to download at the iTunes store and WWF is doing a great job of adding new stories to it. One of the features shows a globe, with dots indicating the locations of threatened animals. I imagine that the intent is that eventually the app will have all the stories of all the animals.

One last thing that I particularly like is that there is no overt asking for donations – that certainly is one of the ways that the user can help – but it is not first on their list. And they make sharing the app via Facebook, Twitter and email easy.

Non-fiction. Where apps really shine -- Part 3.

Guest blogger - Janet Hutchinson

Janet has recently taken on learning about instructional technologies for the classroom.  Part of her time has been learning about iPads, their usefulness as a classroom tool and related apps.  We've gotten into a few discussions about some of the questions that arise when looking at some of these 'educational tools.'  Do these apps add anything to the reading experience?  Are they educational, entertaining, distracting or altogether off-putting? Do they replace the physical book?  What is lost without the physical book if anything? and so on.   

The two nonfiction books that are recommended below have a lot of classroom potential in my opinion and I will be including them in future workshops.

My third foray into book apps was in the non-fiction area. This is an area where it is just as easy to find apps that shine, as it is ones that flop. I am going to talk about two excellent examples of books made into apps.

I bought the app Fragile Earth, in part because we had the hard copy in the Doucette and in part because I saw it reviewed positively (don’t ask me where – I have 29 sites book marked for app reviews). The book presents Before and After pictures – generally highlighting environmental degradation, mostly as a result of human intrusion and climate changes, but also the impact that Mother Nature has on the world. As well, each picture is accompanied by a description of what is being seen in the before and after pictures.

The app itself does not exactly mirror the book – where the book presents 9 themes, the app presents 6 - Man’s Impact, Deserts and Droughts, Natural Phenomena, Warming World, Water’s Power and Wild Weather. However, each picture comes with a unique slider feature. The information about each picture is contained in a “pop-up” at the bottom. Once you make that disappear, then there is a slider, which can be moved across the picture to present before and after pictures – some with a great range of years (1900 – 2008, Rhone Glacier in the Theme Warming World Views), some just a few years apart (2008, 2009 Tidal problems, Venice, Italy) and the before and after in Natural Phenomena (Christchurch New Zealand, 2011 – before and after the earthquake). This app sends a very clear message about the impact of humans and nature on our earth. The part I really like about this app is that as new pictures become available, so too does the app update. Since I bought the app, it has updated to include (for example) two new pictures in Man’s Impact – the chemical spill in Devercser, Hungary and Air pollution at the National Stadium in Beijing, China (where the 2008 Olympics were held). The app then stays a current tool, rather than having to buy a revised copy of the book.

The only criticism that I have with the app is that in the book, each chapter opens with a general explanation of each theme. So for example, in the Theme in the book “Rising sea level” the reader gets a general explanation of why the levels are rising, and graphs that show the trends and where the major threats are, world-wide. This background information is support for the pictures themselves and it would have been nice to have had that general overview before each theme in the app.

The second book app that I bought came about as a result of a Tedtalk featuring Mike Matas from Push Pop Press showing the digital book Our choice by Al Gore. This book is a beautifully interactive book that incorporates all the features of a hardcopy book, but with options that turn it into a beautiful and truly interactive book. Would you believe one of the diagrams shows wind energy storage and use when you blow into the microphone on the iPad? The text pops out to full screen size, but can shrink again to the bottom of the screen so that you can scroll through to another part of the chapter or book. Individual graphs can be moved to full size and then other graphs can be viewed from that graph. Clicking on a globe embedded in each picture will show you where in the world the picture was taken. Many of the pictures link to videos and background narration on the content of each picture, so that you have additional information to incorporate. Unfortunately, this may be the only book that appears using this software. Push Pop Press has been acquired by Facebook – so look for the same level of interactivity on your Facebook page….coming soon.

Part 4  - Book apps written only for the iPad. Or is it a good book just because it is an app?

A YA Book and a YA App. Or – Does having the accompanying soundtrack make the book better? - Part 2

Guest blogger - Janet Hutchinson

Janet has recently taken on learning about instructional technologies for the classroom.  Part of her time has been learning about iPads, their usefulness as a classroom tool and related apps.  We've gotten into a few discussions about some of the questions that arise when looking at some of these 'educational tools.'  Do these apps add anything to the reading experience?  Are they educational, entertaining, distracting or altogether off-putting? Do they replace the physical book?  What is lost without the physical book if anything? and so on.   

Janet's conclusions about the following book app has made me want to revisit Chopstick 'the app'.  My first time round with it didn't impress me and I found all the bits to click on rather distracting.  I didn't finish it.  I'll try again .

Click here for  Part 1.

The second book that I bought was the YA book Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony. Not exactly a graphic novel (in the true sense of the word) but not a traditional “book with words”, nevertheless, it tells a compelling story through snippets of the lives of the main characters. It opens with a conglomeration of ‘talking heads” (news anchors, in other words) and then moves to one anchor, telling the breaking news-story of the missing world famous young pianist Glory Fleming.

We then move to 18 months earlier and the story of Gloria (or Glory) unfolds. From her parents meeting and marrying, through to her birth, her gradual development as a piano player and then her mother’s death, all stages are presented through photographs, cards and recital programs. Her continuing rise as a piano prodigy is shown through music programs at progressively bigger venues. Then Francisco moves in next door – and they meet and it is clear from the start they are a couple. But they are a star-crossed couple and through the next few chapters we learn of Glory’s obsession with the tune Chopsticks, Frank’s obsession with her and her decreasing touch with reality.

The app is exactly the same as the book – but this would be a case where I think the app for the book enhances and expands on the book. Throughout the iPad book, there are pages with moving musical notes. When you touch the notes, dialogue appears, pictures can be moved around, and applause is heard. But the theme of Chopsticks is where the true genius of this story comes through You see that it is Gloria’s first recital piece – you see a YouTube video of Joanne Castle playing The Chopsticks Rag – and at various points throughout the book, the theme appears in several ways and at different times and I began to really see the story through her eyes. (And it was in using the iPad version of the book that I realized that F for Francisco and G for Gloria start together in “Chopsticks” and then move further apart – foreshadowing what is to come perhaps?)

I think this iPad version works almost better than the physical book. The ability to connect to YouTube and hear the various versions of Chopsticks – or to actually hear the playlists that the two lovers make for each other really make the story alive (although you do need an internet connection to use the book in its’ entirety – otherwise, it is just a book on the iPad). I had read the physical book when it first came into the Doucette – and then I re-read the iPad version – maybe it was familiarity – or maybe not – but the story resonated with me (and raised more questions) than in the paper version.

Part 3 – Non-fiction books - Where book apps really take off!

Books and apps, apps and books – Part 1

Guest blogger - Janet Hutchinson

Janet has recently taken on learning about instructional technologies for the classroom.  Part of her time has been learning about iPads, their usefulness as a classroom tool and related apps.  We've gotten into a few discussions about some of the questions that arise when looking at some of these 'educational tools.'  Do these apps add anything to the reading experience?  Are they educational, entertaining, distracting or altogether off-putting? Do they replace the physical book?  What is lost without the physical book if anything? and so on.   

Below is Janet's first feature about one of these book apps.  If you've had experiences with some book apps please feel free to drop us a line in the comments box and let us know your thoughts.

One of the projects that I have been working on for the last little while is the development of a set of iPad books and apps that might be of value in a school classroom. This has been an interesting project (not the least because I get to play a little bit) because it brings up all sorts of questions around the use of iPads in the classroom. Today’s question is “When is a book better off as an app or digital book?”

This question seems to come to everyone interested in books and where books are going. There is a school of thought that digitally created and enhanced books will eventually be the choice of people who read – those people who choose to continue reading paper books will be seen to be people who are firmly stuck in old ways of thinking.

In consultation with Tammy, I have taken the opportunity to purchase several book apps that we also have as hard-cover books here in the Doucette. We initially wanted to explore them first of all as support for the physical books – but secondly, as stand-alone opportunities to read. For me, I wanted to discover what the app might offer that enhances the reading experience for the reader, be they a small child or a young adult.

The first app that I purchased is the picture book Memoirs of a goldfish by Devin Scillian. This is the story of a goldfish and life in his fish-bowl  The book starts with the fish swimming in his bowl, all alone. It proceeds through to the point where there is the fish, a toy, plants, a snail, a crab (I assume a plastic one) a sunken pirate ship and on and on. He has a little meltdown and is moved to a small bowl all alone. But he discovers that, as crowded and busy as it was, he misses everyone – and when he is moved back to a larger tank with all his new friends, he realizes they are all part of a family. And then he meets a girl goldfish. And they lived happily ever after. (Sarcasm unintended – it really is a cute story.)

In my opinion, the book app does not add much to the story. Except for some animation of the narrator fish (who remains nameless) and a few bubbles, the story tells itself, with few distractions – but also with few things that make it a “stand-out” book app, one that is head and tails above the standard issue hard copy book. In fact, because the screen size is limited, the picture book (hardcopy) does a much better job of displaying the full bowl across two pages, especially when the storyline is on one screen, and the picture is on the next, so that the overall visual is split up. And getting back to the start of the book means a page menu has to be swiped up and the reader has to scroll backwards or forwards to find the page he/she wants.

There is one advantage – the book app has the option of allowing the child to be read to without the presence of an adult. And as the voice narrates, the text turns red, so that a child can follow along and know what words are being read on which page. As a parent, part of me thinks this might be a good thing, particularly for those days when chaos reigns – but, on the other hand, nothing can replace reading to a child in your lap (whether it is on an iPad or a book).

Part 2 – A YA book and a YA app? Or does having the accompanying soundtrack make the book better?