Easy way to enliven your Instructional Material

Looking for a new way to present information to your students? Tired of the same ol' PowerPoint or Lecture Notes that you use over and over again? With FlipHTML5 you can still use your tried and true instructional material but present them more like an e-Book in your online course.

Step 1: Download for FREE the FlipHTML5 software at fliphtml5.com. You can download the program for free by selecting the appropriate buttons. Here is what the Free version provides:

• FlipHtml5 Logo
• 100 publications per month
• Pre-designed templates
• 10GB Host
• Up to 50 MB per document

The various paid versions start at Pro Version for $15/month; Platinum Version (shown as the best deal) for $299/year or all the way to the Enterprise Version where you can pay a onetime fee of $999 and have it forever. I will demonstrate the FREE version!

Lecture Notes

Once you have the software downloaded, simply follow the instructions to add a new book and upload your PDF file so you can convert it to a digital book. Keep in mind your PDF must be less than 150 MB. Once you have uploaded your pdf, you can choose from a few templates and themes with the free version. This can then be embedded into a page in your online course!

There are a few fun ways your students can use the eBook. They can zoom in on a graphic to get a better look, they can print the book, and they can do a keyword search.

PowerPoint Presentations

If you want to convert your PowerPoint Presentations into an eBook, you will first want to change the orientation of your slides to Portrait. This will give it more of a book look. You may have to do some editing so that all your images and text are aligned correctly.

One more thing....you can place your e-books on different Bookcases in FlipHTML5 and you can actually embed an entire bookcase into your Canvas course! Your students can click on any of the eBooks in the bookshelf to view. (This is just an image of my bookshelf and is not active.)

Since you are embedding, any changes you make in the Flip HTML5 will change automatically in your course(s) as well. 

I bet you can think of lots of fun ways to incorporate this handy and FREE tool into your online or web enhanced course! Download the free software and create some eBooks! I hope you leave a comment letting us know how you and your students like this tool!

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The Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments

When I'm not rocking out as an instructional technology specialist, I'm teaching online English classes.  One of the things I try to get students to understand is logical fallacies.   Their papers often employ at least one despite my valiant efforts.  I imagine that I am not alone in this struggle.

The textbook and my attempts at explaining are pretty cut and dried (aka boring), which is why I was delighted to hear tell of The Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments.  It can be read for free online. It is, as the title suggests, illustrated.  It provides a fun and informative look at logical fallacies and why they should be avoided. It cannot be embedded at this time, but it can be linked.  I'm hoping this little gem will help my students make the awesome argument that they deserve to make, rather than the same old strawman.

Thanks for the heads up, Sheryl LeSage! 

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iPads and literature

Virtual book clubs? It was inevitable, I suppose.

This site provides inspiration for using literature with eReaders inside the classroom and independently. The site includes links to the best known sites for free eBooks, and  tools for a reading discussion group

• determining the readability scores for online articles
• notetaking apps
• cloud storage/exchange apps
• discussions apps

One of the intriguing parts of this site is the section on the use of roles (tracing travel, gathering background information, illustrator) and list of apps that facilitate those roles. Many of these ideas are aimed at K-12, but could easily be adapted to higher ed, or independent reading groups. At any rate it is an example of how technology can be used with imagination.

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Project Gutenberg Free eBooks

(This was originally posted by Linda Wapelhorst on 12/22 in Butler Online's Advent Calendar)

Project Gutenberg offers over 36,000 free ebooks to download to your PC, Kindle, Android, iOS or other portable device. Choose between ePub, Kindle, HTML and simple text formats.These ebooks are digitized version of previously published books whose copyright has expired in the United States.

Downloads are free and no registration is required although you can make a donation to help fund the project You can search titles by a simple book search or browse bookshelves by topic, top downloads, or recently added. This is a great resource.

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A new look at Project Gutenberg

Have you seen Project Gutenberg lately? This site is the grandaddy of eBooks; I remember skimming through it when we first got the Internet. Oodles of out of copyright, free books. No images, just unformatted text. Very boring, slow, hard to search.

It has survived and grown with new technologies. And of course added much more, since more and more books are getting out of copyright restrictions.
One notable addition is the listing of books with images, and audio books. They also list the multiple versions and platforms (Epub, HTML, Kindle, PDF) Versions are available for your IOS (iPhone, iPad) device, Android, Nook, Kobo, Kindle and more.

They have even added QR codes - not just for hipness but for a practical reason. Scanning the code with your phone (on your PC) will bring up the website on your device and let you download the file right on your phone or tablet.

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QR Codes in Education

QR Codes are getting a lot of attention lately. I have been researching how to create them and their possible use in online education. This video is a great example of how one company is using QR Codes. Perhaps our future texts will contain QR Codes rather than be eBooks.

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Stay in the Kno

Do you know about the Kno? "Kno is an upcoming tablet computer announced by the Kno company as a “digital textbook” aimed at the academic market. The tablet has two 14.1” touchscreens". "Choose from single or dual screen versions that you can write on, highlight on, watch video on. And, oh yes… read on".
Watch the video to be in the know . . .Kno?!

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The future of textbooks

Have you been paying attention to the ebook wars? Prices are coming down and many free books are available for the download. The top three ebooks, Kindle, Nook, eReader are in fierce competition and even more options are on the way. Are you reading electronic books? Each has its own pros and cons. But it is definitely the wave of the future.

What about textbooks? A recent study showed that 70% of students still prefer a hard copy book. But things may be changing fast. Just last month, Barnes and Noble launched NOOK Study. With this website, a student doesn't need a Nook, just a computer to read the material. The key is that they have partnered with major textbook companies to improve the textbook in many ways. The most interesting aspect to me is interactive graphics. Imagine watching cells grow or DNA molecules rotate. The options are limitless!

Another reason students may be willing to change to ebooks is the cost. A 40% - 60% discount off the price of paper texts just might do the trick. Nookstudy allows students to highlight and save notes to the side of the etext.

The final thing to watch is smartphone technology. Most smartphones have ebook apps available for download. Blackboard and ANGEL are working on new and improved mobile technology today...and it might be ready by the end of this year.

The future it here...and it is great fun to watch.

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Replacing a Pile of Textbooks With an iPad

The article, Replacing a Pile of Textbooks With an iPad, provides an interesting look into the possibilities in using e-books for more than just "reading" the text book. E-books offer the possibility of true interaction within the text among students and instructors.

Thanks to Eddie Andreo for the tip.

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$35 Tablet??

"The Indian government unveiled a working prototype today of a small tablet computer that it says will initially sell for $35". Read the whole story on ZDNet Education:

India's $35 tablet - vaporware or the real deal?

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The future is here!

Take a look at the new eTourage eDGe! This computer opens and reads like a book. It has a Kindle-like reader on the left side of the screen and a web browser on the right side. It will be marketed with the college student in mind. It has already contracted with two major textbook publishing companies to support their ebooks. Now students can read the text while having ANGEL up and running at the same time. Take a look at the review...it isn't perfect yet...but it isn't far away!

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