EBooks in the Classroom

How did/do you see the use of ebooks impacting the writing process? How will that affect students? How will it effect your teaching?

     At first, I was hesitant about the use of e-books not only in the classroom, but also in general. I enjoy being able to open a book and to flip to any page I need to go to. But after using e-books more and more often, I realize how convenient they really are. We can now download any genre of book, from anywhere in the world. We can share and create our own books, as well as download others' works. You can click on certain topics to learn more about them, you can have words you don't understand read out loud, and you can search for certain words in the text.
     So it makes me wonder, how will this impact the writing process? I think it will have major impacts on the writing and reading process. When it comes to writing, students can write e-books in order to feel like they are writing for a much larger audience. As Rushton Hurley said, "When children create for the world, they make it good. When children only create for their teacher, they make it good enough". This quote really sums up the importance of allowing students to write and create e-books. They can write to a broader audience and see when people download and comment on their work. Jon Smith has done a lot of research on the topic of e-books. One interesting implication that he found when working with students with autism in 5th and 6th grade was that engagement increased. He found that students spent more time on task, and seemed excited about writing. This was something he was struggling to do at first, even when using multiple different writing prompts. He discusses his journey with the students here.
     I know that this is something that will affect my teaching. Technology is an important aspect to students, now more than ever. Incorporating things such as creating e-books in the classroom can help to keep students engaged and interested in different topics. For teachers who are new to e-books or unsure how to create them, here is a link that helps to breakdown the e-book creating process.

What benefits do you see to using student created ebooks in the classroom? How do you see them fitting in your future classroom? What main considerations will you need to make to use them effectively?

     As I stated before, student created e-books can increase engagement in the classroom. I will definitely use student created e-books in the future. Science is a really good subject to use these for, because students can create books to reinforce learning of knowledge from the classroom. They can provide links to sources and put videos on their e-books. It is important to incorporate content and pedagogy into the e-books. We want students to learn while creating these. We also need to consider the available technology in our classroom. Some classrooms may have computers for every students, while others may have one or no computers for all of the students.

    What was the most striking thing you took away from Jon's presentation? How will it impact your own learning?

     The most striking thing that I took away from Jon's presentation was the impact of writing e-books on students learning. During his video, he told us that kids should be creating stuff. Kids really don't enjoy worksheets. They should also be sharing their work in order to feel like the audience is larger than just the teacher. Another important point that Jon Smith gave in his lecture is that we should give students some kind of sense of the world and globe. Trying to make them walk away not only as better students, but also as better citizens and creators in our society. Jon has copies of e-books created by his students here. They give us a good sense of what students are capable of when it comes to creating e-books.

     I realize that keeping students excited about learning is key to keeping them interested. Incorporating new technology, such as e-books, can help to facilitate the learning process. I also recognize that technology is quickly changing, and that it is important to stay current on the technology that is available for use.