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iBooks Author and iTunes U: How to Author Content Like a Rockstar

12/12/2012

 
On this past Monday, one of my former students stopped by my classroom.  I always love to reconnect with students who have moved on to 7th and 8th grade, and I love hearing how their lives are changing, what they’re up to, and how their families are doing.  Occasionally, I’ll run into students who have graduated from high school and I’ll see them behind the counter at Starbucks.  It can be a little strange to see kids who are so much older than the last time I saw them, but somehow I’ve always been able to remember their names – it’s a weird talent.  Anyway, this one kid, who’s now taller than I am, popped his head into my classroom after school last Monday and said, “Yo, Mrs. Pack.  You still using iPads like a rockstar? I got a question.” 

For those who may not know, Urban Dictionary defines the phrase “like a rockstar” as an adjective that means, “to do something well – be it musical or not. Example: She can knit like a rockstar.”  The thing is, I’ve always wanted to be a rockstar but have no musical talent whatsoever, so it’s sort of a relief to know that I can be rockstar-like while doing other things that I am actually good at.

There are a ton of video tutorials on YouTube that attempt to teach people to do a number of tasks like a rockstar. For example, check out this tutorial that teaches you how to pack a suitcase like a rockstar:
I think one of the ways you know you can use iPads and other iOS devices like a rockstar is when you begin to author your own content.  Thanks to the advent of iBooks Author, writing my own book feels like delivering a soaring guitar solo to a sold-out stadium.  Publishing a course on iTunes U and using my book as a multimedia source feels like jamming next to Springsteen, Steven Tyler, and Mick Jagger. 

In light of that, here are a few tips on how to author content like a rockstar:
  • Write what you know, what you do, and what you’re passionate about.  Download iBooks Author and get to work compiling all of your resources on a given topic you love.  I recently wrote my book about digital storytelling, which is something I’ve done with students for the last six years.   My kids have experienced a lot of success at local and state film festivals, and I deliver workshops to other teachers to help ignite a fire in them to make movies with their students, too.   Writing about the process of digital storytelling was a natural fit since I already had a lot of smaller publications, resources, video tutorials, and more to draw from. 
  • Include multimedia in your published book.  With the rockin' ability to embed multimedia so easily and seamlessly in iBooks Author, there’s no reason not to show instead of tell.  The widgets function in iBooks Author allows you to embed images, keynotes, quizzes movies, html code (embed codes), and 3-D objects.  Take advantage of this to add interactivity to your book like a rockstar.
  • Preview your work. Before you share or publish your book, preview it to make sure everything looks and sounds the way it should.  Even iconic rockstars still have to practice. 
  • Disseminate your work in some capacity.  I have chosen to make my finished book available for download from my Google Drive account, because I didn’t want to shell out for an ISBN number in order to make it available on iBooks.  Uploading my work to Google Drive worked for me so that others who may not want to take my iTunes U course can still enjoy the book.  To do this, click the "Share" option from the menu and export the finished book to your desktop.  Don't click "Publish" unless you want to make your book available on iBooks - which will require the purchase of an ISBN number.  You'll also have to set up an iBooks account as well - free or paid, depending on whether or not you plan to sell your book or give it away for free. 
  • Create an iTunes U course based around the topic of your book.  Chapter 5 of my book, Digital Storytelling: Connecting Standards to Movie-Making, deals with taking student work to the next level by issuing film challenges.  Since this can be a rather large topic on it’s own, and since not many educators are issuing film challenges to students, I decided to create an iTunes U course that could teach people how to design, structure, and issue film challenges to students in any content area.  I uploaded my book as one of the course materials then uploaded a ton of extras such as PDF’s of storyboards and scriptwriting activities I’ve created. 
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Download my book, Digital Storytelling: Connecting Standards to Movie-Making
Subscribe to my iTunes U Course, Digital Storytelling: Film Challenges
Being able to share what you do in your classroom and what you’re passionate about teaching kids is an amazing opportunity.  Disseminating ideas has never been so easy.  Between social networking and the incredible publishing tools of iBooks Author and iTunes U, teaching in isolation isn’t really a danger for a tech saavy teacher. If you haven’t yet started publishing your own content – what are you waiting for?!  Download iBooks Author on your Macbook, sign up for an iTunes U instructor account (or check with your district to see if they have an account you can be affiliated with), and start authoring like a rockstar.  You can do it! 

Questions? Want to know how it’s done?  Comment on this post or email jpack@psusd.us.
By Jessica Pack
@Packwoman208
Packwoman's Tech in Progress

Keep Calm and Teach On

12/1/2012

 
I've accepted the fact that the "no homework" wave has swept through the popular modes of media and influenced the minds of the best and most influential people in education.  After all, if there is high quality instruction taking place during the course of the school day, do the kids really need to go home and spend dubious amounts of time practicing something that they already know.  If they don't know the material, is the homework going to make them understand it if there's another 6-10 problems that they still don't understand?  Homework has become a 4-letter word that we associate with poor teaching and lack of preparation.  If your students need to go home with an assignment, you just aren't planning right.
Maybe it's because I'm tainted/skewed/washed by the middle school math mentality, mainly California's version of Algebra 1.  Maybe it's because I have 51 minutes from the time the students sit down in their chairs for the day to the time that they leave my room.  Maybe it's because math is hard (no, that can't be it... could it?).  Maybe it's because I have 21 complex standards that are tested on the state exam in April.  Whatever my dramatic excuse is, I just can't get everything done in a single class period in time for them to move on, complete the short-cycle assessment required by the district, follow up with a re-teach and post-test, and follow that up with a district-issued benchmark exam, and prepare for the state test - unless there's some sort of homework.

As a proven example, we can look at the unit that my students are currently learning about - solving systems of linear equations (SOLE) using the elimination and substitution method.  To give you a peek into my classroom structure, we do a warm-up to get our minds into the proper frame for the day, go through the lesson, and get into about 3 problems. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, three whole problems from start to finish.  That may earn a "what in the world is he doing during the 51 minutes of class" type of reaction, but consider the learning that needs to take place.  In order for students to comprehend this brand new concept, they need a five-step process memorized and demonstrated slowly a number of times.  With that being said, there are a number of variations of those problems that the students will see.  Three is never enough.  Never.  Ever.  But we must keep calm and teach on.  District benchmarks are coming.  CST exams are coming.  Just keep going.

Unfortunately, to compensate for the fact that the students just don't have enough time to practice this new concept during class, they have something that we like to call "homework" that the progressive education minds tend to oppose.  I'm ok with their opinion, and will certainly listen to a rebuttal, but my students need time to practice what was learned.  Without the freedom to teach at a pace that my students would actually benefit from, homework is the only way that they can get any sort of routine memorized for the 5 steps used during the substitution or elimination methods for SOLE (or most of the California Algebra 1 standards, for that matter).

One of the major arguments against homework is that you send the student home without the expert.  The teacher is no longer in the student's environment to assist with the problems, thereby compounding and creating a phobia of the standard.  Introduce a little thing called technology and that issue is resolved immediately.  Recently, I gave the students a homework assignment (oops, sorry).  They struggled.  Here's how we helped each other:
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A student was absent, asked the class what she missed, and another student helped her out... how thoughtful.  It's all about making students accountable for each other's success.
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This student decided to help the class by doing a screencast.  Wouldn't it be nice if your students were teaching your students?
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This student made a simple mistake that she realized as soon as she read the response.
Just in case you didn't believe me, here it is.  Above, you can see screenshots of interactions that are happening on Edmodo on a regular basis, as well as a student-created explanation for one of the... homework problems.  We are continuing the conversation past the 51 minutes allotted during class and deepening the understanding.  This is something we couldn't do otherwise.  We also have students helping each other that aren't necessarily BFF's during the school day.  We have created a culture in this class that we will do whatever we can to help each other out.  Yes, the students know that they can count on me for help.  However, it is also obvious that the students can count on each other as well.

This allows me to ask the next question - is this really homework in the traditional sense if I'm still available?  

The students know that they can do a number of things to ask for help:

Google Voice me
Get onto Edmodo and ask me there
Email
Go to my website for flip videos or further support

When it comes down to it, it is about removing the opportunities for objections.  Homework has been dubbed a teaching faux pas because of its very nature to send the students off into a disconnected realm while they mull their responses and curse their instructors.  With a connected classroom, there is no objection possible - I am as available as you want me to be.  If, for some reason I am not available, your classmates are.

I'm certainly not trying to sway the naysayers of homework distribution to my side of the spectrum, nor am I attempting to influence the assigning of more homework for the sake of more homework.  However, there is a place for extra practice, as long as there is support that is available.  As long as I am able to support my students outside of the classroom at the drop of a hat, I will assign homework to allow them the time to practice what they have learned.  Indeed, I will keep calm and teach on.

John Stevens
@appsintheclass
@jstevens009
jstevens1@psusd.us
mrstevens.weebly.com

    Authors

    The iPad Jedi Masters are lead learners and instructors who are part of the PSUSD iPad Trailblazer Project.  Two of the AppsInClass crew contribute to this blog: 

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    John Stevens, Math Teacher
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    Jessica Pack, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Video Production Teacher

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