Classroom 2.0 Building a Community of Readers: Social Reading and an Aggregated eBook Reading App for Libraries The Gates Through Central Park Benches by Sterling Ely / CC-BY-SA In Brief: Library ebooks are currently read in different, unconnected reading platforms. Because all library ebook vendors use the same Adobe ADEPT system to circulate ebooks, they could be delivered to a single aggregated reading app. Book Bench: An Aggregated eBook Reading App It’s a Tuesday morning, I am talking with my co-worker, Sally. “It’s a new reading app,” she says. Book Bench isn’t real. Instead, we wind up apologizing: for getting an Adobe ID; for having several separate ebook systems; for the number of steps involved in getting an ebook onto a reading device. We want to suggest a new app. Libraries purchase ebooks from different distributors—including OverDrive, 3M, and Freading—and each distributor delivers ebooks in different reading apps. We will discuss social reading and why libraries should look at the technology. Connecting Readers Inside Books Reading is both a solitary and a social activity. 1. 2. 3.
The Educator’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons Lately, we’ve been hearing more and more about digital copyrights and fair use in the news and online – particularly with the whole SOPA/PIPA uproar that recently swept the web. Also, we on the Edublogs support team have been getting more and more complaints and official requests to remove copyrighted content that users have placed on blogs. The legal jargon with respect to digital copyrights can be confusing – especially since different countries have their own laws and regulations. With this post, we hope to dispel a few myths and pull together a complete list of resources for teachers and students to use when blogging and working with content online. Rule #1: You Can’t Use Everything You Find On the Web Dexter the cat hates those that steal his photos… This may seem obvious, but judging by the notices we have received, many teachers (and especially students) are under the impression that if it is on the web, then it is up for grabs. Rule #2: There Are Resources You CAN Use Images Videos
Welcome to Crazytown: Public Libraries Confront Digital Objects | ruk.ca Yesterday I saw this tweet, about a teach-yourself-Norwegian audiobook available from the Public Library Service: As I do want to learn Norwegian, at least in theory, I followed the link, which led me to a page on the Prince Edward Island-branded Overdrive.com website. To “borrow” this audiobook I needed to enter my library card number, put the audiobook in my “cart” (thus starting us, forebodingly, down the road toward ecommerce language), then “checkout” (ibid), select a 7, 14 or 21 day “lending period,” download a XML wrapper file for the audiobook, download the “Overdrive Media Console” software for my Mac, and then open the XML wrapper inside the Media Console to actually download what, in the end, was simply 3 non-DRMed MP3 files. After listening to the first 5 minutes of the first MP3 file, I decided that I didn’t really have any interest at all in learning Norwegian, so I tried to “return” the audiobook, but found no way to do so.
computer science A program to strengthen and diversify the IT pipeline though outreach to middle schools. Using the box, IT professionals customize and deliver a classroom presentation and engage youth in hands-on activities that inspire and inform them about opportunities in IT. Are you ready to meet and inspire the next generation of computing innovators? We've made it easy for you to help introduce middle-school students to the world of computing. NCWIT thanks the following people for their contributions to Outreach-in-a-Box: Discovering IT; Chris Stephenson, Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA); Holly Yanco and Fred Martin, University of Massachusetts at Lowell; Mike Eisenberg and Leah Buechley, University of Colorado at Boulder; and Jane Krauss, Education Consultant.
Librarians Lead the Way in EdTech April is School Library Month, and this year’s theme is “Your School Library: Where Learning Never Ends.” No tag line could be truer. Librarians are lifelong learners by nature. Whether it is the newest educational theory, the latest research methods, or the newest educational technology push, librarians love to learn and share new things. When considering a new educational technology initiative, such as purchasing Chromebooks, going BYOD, or choosing educational software, districts often consider many things, including cost, return on investment, effectiveness, and necessary professional development. But one thing they may not consider is their librarian. Libraries and librarians are at the forefront and often the hub of the school. “Research” skills have evolved rapidly in the last 20 years and much of that evolution is because of educational technology. Having technology and knowing how to effectively integrate it into the curriculum are two different things.
Free Technology for Teachers The Teacher Tap: Professional Development Resources for Educators The Teacher Tap is a free, professional development resource that helps educators and librarians address common questions about the use of technology in teaching and learning by providing easy access to practical, online resources and activities. Check out the Project Overview for more information. For a more indepth look at these topics, go to our online courses including: We're in the process of updating this resource, so you'll find a mixture of old and new pages.
The Trusted Leader in HTML5 Document Viewing | Crocodoc Interact with your documents Crocodoc comes with a robust set of commenting and markup tools that enable interactive document workflows. These include: commenting tools, drawing tools, highlighting tools, textbox tools, and strikethrough tools. When enabled, Crocodoc's commenting and markup tools allow your users to: Collaboratively add and reply to comments on shared documents Take notes when collecting research Fill out forms and submit requested paperwork Send colleagues feedback on presentations Comprehensive API Our comprehensive API allows you to implement custom collaboration workflows by customizing the behavior of our built-in tools. Pass names to Crocodoc so they show up when comments are created Specify which annotations are visible when a document is viewed Receive real-time notifications when annotations are created Set per-user permissions when viewing, creating, or deleting annotations Download annotated PDF copies of any document Sample document
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