Building Your Own Textbook

Textbooks are a multi-billion dollar industry -- an estimated $3.5 billion for the K-12 market alone. But the growing availability of digital content and open educational resources (OER) is giving schools the opportunity to bypass some of the traditional expenses of textbook purchasing. It's also giving teachers the opportunities to build their own textbooks. No doubt the move from print to digital content is shaking up the entire publishing industry. You can also include in a digital textbook (or "course packet" or whatever we'd call this new collection of materials) just those resources that students are actually assigned to work through. Considering the Source This sort of flexibility to reuse and remix content is made possible through the open licensing of educational materials. States and districts are increasingly turning to these sorts of open resources, particularly as budgets shrink.

Letter to Jane Magazine for iPad + Source Code by Tim Moore » Updates Contrary to what you might have believed, production on Letter to Jane has never stopped and today I wanted to share a preview with you all. The app has been rebuilt from scratch thanks to all the wonderful new things I've learned since becoming the Creative Director for 29th Street Publishing. I posted a preview of the app on Letter to Jane not too long ago, and I'd encourage you to check it out if you haven't. I'd also like to share a quick demo video of what the core of the app will function. How this handles images is something I've spent a great deal on and it is the heart and soul of this app. Also... I'd like to share the lineup you'll see in issue 04: Wim Wenders Marc Maron Miranda July Whit Stillman Marlene Marino Jeff Luker Katherine Squier Katarina Šoškić Sam Smith Sara Cwynar Ana Kraš Lukasz Wierzbowski Mads Teglers Neon IndianPlus more original work. Important Note for Backers With Ads Please get a hold of me ASAP so we can get your ad space in the issue, thank you. -Tim

How to Create Your Own Textbook — With or Without Apple By Dolores Gende Apple’s iBooks2 and authoring app has created big waves in education circles. But smart educators don’t necessarily need Apple’s slick devices and software to create their own books. How educators think of content curation in the classroom is enough to change their reliance on print textbooks. As the open education movement continues to grow and become an even more rich trove of resources, teachers can use the content to make their own interactive textbooks. Here’s how to create a digital textbook and strategies for involving the students in its development in three steps. 1. Teachers can work with colleagues within their subject area departments and beyond the walls of the classroom to aggregate resources through social bookmarking. Also try Paper.li or The Twitted Times, which will sift through your connections’ resources and organize them. 2. One of the most user-friendly tools to post resources for your course is LiveBinders. 3. Cybrary Man Educational Resources

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Museum Box Homepage Apps in Education Vimeo Music Store is a Great Resource for Your Educational Videos You’ve asked your class to make a video to chronicle the school year or some other project and now the question of background music rears its ugly head. Students will want to use their favorite song and then you have to explain the issue of copyright. After they understand that they can’t use certain music without permission or a license they ask: “Where do I find music I can legally use?” A couple of days ago, Vimeo opened their Vimeo Music Store that gives a lot of music background options. Introducing Vimeo Music Store from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo. The Vimeo Music Store has several different licensing options and you can find out all about them on their Frequently Asked Questions page. Vimeo has also served up a nice tutorial on how to use their new store: Music Store Tutorial from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo. In addition to the Vimeo Music Store, Creative Commons has some advice and resources for finding music for your videos. Have fun making great classroom videos!

Storytelling Activities & Lesson Ideas Storytelling Activities & Lesson Ideas This collection of storytelling activities-developed by storyteller/author Heather Forest for her storytelling workshops with students, teachers, and librarians-can be expanded by educators into language arts lesson plans to support speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Storytellers on Tour 1001 Nights Festival A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words A Story Treasure Hunt Old Time Radio Show Finding Stories in Songs Story Circle Local Historians Collecting Family Stories Puzzle Tale: Putting the Pieces Together Front Door: An Imaginary Journey Chain Sentence Describing a Stone Spontaneous Poetry The Autobiography of Anything Devising Plot Structures: Creating New Tales Proverbs: Wisdom Tales Without the Plot Creating Personal Fables Storytelling Festival Day Art History is Filled with Stories Storytellers on Tour Have students practice retelling folktales in their classroom. A Picture is Worth 1000 Words A class selects a classical painting. Setting Problem: End