First and foremost, I needed to familiarize myself with Slide Rocket, because I, as I'm sure many others have done before me, just automatically used PowerPoint to create my presentations. What I found great about Slide Rocket was that it can be accessed anywhere. No more losing sleep about forgetting your USB key before giving a presentation. I learned how to cut and add images and audio clips, add new image effects, and what's neat about Slide Rocket is it reads more like a book than a presentation, taking away from the formality of it all.
I have come to the realization that eBooks are a really unique way for students to create a summative task at the end of a unit of study. For example, if students are in the middle of a unit on "heroes", they can create an eBook to research and present their own hero as a story, rather than writing a report or giving a speech. This allows them to show off their creativity, use their personal voice, add pictures and videos, keep the audience engaged and even cut a clip from their favourite song. I plan to use eBooks in my class for the purpose of sharing information in an interactive way, of course, where age and grade level allow.
When teaching students to use eBooks, I would start with the basics. I am a strong believer that you need to convince students that what they are learning is important to them, and in such, they will not only be engaged participants, but also be able to use these strategies in other ways. Such as:
- what is an eBook?
- why should we care about eBooks?
- what can they do for us?
Then, I would basically spend a portion of each day, for about a week, going over new skills to enhance an eBook, much like we did in class with the quicksteps. I would make the steps available to students tangibly so they may move at their own pace, and model techniques for students to copy in their own creative way on a SMARTboard (such as adding images, selecting themes, creating text effects). I would let students use this time to "play around" on the program, much like I was able to do here in my "test" presentation. These skills will then be put to use in their own eBooks, where I as a teacher can evaluate their skills. I am well aware of how difficult and confusing this can all be to begin with (because I've been there first hand!) so it is important to remain patient and give instructions clearly. It is also a good opportunity for students to develop their listening and communication skills when troubleshooting "techie" problems.
Enjoy!
