W12: Digital Textbooks and their Designs

I think the main thing that I walk away with is that this whole digital textbook thing is easier than I thought. I mean, the thought of making a textbook seems overwhelming – which is true in the sense that it requires a ton of work, but the digital publishing tools you shared with us makes it seem doable. I wonder how well this will disrupt the textbook market? I mean, there are powerhouse companies who have been making textbooks for years and I know some (most I assume) are making the shift to digital and interactive textbooks. I am positive if anyone of them hesitate to make this transition they might end up like Blockbuster. From a learning standpoint I think Digital Textbooks take advantage of the technological advancements in ways that will make learning more meaningful and engaging. I think of my biology textbooks from high school. Imagine if the diagrams were videos and interactive? Personally, I could have seen my personal engagement with the content enhanced. You guys did a great job. I love the idea of us making a crowdsourced MET Textbook. To be honest I think it is a great resource for all students to give them a better feel for what the courses have to offer than the course calendar descriptions. Make sure you sent a link to David Roy so he can share it with all MET students. Congrats on a great project! Brian

Hi there -- loved the project and I'm looking forward to reviewing the final launched digital book. I wanted to add some comments to on the feedback page, but can no longer access the book. What I liked about the experience is first and foremost, the uniqueness of it. I think this is a 'legacy' project that will live on, perhaps evolving each term/year. I also think it has a real world value -- a great orientation for new students to the MET program. I found the tool to be very straightforward and was up and running in short order. (The initial issues were not tool specific, just trying to find work arounds for the seat limitation issue but you guys ended up getting this sorted out quickly). From a classroom usefulness perspective, I think that students would enjoy a similar project -- and could be adapted into elementary, middle and high schools fairly easily. The price point I think is also quite reasonable. I didn't look at the terms and conditions of licensing the software, but I'm assuming there is no claim to a revenue share on any product produced, or restrictions on printing or sending to another publisher for printed editions. Overall, great project. Was fun and I look forward to reading all of our published works!

Hey folks. Thanks for a focused, meaningful week! I thought your choice of activities and means of delivering content were effective, relevant and ejoyable. I especially appreciate any opportunity to explore multiple tools and assess which is best for a particular context. I also appreciate the effort that went into scheduling our collaboration time and giving everyone a chance to contribute. My takeaway was influenced by this last bit: if I were now assessing which e-text/digital book creator was best suited for my context it would be the one that most easily allowed for collaboration, with real time updates and the ability to track changes. Once again, thanks for a great OER! ~Jon Nilson

Thank you Dana Jessica and Zain for a great way to complete our 12 Week journey with OERs. Personally I have never thought designing a book can be that easy and enjoyable so thank you for introducing these apps to me, secondly I was happily surprised to see how widely digital textbooks are used in classrooms, for us in the developing countries we still has a long way to catch up with the numbers that we are given, it takes time to break down the prejudices since the interactivity of digital books are still be seen as "games" and not serious studying. It takes time :)

Hi guys, GREAT site. I LOVE the idea of having a completed tips and tricks book for the MET program. Great design for your OER. 2 Takeaways: 1. All the list of resources your offered - is the one you promoted the best one to use? I notice you produced your book in Avast - is this a free resource compared to Kitaboo? 2. The opportunity to actually try creating content in an online book. I loved looking at not only the one you produced but getting great ideas from all the contributors. Great intro videos ~ loved them all. The way you presented the visual timeline was a great way to present this info. What program did you use for this? I also quite enjoyed your quiz program - I liked seeing the percentages of the answers to date. I was looking for something like that for our OER so I definitely made note of this program. Overall, very enjoyable experience. Very unique way to present information. ~shan

Success! Everything is working now...just published my sections. Was lots of fun.

Hi again, Oh Technology! So it seems as though the password for the group login is not working at this point in time. The Plan B is that I will send individuals an invitation to edit, via their email, on the day that they are scheduled to contribute to the collaborative project. On the free version of Avatist, we can have 5 attached emails at any given time. In order for Plan B to work, you must fill out the Google Form first. Via the Form, I will get your email, the days you are available, and the courses you wish to contribute to. Once the Form is complete, I also add you as a Collaborator to the schedule. Should you need to change your time for any reason, you can do so, once you are on the permission list. Apologies for any hassle this may be adding to your life. If you are ready to contribute before your assigned day, I would recommend getting your contribution ready on Word beforehand. We have a link to what the book is looking like on the schedule. Please take a peek before you begin your contribution. Thanks for your awesomeness, Dana PS. I truly think that all of this hassle will be worth it when we are done. I can't wait to read everyone's contributions!!!

Hi Cassy and Scott, Please check your personal email for my temporary solution. The Team will be working on why the password is not panning out, in the meantime. Thank you both so much for being the sacrificial students! Hopefully, we can get this one figured out. Dana

Dana -- just tried logging in from my son's computer, same thing. incorrect password. I'll await your further notification...

Hi Team, I am trying to log into Atavist, but it says the password is incorrect. I copied and pasted the login email and password and same results. Suggestions? Thanks, Scott