iBooks+Author

Say goodbye to expensive textbooks, iBooks Author is a perfect tool for teachers to deliver customised, relevant resource material, more suited to digital age learning.

Textbooks, in many forms, have been the mainstay of educational knowledge for centuries and have been very valuable resource tools. However, in the Information Age that has changed. Similarly, teachers are no longer the fountain of knowledge within their own classroom as students have a world of information at their fingertips with connected digital devices. Problems with textbooks: - expensive, not readily updateable - not eco friendly - not flexible, one size fits all, not matched to your students' needs - deterioration rate through use - pages damaged, written on - not reflective of your teaching style - the internet has more up to date information

As learning tools change so does the role of the teacher but what has remained constant is the teacher's role as a facilitator of learning. The ability to customise resource material in the Information Age is a logical progression of the teachers role. iBooks Author is a perfect tool for teachers to deliver relevant resources that provide more than just information.

The advantage of creating your own course material (let's move away from the whole textbook concept all together ) is that you are able to customise the resource to suit the learning needs of your students and your teaching style. Being an electronic publication it is easy to update with new global developments. Customised materials can better facilitate information synthesis and build deeper meaning and understanding for your students.

Creating multimedia course resources with iBooks Author meets students in their learning space.

Materials do not wear out as each students get a fresh copy, which they can personalise by annotating and note taking within the document.

iBooks Author can empower students by allowing them to contribute to the process of resource creation.

It can also be developed as a valuable Flipped Learning resource if you teach that way.

This is a big task for one person but not if it becomes a collaborative project between more than one teacher / class / school.


 * The following is a series of video tutorials explaining the features of iBooks Author: **

01 - Introduction to iBooks Author 02 - Getting Started 03 - Adding Chapters from a Word or Pages file 04 - Adding Word Tables 05 - Adding Images and Previewing 06 - Gallery Widget 07 - Media Widget 08 - Interactive Image Widget 09 - Keynote Widget 10 - 3D Widget 11 - Pop Over Widget 12 - Review Widget 13 - Scrolling Text Widget 14 - HTML Widget 15 - Glossary 16 - Table of Contents - Publishing