Featured 5-22-2014: The Math Open Reference Project

 

The Math Open Reference Project is free, interactive math textbook on the web covering high-school geometry.

 

 

The Math Open Reference Project has the goal of providing high-quality digital content free of charge to the end user, while providing numerous benefits over paper textbooks:

• Accessible anywhere, any time.
• Interactive, interesting experience.
• Hyperlinks promote exploration and easy lookup.
• Use the search to look up a word or term.
• Interactive quizzes with instant feedback.
• Lower cost.
• Less weight.

Using interactive tools and compelling animations, The Math Open Reference Project provides an engaging way to learn and explore the subject. A vast library of virtual manipulatives can be used to demonstrate concepts using a computer, projector, and whiteboard. Students can use the same manipulatives themselves outside the classroom.

 

 

The Math Open Reference Project meets the NCTM standards for content and is aligned with the Common Core standards, but also has the potential to adapt to and comply with the standards for every state.

 

The Math Open Reference Project will work with most popular browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. The interactive illustrations use Java and/or Flash, so these plug-ins must be installed on the user's computer.

 

The copyright and license agreement permit any printing for non-commercial use, useful for class handouts.

 

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Featured 3-24-2014: Subtext

Classroom groups can exchange ideas right in the pages of digital texts using Subtext, a free iPad app, opening up opportunities to engage students and foster analysis and writing skills.

 

Subtext was built to support classroom reading, with practical features such as getting everyone on the same page in class to insight into how your students read.

 

With Google Books and Feedbooks built in, you can search for any book or digital document, or import your own ePub formatted documents. You can also share and discuss web pages with a class in the same way as books.

 

A set of annotation tools helps to engage students and foster analysis and writing skills. Students can highlight key passages or tag a set of commonly-used literary concepts.

 

 

Set up a closed class groups in Subtext to keep your students focused and secure as they read. They will only see notes from you and their classmates.

 

Subtext can help you follow how students and classroom groups progress, including reading speed, word look-ups, highlights, notes, and quiz results.

 

See Subtext in Action

 

Subtext is aligned with the Common Core Standards. When students read with Subtext, they are encouraged to analyze what they read, articulate what they think, and make connections between texts and the real world.

 

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Featured: 1-28-2014 MathDisk

Create your own worksheets to visualize, interact with, and explore mathematics with MathDisk online.

 

MathDisk lets teachers and students explore mathematics in an engaging and interactive way with Natural Math notation, so students can simply type the expressions as they see them in their textbooks. 

 

MathDisk features:

• Type textbook expressions without any need for specialized syntax.
• Use drag-and-drop expressions to easily build 2-D and 3-D graphs.
• Enrich your math worksheet with rich multimedia, such as image effects and videos.
• Explore and correlate math and physics.
• Use step-by-step animation with narration to explain complex concepts.
• Easily share or embed worksheets online.

 

 

MiBook - Math Interactive Book runs on your desktop and is intended for offline use. It incorporates all the features of the online version of MathDisk along with built-in ebook features to customize your products. Create and organize your worksheets into pages, chapters, and books. Import worksheets from web into your local MiBook application. Browse your worksheets offline, edit them, and create new ones anytime.

 

Experience interactive math on tablets incorporating rich user interface elements and high definition mathematical graphs that capitalize on cutting edge 3-D capabilities. The MiBook Explorer apps are available for both Android and iOS.

 

 See an introduction to MathDisk 3.0 

 

MathDisk is a small, self-funded, start-up company which began with a passion for mathematics and an "idea that high-end mathematical software tools should be simple for novice users-like educators and students-to create content, collaborate, and learn effectively."

 

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Extra: 1-2-2014 Sally Ride Science

Sally Ride Science provides tools for college and career readiness designed to fuel students' passion for STEM fields and careers.

 

Sally Ride Science strives to bring science to life for students ages 10-13, supporting and sustaining students' natural interests in science and technology. Books and eBooks on Cool Careers in Science and Key Concepts in Science vitalize science and show kids that science is creative, collaborative, fascinating, and fun.

 

The Sally Ride Online Academy offers professional development, helping educators incorporate engaging career-focused approaches into their existing instruction.

 

 Watch a video about he basics and benefits of the Sally Ride Online Academy

 

The Sally Ride EarthKAM is a NASA-backed program enabling students and teachers to learn about Earth from the unique perspective of space. 

 

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Featured: 9-12-2013 Net Texts

Net Texts helps schools replace or supplement traditional textbooks with customized multimedia courses delivered to students' iPads, Android tablets, and laptops.

Teachers can use NetTexts' Content Management Website to select existing courses or to create new ones by mixing and matching items from the NetTexts library with their own educational material. Courses can include videos, slideshows, e-books, PDFs, text, audiobooks, and Web links.

Students then use the NetTexts iPad, Android, or web app to download and view these courses. Students will feel more engaged and have more ownership of their learning, whether reading the latest assigned e-book or watching a 'flipped classroom' video.

Net Texts consulting services help your school get the most out of Net Texts. Teachers will be trained how to use the content management site and mobile apps, how to find Open Educational Resources, and how to create high quality content.

Net Texts can build customized OER courses based on teachers' recommendations, syllabi, and state standards. A school or district can replace textbooks with a multimedia curriculum based on OER, saving money on textbooks for years to come, as Net Texts courses can be updated with new material at any time.

 Watch Introducing Net Texts: The Digital Backpack for Your iPad

Net Texts courses contain teacher-created material as well as Creative Commons-licensed and other open education resources from the Web.

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Featured: 5-30-2013 The Teacher's Guides To Technology And Learning [Reference]

The Teacher's Guides To
Technology And Learning 

The Teacher's Guides To Technology And Learning by Edudemic are intended to offer teachers some of the best and most popular resources currently available.

In creating The Teacher's Guides To Technology And Learning, Edudemic has explored hundreds of resources in order to make their guides easy to read, use, and share.

The Teacher’s Guide To Flipped Classrooms

Because the flipped classroom is one of the most sought-after topics in terms of questions on social media, search queries, and more, Edudemic thought it would be useful to organize all of their many resources into one easy-to-use guide. It’s a curated list of many of the most useful flipped classroom resources.

The Teacher’s Guide To Copyright And Fair Use

Teaching students about copyright and fair use involves more than just telling them that they should be doing their own work, and not copying off the web. Plagiarism and copyright violations are significant issues in the classroom.

The Teacher’s Guide To The Library Of Congress

The Library of Congress is an incredible resource for teachers. The largest library in the world, it’s home to millions of books, recordings, photographs, and other materials, many of them original sources. This guide, written for teachers and education in general, promises to be an easy and solid resource to refer back to as needed.

 

The Teacher’s Guide To Choosing The Best Digital Content

Blended learning is becoming a noteworthy trend in education technology as teachers realize technology alone isn’t the 'magic bullet' of education. A blended learning environment means  mixing technology with standard teaching practices in order to enhance education.

Other available guides:

• The Teacher’s Guide To Twitter
• The Teacher’s Guide To Digital Scavenger Hunts
• The Teacher’s Guide To Pinterest In The Classroom
• The Teacher’s Guide To Keeping Students Safe Online
• The Teacher’s Guide To Badges In Education
• The Teacher’s Guide To Google Glass

The Teacher's Guides To Technology And Learning are always a work in progress. The current guides are always being updated and refreshed, and new guides are being developed.

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Featured: 4-16-2013 Widbook [Writing]

 

Widbook is an intelligent platform where authors and readers have the opportunity to share their best digital content with people worldwide.

On Widbook, you can begin a book from scratch or upload your already completed or in-progress content in order to publish it. The Editor Tool enables users to visualize their work and use features such as keywords, bookmarks, highlights, real time chat, and more.

Invite people to make comments and add suggestions to your work. Widbook is a creative way to share content and spread ideas. Give some suggestions to another author or add a comment to a book.

 Watch the video: Widbook - Write, read and share!

Using Widbook, friends can share and post their favorite books, stories, and comments on their social network. Find books, save the favorites onto your bookshelf, and follow the authors.

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Featured: 3/28/2013 Big Deal Media [Resources]

Big Deal Media is a robust collection of free publications and services such as newsletters, ebooks, print projects, website content, and social media.

K-12 professionals can find the information and tools they need at Big Deal Media. Since 1995, it has consistently delivered lists of resources and funding opportunities. Created by experienced educational publishing professionals and practicing K-12 educators, Big Deal Media publications provide timely, relevant resources in the rapidly transforming educational environment.

At Big Deal Media find:

• Sources of grants and other attainable funding for projects and programs.

• Resources for 21st century themes and skills.

• Professional learning opportunities.

• Standards-aligned lessons and assessments.

• Free and inexpensive finds.

Big Deal Media eBooks are electronic publications that offer resources for educators, while serving specific audiences, including K-12 technology professionals and educators of English language learners.

The mission of Big Deal Media is “to save every educator time and money while identifying top-quality resources for schools and classrooms.”

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EDge21 will be taking a Spring Break next week. The daily featured post will return on Monday, April 8.

Things I Like: Google Books Downloader

Earlier today, I discovered a handy little app, Google Book Downloader.

Google Books Downloader is a very barebones tool. Enter the URL or ID of a Google Book and it will create and download a PDF of that book, including books that have full or limited previews. Google Book Downloader can only download the portion you can read on Google Books.

Download a book to Dropbox, Skydrive, Google Drive, or another cloud storage service and your book will be available on any device capable of viewing a PDF.

You can download Google Books Downloaderfree from CNET's Download.com.

Note: Google Book Downloader is not connected in any way with with Google.

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Featured: 3/18/2013 Nota Reader [eBooks]

Nota is a collaborative platform where anyone can add videos, links, images, comments, and other content directly to the pages of an ebook.



The purpose of Nota is to advance any text beyond traditional print standards as well as current reader technologies, to allow an ebook to be more than just a digitized version of the original print book.

Latin for “note”, nota can be videos, or problem sets, or links to relevant web pages connected directly to an ebook page. Since anyone can add nota along with comments around them, the knowledge base can continue to evolve around the ideas on that page.



Furthermore, Nota is providing learners at the high school, college, and post-collegiate levels with their free STEM Fundamentals Catalog of textbooks to support all students. The catalog covers a variety of STEM subjects and grade levels, complete with rich video, web content, and problem sets.

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Featured: 3/11/2013 Natural Reader [Text-to-Speech]

NaturalReader is a free iOS text-to-speech app that converts entered text, PDF files, MSWord documents, e-books websites and more into spoken words.

With NaturalReader, you can have any text read to you in one of over 30 natural-sounding voices. NaturalReader can be a great help to students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. By listening to text rather than reading, some students may be better able to comprehend reading materials or detect errors in their work.



Since NaturalReader can help pick out mistakes in your work, as well as giving you a sense of the natural flow of what you have written, it is also an efficient proofreading tool.

NaturalReader features:

• Works with Word documents, PDF files, web pages, eBooks, and many other formats.
• Provides over 30 natural sounding voices in 5 languages.
• Increase or decrease the speed of the voice reader.
• Input text via keypad, copy/paste, or from the application’s built-in browser.
• Load files from Dropbox, email attachments, computers via iTunes

Simply tap a sentence, and NaturalReader begins reading aloud from that point, and follow along with written text. Text automatically scrolls up the screen as it is being read.



NaturalReader Is free from the iTunes App Store. It is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd, 4th, and 5th generations), and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later.

Note: NaturalReader requires a Wi-Fi Internet connection in order to transfer text and audio from cloud spaces.

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Featured: 2/28/2013 Kno Advance [eBooks]

Kno Advance is an interactive learning platform for publishers. Advance makes it possible to transform a print title into an eBook instantly, literally at no cost to the publisher or author.



The goal of Kno is to make learning more engaging for students. The Advance platform was created to provide publishers with easy-to-use, powerful tools to make their content and assessments interactive.



The components of Kno Advance:

• Kno Ingest - Bring titles to market within days, content will be available on the Web, iPad, Android, Windows 7 and Windows 8 devices.
• Book Enhancer - Easily add interactive elements like, video, audio, websites, calculators or simulations to the book.
• Kno Assessment - Author questions and assessments or import questions from their current systems. Kno supports multiple types of questions.

Watch the video: Advance; an interactive learning platform for publishers

Kno is a reader for digital textbooks first mentioned here last August. With numerous features to facilitate reading, studying, notetaking, and organization, Kno can do everything a physical textbook can do and more.

More than 80 publishers have contributed to Kno's digital library of over 200,000 titles. It is the largest collection of digital titles on the market.

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Featured: 2/26/2013 YourTeacher [Math]

YourTeacher is a leading digital publisher specializing in middle school, high school, and college-level math. YourTeacher's subscription website and their extensive line of math videos, have provided hundreds of thousands of students with math tutoring, standardized test prep, and homeschooling.



YourTeacher provides individualized grade reporting and progress tracking. Each lesson includes a multiple-choice self-test to indicate how well the lesson has been learned. Self-tests can be taken multiple times with new problems each time. The results of the self-tests are recorded in the grade management system.

Keep track of student progress by monitoring YourTeacher usage. Teachers, parents, and students are able to see the number of completed lessons and self-tests, total logins, and the most recent login.



YourTeacher is also working to revolutionize the textbook industry with a patent-pending math ebook featuring "a textbook with a teacher inside." The ebooks and free samples are available from the iBooks store.

Visit the YourTeacherYouTube channel

YourTeacher is available online 24/7 on any computer, laptop, smartphone, or tablet device. including PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. There is no need to download an app.

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Borrowing Ebooks with Overdrive

Increasingly, local libraries are adding online digital catalogs of books available for borrowing. Many libraries are choosing OverDrive Digital Downloads to deliver and manage the lending process. Currently, OverDrive is tied into 18,000 libraries with millions of readers.



The first thing you need to do is become a member of a library participating in the Overdrive digital lending program. Then you will need a library card number and a 4-digit pin code to identify you as a borrower and regulate the number of ebooks you can have checked out.

OverDrive supplies ebooks to libraries in two popular formats, PDF ebooks and industry standard EPUB ebooks. Depending on your library, most of the titles available on OverDrive can be read with all major desktop and mobile platforms, including Windows and Mac computers, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry smartphones using an OverDrive e-reader client, and ebook readers including Sony Reader and Kindle.



You will select a book to borrow by browsing the online library with your browser. You can place holds on books that are not available, have a wish list, and look for books they currently have available. To look for books that are available, click on ‘Advanced’ next to the search bar. This will pull up a new menu that will give you a number of options such as ISBN, Author, Title and others. Check the box on the bottom that says ‘Only Show Titles Available.’ If you place a hold on a book, you will be notified by email when it is available. Each library is limited to a predetermined number of copies that they can lend out.

If you are using an OverDrive e-reader client, you will download the file directly to your e-reader. If you are using an Amazon Kindle e-reader or app, you will have to log on and register your library account with Amazon, and check the book out directly to your Amazon account. As soon as you check out the ebook it will be available on any of your devices. Reading an ebook that you borrowed from the library is the same Kindle experience as with any other book, including syncing across all of your devices.

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I would also like to mention Overdrive for K-12 Schools.

Your school library can give your students access to digital books and more 24/7 with School Download Library. Students can check out titles online, and read or listen offline on PC or Mac, smartphones, MP3 players, and ebook readers including Sony Reader and Kindle (US only). You can build this digital collection based on grade level or school curriculum with digital titles available in virtually every subject.

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Extra: 2/9/2013 iPads in the Classroom Guide [Free eBook]

If you're using iPads in the classroom, or are are still evaluating the idea, it might be worth taking a look at Annalisa Kelly’s iPads in the Classroom Guide (2013 Edition).

iPads in the Classroom Guide (2013 Edition) is a beginner’s reference for teachers at all levels who are using iPads and/or other iOS devices in their lessons.

The book covers a range of subjects from case studies to lesson ideas to how to select the most appropriate and cost-effective apps. The logistics of implementation and device management is also covered in the guide.



This may be one of the best resources regarding iPads and education available. Available free in the iBookstore.

This book can be viewed on an iPad with iBooks 2 or later, iOS 5 or later.

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Featured: 11/28/2012 Calameo [Self-publishing]

Calaméo instantly creates interactive web publications from your PDF files.

Publish, search for, and share all your documents online with Calaméo. Organize your publications into subscriptions. Your colleagues and students can add comments to and start discussions on each publication.

The Calaméo publishing method offers a wide variety of options and is simple to use. From a PDF file, create an interactive electronic document that is accessible from a computer and can simulate the feeling of reading a paper document: page turning, mark the pages, zoom in. Your documents can have as many pages as you like.

Watch Creating Online Publications with Calameo

A basic Calaméo account is free. Upgrading to a Premium account allows access to more features.

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