1. Georgia Parks and Natural Resources
& The possibilities of Electronic textbooks in your classroom
Dr. Chris Greer
Georgia College
@drchrisgreer

2. Available as a free download in iBooks Store
First Digital Text in 2012
Available as a free download in iBooks Store
Created by 10 graduate students
First student-created book to be accepted into Apple iBooks Store
Downloaded over 10,000 times

3. Also available as a free download in iBooks Store
Latest book
Also available as a free download in iBooks Store
Graduate students helped to create this as well
First digital textbook on a state park system here in the U.S.
Features video of biologists, historians, and interpretive rangers

4. Georgia Parks and Natural Resources: A Guide for educators
Available in ePub as well as iBooks
Completely free
FULL of video interviews with experts from around the state of Georgia
A great supplement to your traditional science or history textbooks

6. Let’s Get Sidetracked for a second
Virtual Reality Georgia
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel, tons of content is coming

7. Students as Consumers Traditional method of learning
Teacher is the “sage on the stage” and delivers content to students through websites, textbooks, videos, and other material
Students play a less active role in the classroom, are less likely to stay engaged throughout the lesson
Remembering material delivered in the manner can be more challenging to many learners

8. Students as Producers
Students take more responsibility for their learning
Can be done individually or as group work
Creativity is encouraged
Students feel ownership of the content
Promotes digital literacy in many different ways

9. Book Creation
Having students create their own book is a “textbook” example of changing their role from consumers of knowledge to producers
Is not hard to do
There are a multitude of ways that it can be implemented across all content areas

10. Book Creator Software can be run on a PC or tablet
Very simple interface allows for book creation at all grade levels
ePub files ensure universal compatibility
All you need is an iPad or a laptop running Google Chrome Browser

11. IDEAS Digital Journal Science/lab book
Literacy/creative writing (Sentence starter)
Simple “How-to” books
Non-fiction (History, Biography, Science)
Photo book (scavenger hunt, field trip)

12. IDEAS Math? Create a cookbook
Collaborative book (combine books feature)
Create a book in a different language
Create an informational video with accompanying text

13. Let’s take a look at Book Creator

14. iBooks Author
The most powerful book creation software, combines professional look with intuitive interface
Free!
Only on a Mac
Supports ePub!*

15. iBooks Author
You really only need a single Mac (if price/availability is a concern)
Students create their content in word processor and then transfer it to the Mac
Book Creator books can be imported into iBooks Author

16. Let’s take a look at iBooks Author

17. Email: chris.greer@gcsu.edu