To assist my year 12 students I decided to create an eBook using the Book Creator app as a revision tool for their exercise physiology course. The book covers some key aspects (not all) of the content I would like them to focus on as part of their ongoing revision leading up to their exam in term 4. It is not their only revision tool but is another tool for them to access. Ideally it would be great if all the year 12’s had their own iPads but I have had to settle for putting the eBook onto 5 of the student iPads.

One of the strengths of an eBook is the ability to include audio and video. Books have always included text and images but the inclusion of audio and video makes the eBook a much more powerful learning tool. Often a book/pamphlet may include web links to further resources like a video. My opinion is that students will often not use these links (independently) even if they are helpful due to the fact they have to do another step to get to the information. By using Book Creator the video is embedded next to the text allowing for instant viewing.

With the introduction of the File Browser app it is now a fairly simple process to get an eBook from Book Creator on one iPad to many iPads. I saved my eBook as an epub file on the P drive and then accessed it through the File Browser app to get it onto as many student iPads as I wanted to. You could save an eBook to the P drive and within 10-15 minutes (depending on file size) have your whole class reading an eBook created by you (or them).

Could you use an eBook to set up a topic for students? Could your eBook be the starting resource for your students when beginning a new topic? Could your students create their own eBook to present a topic for assessment or to teach another class? Great cross age tool?