Sharing Class Books on iPad

The class have used the Book Creator app (£2.99) to make Books but they want to be able to share them with other children in their class and between classes and different year groups.
We decided to export the books to a teacher Dropbox account and from there copied the link to the clipboard. This is it – Where I Live

https://www.dropbox.com/s/utknbvck0j05146/Where%20I%20Live.epub

This next book example is from a hairdressing department in a college.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nl6t075m36hez5q/Hairdressing.epub

As a teacher I’m interested in how we can now share that link so that all the children / students can open the book on an iPad in iBooks. It should be as simple as tapping the link in this blog and choosing download then open in iBooks. You don’t need to have a Dropbox account to do this. But the teacher/ tutor will need a common place to host the URLs for the books. 

A class blog is perfect for this or a school website. The other way to share might be through the use of a QR code which adds an extra fun dimension to learning.

This next example book about WWII is created in Creative Book Builder – again, simply publish to a Dropbox account and then share the link from there. Tapping the URL in a blog will allow you to open the book in iBooks.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ny05riruf8frbps/World%20War%20II.epub

There are book apps for iPad available that allow you to export a URL directly from the book which cuts out the step involving Dropbox.
Check out the My Story app – you can choose the option to copy the book link or email it and then start creating your QR codes.
Try it now and let me know how you get on.

Using QR codes in your class to share books
Link the QR Code to a book URL as in the example above – the Red Laser QR app (free) gives you the option to generate a QR using a URL from within the app itself.
Simply print the QR code, laminate and stick them around the classroom on the walls to make your own learning quest or adventure/ hunt.

Assignments-Showbie

Increasingly, as students start to use iPads more and more for learning, there is a need to be able to share the  work with the teacher and for the teacher to either mark it or provide feedback in some form. Showbie is a free app that does all of this and very effectively.  For help click here.

Watch the video tutorial to get you started - it couldnt be easier! And with the latest update, teachers can now provide voice-notes as feedback to student's individual Showbie folders :-)

The workflow for using Showbie is as follows:

Read more about Showbie and what it does below :

1. Go to http://www.showbie.com -Teacher creates own account on computer- un and pswd

2. Teacher creates a class folder, an assignment and adds a file/s to this class folder.

3. Teacher shares a discrete code for a specific assignment to all students who need to access this homework.

4. If pupils are old enough they can create their own Showbie account, otherwise their teacher can create student accounts and passwords (nb. these can be changed by older students).
Its all free - just choose 'sign in as a student'. You will need the code mentioned in 3. from a teacher.

5. Student logs in and reads / listens to assignment

6.Student completes the task and resubmits to the teacher via Showbie assignment area.

7. Teacher has an overview of which students have submitted work to be marked. Teacher marks student work and feeds back to student - this may be through annotation of a pdf or a voice note.

What is Showbie?

Showbie is like a drop box for the classroom. Using Showbie, students can submit pictures, video, podcasts, presentations and other work from hundreds of apps into their Showbie online assignment folder. Teachers use the Showbie iPad app to easily review students’ work and provide rich feedback with document mark up annotations and voicenotes. Showbie unlocks the creative potential of the iPad to engage students in learning.

Here's a few resources to get you started with Showbie:

1. Get Started with Showbie [VIDEO]:

2. iPad apps that work with Showbie: - Showbie now works with the Explain Everything App too.

3. Install Showbie from the Apple App Store:

4. Still unsure? Ask a question here:

Submitting work on an iPad

For those schools introducing iPads into the classroom to support learning and teaching, one of the biggest concerns from teachers in schools is about students sharing their work with the teacher and how students will submit assignments for assessment. 

As far as I can see, there seem to be four key options for doing this across a range of Apps:

• Email a document
• Send to WebDAV
• Send to Dropbox
• Use Edmodo

• Lots of Apps do have a 'send as email' option, however most students will not have school email accounts, so emailing is ruled out altogether.

• A second option supported by various Apps is to send to WebDAV.
  Try Dav-Pocket for iPad and iPhone, which is free.  It is very simple to use, fast and secure and links to your Google Docs account, which is a real plus for some schools.You can access your Google Docs via WebDAV without directly needing to use a Google Account. But first you need to authorise DAV-pocket to access Google Docs.
  To get started create a DAV-pocket account.
  Once successfully created, the link 'Authorise DAV-pocket service' will become available.
  Click to Authorise and you are taken to the Google Account sign in page. Signing in is necessary to authorise DAV-pocket access to Google Docs.  Click 'Grant access' and now you are all set-up via WebDAV using your DAV-pocket account.

• A third and very popular option is to use Dropbox -  this works well, it's free, fast, secure and for most teachers, intuitive to use. Where an App only supports the email option for exporting work, then you can also use sendtodropbox.com account for the iPads.
  Although the students will not have direct access to the Dropbox account, they are able to send to an 'Attachments' folder in your Dropbox. The teacher can then view and download work from Dropbox as required. In order to do this students will need to connect with Dropbox to get a unique email address and then start sending files - after a few minutes the files will appear in the Attachments folder, ready to be viewed as and when.

• Ive just heard there is a fourth option, but Ive not tried this myself yet.  The Edmodo iPad app now enables students to upload media to their library and then send in as an assignment. This would allow for a great workflow for students to create a digital portfolio of all their work, which they can view from any computer or device.  Edmodo is free and many teachers rate it highly as a tool to support learning.

If you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear from you .......
For more information contact me: barbaraainscough@mac.com

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