The How 2 of Web 2.0 has been an interesting challenge It has introduced some Web 2.0 tools which, given time need deeper investigation, however as a final comment I feel a little disappointed.
Many potentially interesting topics were introduced but little information, if any, was given about them other than that they existed. I didn't really feel we were taught anything.
There is potential to learn from other participants in an online course such as this. We were given a list of participants blogs but I found it very time consuming to click on these very often to find this person had not started or was not up to where I was. There was no corrolation between this list and the Progress Table.
From our first assignment I felt it was established that Web 2.0 was about learning through collaboration rather than learning on our own. I didn't feel this happened in this course.
Earlier in the year I completed a Challenge with Edublogs. Like this course it was all done online. Each week, along with our assigned task, we were directed to certain blogs for a particular reason and were encouraged to leave suitable comments. eg. Visit these blogs to see how they have used Google maps or see these blogs to read some interesting ideas about e books etc.
As a consequence of this activity, dialogue was established between participants as we visited each others blogs and left comments.. This activity over time ensured that all participants blogs were visited at least once over the course of the Challenge. As we visited each others blogs, reading what each other had done for various activities we found like minded people. Five months later many of us are still communicating and learning with each other initially through our blogs and later through email.
As I began, this has been a course which has introduced some very interesting topics some of which I will most certainly delve into deeper.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Monday, 23 May 2011
More on e books
Harper Collins has just released several picture book titles as ebooks – available via the Australian Apple iBookstore. They are limited to use with the Apple ipad
The titles are:
9780730444244 $8.99 Diary of a Wombat written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley
9780730446040 $8.99 Zoobots written and illustrated by Bruce Whatley
9780730497202 $8.99 Queen Victoria’s Underpants written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley
9780730499220 $8.99 Feathers for Phoebe written and illustrated by Rod Clement
9780730444602 $8.99 Josephine Wants to Dance written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley
9780730443513 $8.99 Baby Wombat’s Week written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley
9780730445487 $8.99 The Tomorrow Book written by Jackie French and illustrated by Sue deGennaro
All great favourites. The market must be there.
#22 and #23 Downloadable Media
E books and audio books are not things that I have used so far but I can see this is going to change.
I have been aware of the Project Glutenberg site as my youngest son, (in his late 20's) enjoys reading many of the old classics on this site and has been talking about it for some time.
I enjoyed checking out the World e-Book Fair and found a few books to enjoy. I had always thought reading on the computer screen would not be pleasant but it was much easier than I had imagined.
Last week, Jennifer Byrnes conducted an interesting interview on ABC TV titled 'The Future of Books'. Although it was probably more about the future of reading in this digital age, rather than the future of books, there were some very interesting thoughts given. The observation was made that in 2009 3% of books sold in Australia were e books compared to 10% in 2010.
It was also suggested that the price of e books could determine their success. The history of books shows (according to the program) that when books become cheaper we get an explosion of of literacy and great literature. (eg printing press and the advent of paper back books).
I think there will always be a place for the beautiful feel of pages flicking through your fingers and the unique smell of a new book. To be able to linger on page and connect wth its contents is something only a real book can give.
However in this quick multi tasking world we now live in there seems to be a place for the audio book. On a long drive to work through traffic snarls and jams, the audio book is a wonderful way to soothe the self.
For those who are not fluent readers this is a fantastic way to access the written word.
As a teacher-librarian in a Primary School I pride myself on reading aloud well and bringing a book alive for the children. Oh, how often I have wished someone would read to me. Maybe this is my chance.
I have been aware of the Project Glutenberg site as my youngest son, (in his late 20's) enjoys reading many of the old classics on this site and has been talking about it for some time.
I enjoyed checking out the World e-Book Fair and found a few books to enjoy. I had always thought reading on the computer screen would not be pleasant but it was much easier than I had imagined.
Last week, Jennifer Byrnes conducted an interesting interview on ABC TV titled 'The Future of Books'. Although it was probably more about the future of reading in this digital age, rather than the future of books, there were some very interesting thoughts given. The observation was made that in 2009 3% of books sold in Australia were e books compared to 10% in 2010.
It was also suggested that the price of e books could determine their success. The history of books shows (according to the program) that when books become cheaper we get an explosion of of literacy and great literature. (eg printing press and the advent of paper back books).
I think there will always be a place for the beautiful feel of pages flicking through your fingers and the unique smell of a new book. To be able to linger on page and connect wth its contents is something only a real book can give.
However in this quick multi tasking world we now live in there seems to be a place for the audio book. On a long drive to work through traffic snarls and jams, the audio book is a wonderful way to soothe the self.
For those who are not fluent readers this is a fantastic way to access the written word.
As a teacher-librarian in a Primary School I pride myself on reading aloud well and bringing a book alive for the children. Oh, how often I have wished someone would read to me. Maybe this is my chance.
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