Tag:

ebooks

AI-Powered Open Audiobooks

by Miguel Guhlin September 19, 2023

written by Miguel Guhlin

Looking for your next book? Or are you an audiobook afficionado? You don’t need to wait for an Audible performance to listen to your favorite classics. The Project Gutenberg (PG) Open Audiobook Collection has made its debut, and now, you’ll find a wealth of audiobooks powered by Microsoft AI on various platforms! These AI audiobooks boast an audio version of public domain e-books. But before jumping into all the details, let’s step back a moment. Project Gutenberg has a 50 year history of volunteers digitizing texts.

What is Project Gutenberg (PG)?

Project Gutenberg offers free e-books. Their collection is over 70,000 strong, and includes the world’s great literature. It also includes books for which U.S. copyright has expired.

Stories of Grit by Archer Wallace in Project Gutenberg with a list of various e-book formats for download. — Screenshot by the Author: Project Gutenberg, **Stories of Grit by Archer Wallace**

You may have missed the word “free” before, so let’s clarify that these e-books are without cost to you, and you can read these on a variety of devices. That’s because their books are in common formats, such as ePub, Amazon Kindle, and HTML. That’s right, HTML is the language of the web, and you can read books via your web browser.

Some PG links to get your started:

The Project Gutenberg (PG) Open Audiobook Collection

The website characterizes the Microsoft and PG collaboration in this way:

Project Gutenberg and Microsoft have worked together. They have created create thousands of free and open audiobooks. They used new neural text-to-speech technology and the large open-access collection of e-books.

This project aims to make literature more accessible to (audio)book-lovers everywhere. It seeks to democratize access to high quality audiobooks.
(adapted from source)

The books are accessible via several audio sources, including:

You can browse the collection online, as well. Browsing the collection yields an alphabetical list of audiobooks.

The Internet Archive's listing of the Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection — Screenshot by the Author: Internet Archive, **Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection**

A quick note about audio quality and its reception among listeners. Of course, you will want to judge the storytelling ability of AI voice.

Audio Quality of Project Gutenberg Audiobooks

Since PG relies upon Microsoft AI reading of texts, it’s worth taking a moment to assess the audio. For example, compare these acoustical renderings of a favorite text of mine:

Audible: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
LibreVox: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
PGMI Open Audiobook Collection: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (AI generated)

Since Nick Offerman (e.g. Parks and Recreation, Last of Us) reads the Audible version, you’ll find the audio rich. Once you start listening to the sample Audible makes available, you may not want to stop. That aside, the AI version in the Open Audiobook Collection was quite good, smooth and full of youth. The story captivated me, and the AI reading did not get in the way. And, that is amazing given it’s Microsoft AI voice.

Bonus Tool: LibriVox Recordings (No AI Audiobooks Here)

Now that you know about Project Gutenberg, allow me to doff my hat to LibriVox .

LibriVox's Advanced Search by Genre/Subject Page showing the author browsing children's fiction on the LibriVox site. — Screenshot by the Author: LibriVox’s **Advanced Search by Genre/Subject** Page

Since August, 2005, LibroVox has offered free public domain audiobooks. LibriVox terms these readings of public domain texts “acoustical liberation of books in the public domain.” Real people read the texts and quality varies per the reader. Some are quite richly read with a convincing timber and resonating authenticity.

Unlike Chirp or Audible books that you have to pay for, LibriVox’ library of content is available at no cost and includes texts from Project Gutenberg. The famous Internet Archive hosts the audio files.

LibriVox's summary, audiobook chapters, and available downloads of The Adventures of Peter Cottontail — Screenshot by the author: LibriVox, **The Adventures of Peter Cottontail**

Some LibriVox recordings to enchant your ears:

Call of the Wild and White Fang
Science fiction books in Spanish (other languages available)

Now that you’ve had a chance to learn more about Project Gutenberg, explore LibriVox. It’s time for the new!

AI-Powered, Open Audiobooks

Be sure to check out these AI-powered audiobooks in this Open Audiobook Collection by Project Gutenberg. And, explore the LibriVox recordings! Let us know what you think in the comments.

Featured Image Attribution: Screenshot by author: https://marhamilresearch4.blob.core.windows.net/gutenberg-public/Website/index.html

September 19, 2023 0 comments

Graphic Novels, Audiobooks, and More: Six Ways to Add Accessible Stories to Your Library

by Adriana Lebrón White April 24, 2023

written by Adriana Lebrón White

As a middle school librarian, I am acutely aware of the in-between space that middle school students inhabit. I serve 6th graders who just moved up from elementary school, 8th graders who are about to move on to high school, and 7th graders who are stuck in the middle of everything. As a former special education teacher, I realized that our school library needed to serve students across a variety of reading levels, making reading accessible to all. Disabled students, English Language Learners, and other students who are still working on developing their reading skills can all benefit from a diversity of formats in the library. It is especially important to consider when we’re looking to add diverse books to our collection. A variety of story mediums can make our library even more accessible and inclusive for all of our students.

Here are six formats that you should be sure to include in your school library collection.

1. Ebooks

Ebooks are an excellent reading resource. Most ebook apps and programs allow readers to customize their reading experience. Students can change the size of the text, or choose a different font (which is especially useful for readers with dyslexia). They may be able to highlight key words and sentences, or use a built-in dictionary to define unfamiliar words. Some apps will even read ebooks aloud for readers or translate words into another language. Ebooks can be accessed from Chromebooks, iPads, and cell phones, so whatever technology your students have access to, the chances are pretty good that they can access some kind of ebook program.

Logos for Sora and Libby accessible audiobooks

Two resources to use in your library: Overdrive’s Libby and Sora apps.

If your school is unable to build a robust ebook collection, your students may be able to access additional ebooks through their local public library. Once students have logged into Sora and added the public library to their account, they’ll be able to access the public library ebook collection automatically. Most public libraries also have a suggestion form on their website, where readers can submit requests for new ebooks.

2. Audiobooks

While there are undoubtedly some educators who still see audiobooks as “easier” than print books (or even consider them to be “cheating”), there is plenty of research to support the use of audiobooks in our school libraries. Listening to audiobooks, or even read-alouds in the library, allows readers to take in a story without visually decoding the text. This frees their brains up to listen for elements like humor, new vocabulary, and much more. While audiobooks can be especially helpful to disabled students and English Language Learners, all of our students can benefit from hearing stories read aloud in the library.

Logos for learning Ally, Libro.fm, sora, and libby for accessible audiobooks

A resource to use in your library: Libro.fm’s ALC program.

Audiobooks can also be found in Libby and Sora, as well as through programs like Learning Ally. For librarians who want to sample audiobooks in advance, Libro.fm offers an Advance Listening Copy (ALC) program that is free to join. New audiobooks are added every month, and can be added to your account for later review.

3. Large Print

Research has shown that large print books are good for everyone! Having fewer words on the page makes reading accessible and less overwhelming to young readers. Vendors like Thorndike Press make an effort to ensure that large print books are not noticeably larger than their normal-sized companions. Disabled students may also be able to access free large print ebooks through the Bookshare program. And of course, as mentioned above, many ebook programs and apps allow readers to tweak the size of the text while they read for accessibility.

logos for bookshare and thorndike press for accessible large print books

A resource to use in your library: Gale / Thorndike Large Print Books.

There are additional vendors that you can use to purchase Large Print books, but I’ve personally had a great experience with Gale’s Thorndike Press. The company aims to release 100 new large print books each month, so there’s always something new to consider adding to your collection.

4. Novels in Verse

Novels in verse can be a hard sell on paper, as most students seem to shy away from poetry. But I’ve had some success with book talking novels in verse, especially if I share (and read aloud) pages on the projector, or if I show a video of the author reading their own verses out loud. The rhythm of verse novels can remind students of song and rap lyrics and slam poetry (from the likes of Elizabeth Acevedo) or spoken word poems (from poets like Amanda Gorman) can be useful for piquing student interest in verse.

A resource to use in your library: TeachingBooks.

If you have access to TeachingBooks, they offer a variety of resources for novels in verse. From author name pronunciations to lesson activity ideas, there’s a lot to find and use on their website.

5. Graphic Novels

Graphic novels are an often misunderstood and underestimated form of reading. Students love them, but some teachers see comics as “too easy” or “not real books.” Librarians can counter these kinds of negative reactions by emphasizing the literary merits of graphic novels. A lot of my students enjoy Jerry Craft’s “New Kid,” which was the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Award. Comics also encourage readers to linger and reread each page, taking in the text and searching the images for context clues. Amazing stories can be told through a combination of pictures and text, and graphic novels are a hit with more than just our struggling readers.

photo for Jarrett Lerner for downloadable comics and image

A resource to use in your library: Jarrett Lerner Comics.

Jarrett Lerner is a huge advocate for graphic novels and other forms of illustrated books. His website has free comics and images that you can download and print for your library. Seeing important concepts like literacy shaming and student choice succinctly portrayed in comic panels makes these ideas easier to understand (and easier to advocate for).

#6: Picture Books

Finally, picture books can be a useful tool, even in middle school or high school libraries. Beyond the obvious uses of picture books (for instance, as a way to provide appropriately-leveled reading material for students in special education settings), these texts can also be used to introduce or support new concepts in the library. From scientific processes to biographies and historical fiction, picture books can help bring learning to life in new and unexpected ways. Books can also explore math topics like measurement, spatial thinking, and fractions.

A resource to use in your library: MiddleWeb.

MiddleWeb offers a variety of resources for middle school educators, including a piece on using picture books to teach Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). Kasey Short lists some recommended books, discussion questions, and activity ideas for over a dozen fantastic picture books that middle school readers are sure to love.

Using a variety of formats in our library collection will allow us to reach and teach more young readers. While books are, and likely always will be, the focal point of our libraries, there is definitely a place for images, sounds, and even videos in the library space. When we share stories with our students, in any format, we are encouraging skills that will lead to a lifetime of reading by making reading more accessible.

April 24, 2023 0 comments

Accessibility Libraries Reading

Five Ways to Engage Your School Community with Ebooks

by Jenny Dean April 19, 2023

written by Jenny Dean

Today, as many librarians host visitors in their libraries, they hear the same questions being repeated over and over: “Do you have less books?” However, the answer is not a simple yes or no. As spaces change and shelf space decreases, libraries are seeing huge growth in their digital collections. Ebooks have become readily available for every title and digital shelves are bursting at the seams. So, while it may seem that there are fewer books on the physical shelves, there are more books on the digital shelves than ever before. And it is time that we used those books to their fullest potential.

Ebooks are becoming increasingly popular in libraries and classrooms. Through the use of ebooks, we are able to reach students in ways that we never have before. Here are five ways that you can use ebooks in your space to encourage literacy and learning throughout your school community.

1. Engage your struggling readers through interactive ebooks.

For a struggling reader, even the task of looking at a screen and reading can seem daunting. Using interactive ebooks in large group settings or during quiet reading time allows the student to feel like they are participating in reading by being able to do more than just understand the phonics of the words. Invite your classes with struggling readers into the library and show them that books can truly be fun for every student! If you are unable to have the classes come to you, introducing this to your library can be as easy as making a display with QR codes or links to access the interactive ebooks. You can also post links and QR codes in Google Classroom or send them via email to teachers.

2. Invite students to participate in an online book club.

While we are all busy talking about getting back to normal, many of our students have adapted to the life that they have been living and their normal looks different than ours. One of the ways that this might be showing itself more than ever right now is through your book club attendance. A multi-access and multi-user ebook allows students to all access the books from their phones, eReaders, or laptops and still have the enriching experience of reading a book together. Digital communication is completely at our fingertips now and discussions online with students can still be rich and rewarding – sometimes more so, because the student is in their comfort zone. The introduction of a completely online book club experience will not only allow you to interact with students you might not have had the opportunity to work with before, but it will also put books into the hands of students who might not have some in otherwise.

3. Highlight and celebrate assistive technology in ebooks.

All too often students see assistive technology as something that should make them feel shame. They don’t want anyone to know that they use the online dictionary, the translator, or the text to speech feature. However, these groundbreaking tools can offer every student that steps into your library something beneficial, and it is time that we begin to promote them as tools for all students. Use your ebooks as an opportunity to show how exciting these tools can be! This can be as easy as setting up an interactive display with an eBook and instructions on how to highlight text, get definitions, and notes. Every time you see a class for check out, remind them about the ebooks and the technology behind them. As students continue to move into a digitized world, they will see even more success if we arm them with those tools now and remind them that every student can benefit from assistive technology.

4. Host a community ebook night.

There is certainly trepidation about online reading for many parents and community members. The idea of students looking at a screen for any extended amount of time can be an unsettling thought to many who have not used or accessed an ebook before. Hosting a night where parents and community can come in and interact with your ebooks, ask questions, and learn about the technology, will help put their minds at ease and also give them the knowledge that they need to help their students check out books through the online catalog while at home. Have parents or community members who can’t make it? It can be digital, too! One of the best parts of embracing one part of technology is it lends itself to many other parts. Host a digital night, live stream, or have a digital read aloud with community members using one of your ebooks.

5. Help your teachers embrace ebooks.

Many teachers see another added digital component as a distraction and worry that this will hinder their classroom instruction rather than help it. However, textbooks are almost all completely digital now, and students are becoming more acclimated to online reading. Sometimes your teachers just need you there to offer a little support. If there is a class with students who cannot look at their phone without immediately going to social media, work with the teacher to start with small literature ebook circles where students can be actively monitored. If they have students on completely different learning levels, work with them to encourage the use of the assistive technologies in ebooks. Reminding teachers that you are there to help with hiccups and hurdles can ease their mind when moving into something completely new.

5 Ways to Engage Your School Community with ebooks Infographic with the 5 tips from the article

Here’s the bottom line: the digital world isn’t going to stop coming. In fact, it has already arrived. Technology like ebooks can do wonders for our libraries and our students. Let’s learn to use it to our advantage and to teach our students that a love of reading can stem from anywhere – even the screen right in front of them.

Did you know that April is School Library Month? TCEA will feature a guest article written by a member librarian once a week throughout the month! April also includes:

How will you show appreciation for your librarian, media specialist, and library staff?

April 19, 2023 3 comments

Google Tips and Tricks Microsoft

From Google Docs to Audio Book

by Miguel Guhlin November 12, 2019

written by Miguel Guhlin

Ever wish you could turn student-created ePub files into narrated audio books? Or make any ePub into an audio book? You can on your Windows 10 computer, by taking advantage of the Freda ebook’s built-in audio reader. Before we go through the process, let’s take a moment to revisit how you can create an ePub-formatted ebook for free.

Creating ePub Formatted eBooks

Use Google Docs as an easy tool to create an ePub-formatted ebook as I shared in this blog entry. EPUB is the most widely-supported file format for publishing accessible documents and digital books, allowing people to consume long-form content in their preferred apps on a diverse range of screen sizes and devices, including smartphones, tablets, and ereaders.

To make it easier for authors, publishers, and academic institutions to create works that can be consumed digitally, they now offer the ability to export Google Docs files as EPUB publications. Simply go to the File menu > Download as > EPUB Publication (.epub) (Source). Now that you know how to use Google Docs as an ePub creation tool, we’re ready for the fun stuff.

Get a Free eBook Reader for Windows 10: You can use the Freda app on Windows 10 to read any non-digital rights management (DRM) ePub ebook. Free Reader, or Freda for short, provides a wide variety of options that include reading EPUB books, changing type size, font, spacing, margins, layout and color scheme, along with being able to customize the controls and gestures. You can also add bookmarks along with highlighting and annotating sections of text. The application allows you to search for words or phrases within a book, and to search online for definitions, translations (great for those wanting to learn a second language), and information related to any text element you may select.

Free Ebook Reader and Audio Recorder

First, save your Google Doc file as an ePub file on your computer. Then, open the file using Freda ebook reader. Once the file is open, have Freda read the file to you.

When you first ask Freda to read an ebook to you, you will see the following. You will want to choose READ ALOUD:

You can choose several voices (Microsoft David, Zira, or Mark) when having Freda read the ebook to you, as shown below:

Try out the different voices to see which you prefer. Further below, I will share how you can get additional voices for your Microsoft installation.

What Audio Recorder Should I Use?

Use Audacity. Per their website, “It is a free, easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. The interface is translated into many languages. You can use Audacity to record live audio, record computer playback on any Windows Vista or later machine, and edit sound files.”

The next question to consider is how to record Freda reading the ebook to you. To accomplish that, you’ll need to get the free, open source audio editor Audacity. Once you have it installed on your Windows 10 computer, you will need to adjust some of its settings by putting in the preferences as shown below:

Make sure to change the Recording settings to ENABLE “Sound Activated Recording.” That way, you can turn on Audacity and have it record once you turn on Freda to read aloud.

This will allow you to record audio from your Windows 10 computer as the Freda ebook reader reads the book aloud to you. Here’s what that looks like:

Listen to Microsoft David read About Carroll.

Wait, what if I have a PDF that I want read aloud?

If you have a PDF document that needs to be read, find your way to the Natural Readers website. Using their free voices for unlimited reading time, you can have it read a PDF to you at no cost. Use Audacity as shown above to record the audio from the Natural Readers reading of your PDF book.

Add More Voices to Windows 10

Are Microsoft’s voices for David, Zira, and/or Mark not getting it done for you? There are many more you can add on, including in other languages. Here’s a short list:

Text-to-Speech languages and voices available in Windows

Language (Region)	Windows 10 and Windows 8.1	Windows 8	Name	Gender
Chinese (Hong Kong)	Y	N	Tracy	Female
Chinese (Taiwan)	Y	Y	Hanhan	Female
Chinese (People’s Republic of China)	Y	Y	Huihui	Female
English (United States)	Y	Y	Zira	Female
English (United States)	Y	Y	David	Male
English (Great Britain)	Y	Y	Hazel	Female
French (France)	Y	Y	Hortense	Female
German (Germany)	Y	Y	Hedda	Female
Italian (Italy)	Y	N	Elsa	Female
Japanese (Japan)	Y	Y	Haruka	Female
Korean (Korea)	Y	Y	Heami	Female
Polish (Poland)	Y	N	Paulina	Female
Portuguese (Brazil)	Y	N	Maria	Female
Russian (Russia)	Y	N	Irina	Female
Spanish (Mexico)	Y	N	Sabina	Female
Spanish (Spain)	Y	Y	Helena	Female

How to Add a Voice

Want to add more languages and voices? You can follow the steps outlined on this Microsoft Help page. One easy way to get started involves you going to your Windows 10 Start button (the Windows flag icon in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen), then going to Settings (represented by the gear icon). Select Time & Language. Then, go to Region & Language to add a language (e.g. Spanish), then go to Speech to select your default voice. There may be a slight delay as Microsoft adds a language to your computer. On my SurfaceBook, the process took about five to ten minutes. Speed may depend on your internet connection.

Final Tips for Moving from Google Docs to Audio Book

Here are some final tips to keep in mind before you start recording. Freda ebook audio reader will turn itself off if it detects no one is there. So be sure to do the following:

Make sure to turn off your screensaver.
Disable your power off for display (it’s OK if you turn off a computer monitor), hard drive, or internet connection. This will have the same effect as telling Freda that you’re not there listening and it will shut down.
Press the RECORD button in Audacity before switching over to Freda to tell it to start the read aloud.

You can continue to use your computer, just be sure not to play any other audio or it will be recorded. If you don’t want to listen to the audio read aloud while you are working, you can turn off your speaker using the Volume Mixer.

Enjoy!

November 12, 2019 1 comment

Chromebooks Good Teaching

UDL Chromebook Opportunities for Learning

by Miguel Guhlin June 19, 2018

written by Miguel Guhlin

Classrooms are diverse. Curriculum needs to be designed from the start to meet this diversity (Source:Universal Design for Learning (UDL) video). Several Texas districts have adopted Chromebooks. How can UDL play a role?

Listen to Blog Entry

One way includes ebook creation with tools like Book Creator. See the connections that can be made between UDL and Book Creator. Before we do that, let’s revisit Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

UDL

What is UDL?

Universal Design for Learning is about reducing barriers to achievement. Learning preferences, learning strengths, and abilities are some of those barriers. It can help with personal interests and/or levels of engagement and has three guiding principles:

Engagement – Engaging learners. This is about motivating others to learn (Source).
Representation – Giving learners different ways to acquire information and knowledge.
Action and Expression – Demonstrating what they know in many ways.

“These three priorities align with different neural networks. They answer the “what,” “how,” and “why” of teaching and learning,” says Jules Csillag in How to Use Technology to Support UDL. Let’s examine how one of these priorities aligns to a tool like Book Creator.

Did You Know about Book Creator?

Reading and creating ebooks can support UDL. One ebook maker tool is Book Creator. I featured it in this blog entry on Creating gBooks, er, eBooks Just Got Easier. An excellent tool, Book Creator allows for collaborative ePub creation. Students have created over 15 million ebooks. It works on Chromebooks, iOS, Android, and Windows devices. Book Creator allows you to create a simple ePub without media. You can create an enhanced ePub with video, audio, and more embedded. Read their blog for TONS of ideas.

Supporting UDL with Technology

Countless technologies are available to educators. One technology, popular on tablets, became available for Chromebooks. Let’s explore one of priorities of the UDL guidelines and checkpoints with Book Creator in mind.

Engagement
- Access: It’s important to “optimize individual choice and autonomy” (UDL Checkpoint 7.1). Educators make this happen for students with voice and choice. One choice students could use to produce content is Book Creator. The ability to embed audio, video, images, and text on the page engages students. Students can exert control over “the color, design, or graphics of layouts.”
- Build: From this perspective, it is important to “create cooperative learning groups with clear goals, roles, and responsibilities” (UDL Checkpoint 8.3). Constructing ebooks provides rich opportunities for cooperative groups. Challenged to combine text, images, audio, and video, students can create various products such as interactive stories, digital portfolios, research journals, poetry books, science reports, and instruction manuals. Book Creator makes comic adventures possible, too (Source).
- Internalize: Assisting students in facilitating “personal coping skills and strategies” (UDL Checkpoint 7.2). These strategies can be blended into cooperative learning group dynamics. Students can learn how to behave and work together more effectively over time in cooperative learning groups.

More connections are possible for Representation and Action and Expression, too.

Making More UDL Connections

As you consider UDL guidelines, remember that Book Creator can accomplish the following:

Student books can be read aloud via text-to-speech capabilities.
Book Creator can highlight words as they are read.
Students can set the pages of the book to turn on their own.
Readers can choose a language or voice, as well as control the speed of reading.
Students can auto-play any media.

Ready to learn more about UDL and Book Creator? Get the Chrome browser add-on.

June 19, 2018 0 comments

Content Areas Good Teaching Google Tips and Tricks

Creating gBooks, er, eBooks Just Got Easier

by Miguel Guhlin April 16, 2018

written by Miguel Guhlin

Creating ebooks just got easier with the addition of new tools. If you haven’t kept up to date, you’ll want to read this blog entry. We will demystify key elements such as locating ebooks, ebook formats, converting eBooks, three fun approaches to creating ebooks, and copyright-friendly media. Ready to get started? If so, let’s begin!

1- Locating eBooks

Below, you will find some sites I have used in the past to find non-DRM (Digital Rights Management)-formatted ePubs. Finding non-Digital Rights Management (a.k.a. non-DRM) books can be a challenge for schools. This may be why OverDrive is heavily used in many libraries, and solutions like BiblioTech are quite popular.

Best Free Children’s eBook Sources (100)
Baen Free Library of Science Fiction
Project Gutenberg
Kindle Free Books
Open Library
Oz Stories
Smashwords
Waterstones

As in any library or book store, there exists content that may be inappropriate for younger readers. Have learning conversations with students and parents when counseling that they “find free stuff” to read on the web. With that caveat in mind, I have tried to link to the Children’s/Juvenile section of each ebook distributor below.

Did You Know? You can get free audio versions of traditional books via LibriVox. Why not use a QR Code to link directly to a story’s audio version? Or have students make their own!

2- eBook Formats

eBooks come in a wide variety of formats. Let’s review them, shall we?

ePub

ebooks EPUB is an ebook file format with the extension .epub that can be downloaded and read on devices like smartphones, tablets, computers, or e-readers. It is a technical standard published by the International Digital Publishing Forum. Wikipedia

It is the standard format for these book publishers/sellers:

Amazon Kindle Fire (not previous versions of Kindle, though)
Apple iBooks
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

It is easy to make ePub-formatted documents. In fact, many word processors like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and OpenOffice/LibreOffice support the export of documents to ePub format. Read about how Jonathan Moeller, one of my favorite authors, uses Sigil (a free cross-platform tool) to create/edit his ebooks.

ePubs come in two formats:

Standard (without media like sound/videos) (text/images are included)
Multimedia ebooks which feature sound/videos/text/images

Some eBook readers that work well with this format include Aldiko, Lithium, iBooks, Google Play Books, Freda, and Kindle. Some web-based tools include Readium or ePub Reader for the Chrome browser, and ePUBReader for Mozilla Firefox browser.

Mobi

ebooks MOBI is an e-book file format with the extension .mobi that can be downloaded and read on devices that support the Amazon Kindle app. The format, customized by Amazon, is often used by Amazon’s ebooks and on little else. There are various programs for making a .mobi ebook file and Amazon provides some tools you can take advantage of. “You can upload and convert your eBook manuscript file from several supported formats. Before you publish, browse the topics below to learn more.” Learn more at this link.

Some ebook readers that work well with Mobi format include Aldiko, Lithium, iBooks, Google Play Books, Freda, and, of course, Kindle.

PDF

PDF is not an ebook format. Rather, it is a format that seeks to capture the printed version of a document, capturing the look-and-feel of the printed item as if it had appeared on the author’s printer. A large percentage of documents presented as ebooks appear as Adobe Portable Document Formats (PDFs).

The reason PDF is not an ebook format is that it was never designed to appear in eReaders or reshape itself into a format viewable in such a device. It CAN be viewed on most modern devices, however.

Considering what version to publish ebooks to? The best answer is that ePub is the best format to create ebooks in. You can convert most documents into the ePub format and it will work on almost all devices using an eReader piece of software.

3 – Converting eBooks from One Format to Another

ebooks Need to convert ebooks from one format to another? Use Calibre, the free, open source software that works on any computer (not Chromebooks, though). Here’s how it’s described:

Using Calibre to convert is very easy.

Plug in your ebook reader.
Open Calibre and click the “Add books” button on the top left. Select your book.
Click open. Select your book in the library list. By now, Calibe should have detected your ebook reader.
Click “Send to device” from the middle of the top toolbar.
Calibre is smart enough to know if the book is in a format supported by your reader. If it’s not, it will ask you if you want to auto convert it. Say yes, and it will take care of the conversion and put the book on your reader.

Calibre worries about the formats and converting for you. Auto conversion is the easiest way to go and, in most cases, will be all you need to do. Here is a short video explaining how to use Calibre:

4- Creating eBooks: Fun Approaches

There are several approaches you can take to create ebooks in your classroom. Let’s explore a few, as well as learn about a new one from Apple that just became available.

See some eBooks made in Book Creator via Pinterest

Approach #1 – Book Creator

If you haven’t used Book Creator, it is an excellent, collaborative ($) ePub creation tool boasting over 15 million ebooks. It works on Chromebooks, iOS, Android, and Windows devices. Book Creator allows you to create a simple ePub without media or an enhanced ePub with video, audio, and more embedded. Read their blog for TONS of ideas.

This versatility means you can create content on an iPad/iOS device and share it with a wide variety of audiences. You can also share it to cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, or iCloud). It also supports the creation of digital comic books, something your students will love. That’s amazing!

Check out my ebook on App-Smashing, created with Book Creator.

Approach #2 – Google Docs to ePub

EPUB is the most widely-supported file format for publishing accessible documents and digital books, allowing people to consume long-form content in their preferred apps on a diverse range of screen sizes and devices, including smartphones, tablets, and ereaders.

To make it easier for authors, publishers, and academic institutions to create works that can be consumed digitally, today we’re launching the ability to export Google Docs files as EPUB publications. Simply go to the File menu > Download as > EPUB Publication (.epub). (Source)

Here are two ebooks created in Google Docs using the ePub export.

Protect Your Digital Privacy
Safeguarding Sensitive Data

What documents could you take and export to ePub format to make them easier to read on mobile devices?

Approach #3 – Google Slides to PDF

Get a copy of a long PDF ebook

Use Google Slides as a collaborative ebook development tool. Ready to get started? Follow these four easy steps outlined in this TCEA blog entry, Google Slides Ebook Creation in Four Quick, Easy Steps:

Customize the slides
Add content
Download as a PDF (or publish online as a Google Slides)
Share the ebook

Here’s another guide to ebook creation from Texas’ Kasey “Shake Up Learning” Bell.

Use one of the many available ebook templates available in PowerPoint to create your own Google Slides ebook.

Tips for PDF eBook Creators

Here are some tips from two ebook authors, Erfili Davis and Jennifer Gonzales. Check out Erifili Davis’ blog entry on the topic of ebooks with Google Slides. She’s created some great video tutorials and a free template packet (click link to make a copy) you can start with. Read Erifili’s six tips to help you (or your class) create your first ebook using Google Apps for Education. As she points out, “These techniques are just as useful to anyone looking to self-publish an ebook, including general users of the free Google Drive and Google Apps for Work users.”

“With Google Slides, students can create a simple ebook that includes text, photos, videos, and links,” says Diana Benner in this TCEA TechNotes blog entry. “They can even create or select themes, templates, and layouts for their book. Once created, the ebooks can be shared with other students, both locally and around the world, for feedback.” Find more ideas online at this blog entry to find out about more ideas.

Apple Announces ePub Export Function

“The update to Pages brings some of the features of Apple’s book creation app for the Mac ‘iBooks Author’ to the iPad for the first time,” states the Book Creator blog entry. Apple’s Spring 2018 Education event made this news public. “With Pages, you can export your documents in EPUB format so they can be read using iBooks on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or with other third-party EPUB readers,” says the Apple website where you can read up on the process.

Make Computer Voice Narrated Audiobooks (Updated: 7/28/2019)

Wish you could turn student-created ePub files into narrated audiobooks? Or, make any ePub into an audiobook? You can on your Windows 10 computer. Take advantage of the Freda ebook reader’s built-in audio reader. First, save your Google Doc file as an ePub file on your computer. Then, open the file using Freda ebook reader. Once the file is open, have Freda read the file to you.

When you first ask Freda to read an ebook to you, you will see the following…you’ll want to choose READ ALOUD:

You can choose several voices (Microsoft David, Zira, or Mark) when having Freda read the ebook to you, as shown below:

Try out the different voices to see which you prefer.

The next question to consider is, How to record Freda reading the ebook to you? To accomplish that, you’ll need to get the free, open source audio editor, Audacity. Once you have it installed on your Windows 10 computer, you will need to adjust some of its settings. You’ll need to set the preferences as shown below:

Make sure to change the Recording settings to ENABLE “Sound Activated Recording.” That way, you can turn on Audacity, have it record once you turn on Freda to read aloud.

This will allow you to record audio from your Windows 10 computer as Freda ebook reader reads the book aloud to you. Here’s what that looks like:

Listen to Microsoft David read About Carroll.

Ready to Begin?

“Student-centered products enable learners to showcase their new knowledge and skills in relation to a particular topic in an infinite variety of ways,” write the authors of Digital Media in Today’s Classrooms. Charge your students with tasks that require creativity, analysis, and application. Get started now!

April 16, 2018 0 comments

English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Google Tips and Tricks

Creating Dynamic Digital Poetry Books

by Diana Benner April 9, 2018

written by Diana Benner

April is National Poetry Month and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate poetry than with student-created digital poetry books made with Google Slides. National Poetry Month was introduced in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. Each year in April, tens of millions of students, teachers, and librarians rejoice in poetry’s important place in our lives.

Writing Poems with Google Slides

In the blog entry, Slide into the New Year with Student eBooks, I outlined four quick and easy steps on how to create an ebook in Google Slides. Your students will follow this same simple process for creating their digital book of poems.

The Poetry Marathon

In order for students to create a book a poems, they will obviously need to write more than one poem. Using a Poetry Marathon format to create a series of short poems around a common theme would work perfectly for this task. The goal of the marathon is to write one poem every hour, for twenty-four hours straight. The reward would be that you would have a collection of poems produced in one day. Of course, that might not realistically work in your classroom. Therefore, you would need to come up with your own rules for your marathon.

Types of Short Poems

Short poems are crucial for this kind of project as Google Slides will lend itself well to fewer words on a slide. This way, images can also be included to add visual representations of the poems. A few short poems you can explore are cinquains, shape poems, nonsense verse, acrostics, couplets, and haikus. Take a look at these few that I included in my very own book, The One-of-a-Kind Daisy Mae.

Cinquain Poem

Click on image to open the digital book.

A cinquain poem is a verse of five lines that do not rhyme. The cinquain poem was created by Adelaide Crapsey.

Acrostic Poem

An acrostic poem is where the first, last, or other letters in a line spell out a particular word or phrase. The most common and simple form of an acrostic poem is where the first letters of each line spell out the word or phrase.

Couplet

A couplet is a pair of successive lines of meter in a poem. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme.

Dynamic Digital Poetry Books Are a Win-Win!

The end result of creating this kind of digital book is a win-win. Not only are students engaged in writing poetry in various forms, but they are also using technology to publish a digital book of their original writing. I hope this National Poetry Month activity will inspire you to keep celebrating poetry digitally all year long!

April 9, 2018 0 comments

English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)ESL/ELL Libraries

Help Students Enjoy Summer Reading

by Dr. Bruce Ellis May 16, 2017

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

I enjoyed reading Susan Barber’s post on Building Choice Into Your Students’ Reading. In it, she shared several great ideas for teachers to use during the school year to promote a culture of literacy. As a followup to her article, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss resources that you can use and share with your students to promote a culture of literacy over the summer months. Yes, even now as schools are wrapping up the year, many educators are already starting to plan how they can motivate students to interact with meaningful text and, hopefully, build a deeper sense of enjoyment in reading. Below are some resources I picked especially for you for summer reading fun.

Free Books Online

Most free books are in the public domain, but that doesn’t mean that they are not relevant for our students. But that’s not the only place to find free books. Some parents and students may benefit from signing up for a free month with a particular service even if they don’t plan to extend their usage beyond the complimentary time.

Children’s Storybooks Online – This site offers web-based books for young children, older children, and young adult readers. A few have audio provided as well.
SYNC – Sync is a free summer audio book program for teens 13 and up. It begins on April 27, 2017, and goes through the summer. Each week, two complete audio book downloads are made available.
Open eBooks – Students from low-income families can benefit from these free ebooks, but the school needs to sign up first. Then educators from that school can request access codes to share with students. Each student can check out up to 10 ebooks at a time. The Open eBooks app works on iOS and Android devices.
Library of Congress Archive – With more than 150,000 books online, you will definitely want to use the search features to narrow down by topic, collection, creator (author), and/or language.
Reading Resource Project – This program that runs throughout the year provides free books (only shipping is required). Many of the sets include 100 books that can be shipped to you for $88.
Free Kids Books – Choose to read the books either online or download as a PDF to read offline.
Kindle’s Top 100 Free Books – Download and read via the Kindle app or online. Lots of selection choices.
Barnes & Noble’s Popular Free eBooks – Access Barnes & Noble’s list of ebooks that you can download and read on the NOOK app. Be sure to use the sidebar options to narrow search results by subject and age of reader.
TCEA members are also encouraged to join the iPad in the Classroom Community group where daily announcements are made about free books by Amazon as well as great apps that are available free for a limited time.

Text-to-Speech Readers

Many text-to-speech readers are available that can assist with ebooks. Your device and platform may determine which works best for you.

Acrobat Reader – Activate Acrobat’s reader to have your PDF ebook read to you. Voices are limited, but you can adjust the pitch and speed.
NaturalReader – You can download NaturalReader to listen to PDF, DOCX, Richtext, and ePub formatted ebooks.
Aloud! – This free text-to-speech app works on iOS and accepts plain text, PDF, DOCX, ePub, RTF, and HTML formats.
@Voice Aloud Reader – Designed for Android users, you’ll enjoy the extensive list of formats this free app can read aloud (TXT, PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, OpenOffice document files, EPUB, MOBI, PRC, AZW and FB2 ebooks, and more).

Summer Reading Lists

Hot off the press, these updated lists can give you and your students some direction of what author to check out, the next series to explore, and possibly a new genre to try out.

Summer Reading for ELL and ESL Students – Lots of lists curated and shared by Colorin Colorado for ELL and ESL students. Great resources for teachers and parents.
Reading List for New Students at UC Berkeley – Before saying goodbye to your high school seniors, you may want to share with them this list of books for incoming students to Berkeley.
Houston ISD Summer Reading List – Enjoy the curated lists provided by the Houston Area Independent School Library Network. Each list is a PDF, making it easy to download, share, and/or print as needed.
B&N Summer Reading – Take advantage of Barnes & Noble’s list for summer reading. Keep a journal (provided on website for download) of at least eight titles you read and you can get a free book!
NYPL Summer Reading List – The New York Public Library has nicely formatted lists for babies-PreK, grades K-5, teens, and adults.
The Ultimate Summer Reading List for 9- to 12-Year-Olds – Melissa Taylor has pulled together a great list of books that will be popular with all upper elementary and middle school kids.

After Reading Activities

Making a book more enjoyable can easily be done by including some after-reading activities. Here are few to get you started. These are great to share with parents as well!

103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading – Regardless of the age of the reader, there are TONS of ideas that they can do to further enjoy and reflect on the book they just read.
10 Fun Post-Reading Activities – Though these activities are geared more for classroom use, students can still do a few during the summer.
Teaching Reading: 20 Activities After Reading – Pick a few of these to share with your students before they leave for the summer and challenge them to complete them and share with you prior to returning.
No Prep Post Reading Activities – These easy activities don’t require any preparation ahead of time and may be the perfect activities for kids to deepen their love for reading.
Post-Reading Activities for ESL Students – These are great activities for students to do after reading a story or book…even if they aren’t ESL students.

Please share with us your school’s reading list for the summer, your favorite book you read as a kid, or possibly a one that you anticipate reading this summer for fun. We’d love to hear from you!

May 16, 2017 0 comments

ESL/ELL Good Teaching

Prevent Summer Slide with Technology

by Miguel Guhlin April 27, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

“We need ways to stop summer slide in its tracks,” Jon said. The conversation would start the same way, “If only we had…[this or that].” Unfortunately, Jon would raise the topic in April, much too late for curriculum specialists to do anything with current projects. “Why don’t you bring this up in September?” I asked one day in mid-April. The next year, he did and added a new request. The request asked the technology department to research solutions to summer slide. Let’s take a look at some possible new solutions.

What Is Summer Slide?

Summer slide may be defined as “the tendency for students to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year.” Often, summer break serves as a prolonged break in classroom learning. This interruption has a negative impact on children’s retention and development of skills (source). Their test math scores can be one month lower when they return to school in August than in the previous May. While all children lose skills in math, summer setbacks in reading depend on the student’s socioeconomic level. Summer vacation has an even worse effect on low to middle income students. For those students, a three-month vacation results in an equivalent gap in reading scores (source). Summer gaps accumulate over the years.

How Do You Stop Summer Slide?

Mitigating summer slide remains a high priority for growth-focused schools. One of the best ways to accomplish this is keeping all students engaged in math and, for low to middle income students, in reading. While there are various traditional approaches available (e.g. summer library reading programs, school-based interventions, home school approaches, etc.), technology can offer another alternative.

Here are several technology-based tips for mitigating the effects of summer slide:

Tip #1 – Teach measurement with Minecraft

Young learners are already engaged with Minecraft. But did you know that you can teach measurement with it? A Minecraft block has set dimensions. With that in mind, you can have students build a real structure inside its virtual world, figuring out how a real life measurement adapts to virtual block measurement in Minecraft. For more ideas, you may want to read this introductory activity. Then move up to teaching perimeter and area. If you are in a school-based program designed to halt summer slide, then consider getting Minecraft: Education Edition. Otherwise, the Windows 10 version or Pocket Edition of Minecraft will suffice.

Tip #2 – Cooking with Video

Cooking can be an excellent way to introduce students to math concepts at home (or school). Dina O’Brien, math specialist and instructional coach, suggests several approaches, one of which is shown below:

Imagine cooking dinner and having to redo the menu for five more guests and then discussing the recipe and how to double it. You can have your child sketch out the seating arrangement for dinner as well.

One approach you can take involves having your child make their thinking visible as they prepare a meal. Then publish the video online via YouTube. Use an app like Toontastic, Shadow Puppet Edu, or YouTube Capture to create the video, whether as a story or a straight recording. Another possibility involves having students refresh and “upgrade” recipe cards using the Canva app.

Tip #3 – Finding Shapes in the World

While you can find shapes in the world around us, it might also be fun to take a look at images of objects and wide open spaces. For example, NASA recently made its entire media library available to the public. Students can also measure objects using a regular ruler or iOS app like i-Ruler (free).

summer slide

Tip #4 – Stalling the Summer Slide for Reading

Stalling summer slide can involve any variety of techniques. While the tips above involved math applications, you can access a variety of reading apps featuring free content (e.g. OpeneBooks), whether audio books (e.g. Tales2Go) or text. And, eReaders are inexpensive and available (e.g. BiblioTech), depending on your locale. Check out these blog entries focused on reading and ebooks:

Tip #5 – Listening Yields Same Results as Reading

“Listeners and readers retain about equal understanding of the passages they’ve consumed,” says Melissa Dahl, citing research in this New York Magazine article, which is another key point for listening to audio books as well as reading them. Listening to audio books has benefits for students that go beyond simply reading text on the printed page. Combining the two experiences yields dividends, but don’t sell audio books short. Here are some research-based benefits of audio over text reading:

Fiction (which is great for second language learners) read aloud encourages your brain to picture the scenes.
Listening to audio books enhances listening skills as ears strain for the next word.
Audio book “reading” can be done on the go, which may match the needs of certain busy people in our lives.

Image Source

Not convinced about the impact of listening to audio books over reading print? You may want to check out this 2016 research study as well as a newer 2019 study:

Two notable findings are that students using Tales2go attained 58% of the annual expected gain in reading achievement in just 10 weeks, putting them three months ahead of control students. Plus, the study group outperformed the control group across all measures, by three times in reading comprehension, nearly seven times in second-grade vocabulary, and nearly four times in reading motivation. These increases came after students listened for twenty minutes three times per week in the afternoon program at school, and an additional two twenty-minute sessions at home.

Don’t let summer slide hamper your children’s growth and forward movement. Take advantage of technology to close the summer achievement gap.

This blog entry has been updated with new information as of 8/29/2019 supporting the benefits of audiobooks as equivalent to those of reading.

April 27, 2017 0 comments

English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Libraries