Thanks to the group that presented about podcasts, I have decided to try my own and am thinking about doing them with my class as well. The tools that you suggested were all great, I have used SoundCloud, Podomatic, Garage Band (I even made my intro and ending music with it). I do apologize if it is a little rushed, my first take was about ten minutes, so I spoke a little faster and removed some content (which is why the ending just happened). One section I did cut out was my discussion about how this is not an ereader, as it utilizes more of the mobile device. From my experience, some books on ereaders have links that will open up in a browser or allow you to listen to the book, where as a “Live Textbook” has so much more, which I do discuss. Also, as I do reference three news stories in the podcast here are the links, in case you want to see a little more:
CNN Story-https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/23/us/black-capitalization-school-textbooks-mcgraw-hill-trnd/index.html
Undersea Research Station-https://www.archpaper.com/2020/07/yves-behar-fabian-cousteau-reveal-undersea-research-station-planned-curacao/
Hi Michael,
Love your format and your intro/outro music – great touch!
At first your live textbook idea to me is simply an LMS – a student-to-content environment with rich media. That being said one huge strength I identify to your live textbook idea is who is the one creating it. Not so long ago, the traditional textbook could be used to define a course curriculum but now, often an LMS does. This shift for content creation/organization has moved from the publishers to the teachers and that is A LOT of work. I wonder if publishers have pivoted to create educational courses that institutes can import into their own LMS?
Hello Michael. Is this your idea? Sound very interesting. As a father, I am a little worried about my pocket because this textbook seems to urge for an expensive mobile device, lol. You should build your own company to make it.
It is not a traditional book anymore; on the contrary, it is an AR application indeed because it mixes the real world and the conceptual world. However, I guess there must be restrictions to secure that young kids won’t see inappropriate information before they are ready. Also, rich content can be a distraction, as well. How to keep users focusing on the target is another story. It is only a prototype, but it sounds wonderful.
I enjoy the music. I still cannot get used to the podcast, probably because English is my second language. Thank you for sharing. Good job!
Yi
Hi Yi,
Yes, it is my idea. Thank you for the review! My thought is that it would run on mobile devices, not a seperate device. I do think that you bring up an interesting point with keeping the users focussed, however with everything being within the textbook on the device then students should be immersed in in the textbook. Maybe it could be like Google Expeditions, where you can see where all of the class is at that time. I would love to build a company, although I don’t think I could leave my job right now.
Hey Michael,
There are a few major reasons why I like this idea, but there is one that is most important to me. Textbooks used to be a guide for teachers that was based on provincial (or state) curriculum standards. They provided teaching guides and suggestions for teachers about HOW to use these products. However: What we are seeing now is a drive to “Ditch the Textbook.” With so much technology available, why do we need them at all? Well, Teachers have been left with a massive amount of learning materials to sift through, many of which might not line up with curriculum standards. I think that ministries of education should provide something like the live textbook to provide teachers with curriculum based content for students that are not archaic like the traditional textbook.
One possible thing I can see happening is there being a need to create a new job, a team who is constantly updating the “live textbook.” This could be educational professionals who work to create the curriculum and can also work to guide teachers in how to deliver it with current content.
Fantastic idea Michael, and great job on the Podcast.
Thank you Benjamin! I like that you brought up the “Ditching the Textbook” I have also attempted to do this. One of the reasons has been because of how outdated the information can become. Also I do believe that there would need to be some team that helps with the updating of the textbooks, especially the idea of a team, as it would take several people to keep it up to date.
Right off the bat, I really liked that you offered a little personal introduction. And the delivery of the material was great too. I also did a podcast and I wanted to make my content sound more natural, but I couldn’t manage to just speak as you did with yours. The natural, fluid cadence made your podcast really easy to listen to.
On to the content, the first thing that really jumped out at me was the idea of images and sounds being specific to students’ surroundings – accessing the text in Toronto would give different visuals than in Calgary as you suggested. I did some translation courses during my undergrad and that’s a big thing in that domain. Often it’s not enough to change the words from French to English, you need to also change cultural references so that they’re meaningful to the target audience. Little things like that would make these textbooks come alive to the students engaging with them.
I loved the idea of seeing a current space contrasted with the past that you mentioned as well. I follow a page on social media called Vancouver Now that always shows contrasting photos of current day Vancouver against images of the same spot, 50-100 years ago and it’s always wild to see. Things like that would absolutely engage students and keep them invested in the material.
And as you said, having relevant AND CURRENT news articles linked to specific topics of instruction and discussion would keep everything so fresh and vital.
And you’re spot on in saying that with 5G all of this is super attainable pretty much right now.
Great job!
Thank you Tyler, I struggled with making the podcast, I of had a lot of outtakes. Thank you for the review, I do believe that if done correctly that students could become engaged at a new level.
Hi Michael,
Nice intro music! I like your idea of live textbooks; it is a great step forward in redefining education using technology (the “R” of Puentedura’s SAMR model). E-books are great but they are not widely available in the textbook industry, not readily used in schools. E-textbooks would do the job of substituting and modifying well, but it is the higher levels of modification and redefinition that I don’t think they have gotten to as yet. The live textbooks you suggest would go beyond just a textbook that has been digitized, or has embedded links to external resources. This would be a living, changing, evolving artifact. Regular updates, current curriculum and current news/events should already be part of a kid’s education and to have a textbook that does it all would be awesome. You’re correct in stating that it would save millions on correcting mistakes or updating print books, however, the initial costs of setting live books up and rolling them out would still be pretty high – we’ll consider it an investment for future pay-off. I have mentioned something similar in my A3 with regards to interactive resources with the help of AI that sources relevant and current information, include embedded videos, audio, demos, experiments, virtual labs, etc. Also QR codes next to images or other artifacts to link to external sources. However, I had not considered games and weather or other apps embedded within the resource – this is also a great idea! Accessing social media is something I am a little hesitant about – with teacher regulations and all that – but then again it could be a different educational discussion forum that links users globally regardless, as a virtue of the live textbook itself.
Do you see this resource as more useful for a particular grade level or subject area? Or do you think it could be useful for any and every student regardless? How do you foresee access and bridging the digital divide when it comes to live books?
Great work!
Thank you Binal! I do like the idea of using QR codes. I understand the hesitation with social media, however I do believe that we need to meet the students where they are at some times. However, even something that is more embedded so that the social media directly corresponds with the textbook, but is very similar to the most used social media platforms. This way students would have a way to interact with one another.
As for your initial question, when I went into this, I was thinking about middle school social studies, however as I thought about it, then I started to think about science and math as well. So much is being discovered in regards to science that those textbooks are probably outdated the quickest. Even something like “Evidence and Investigation” a grade 6 science unit here in Alberta has changed so much. Then when Tyler commented, I started to think about my own children (grade 5 and 2) and how much their learning could be influenced. I guess this answers your next question, that it would be useful for all grades and all subjects.
Your final question is excellent, and I think that it is something that we all need to be cognizant of when thinking about technology and education. However, I do believe that the governments need to also be thinking of this, especially when there are so many technology components within different curriculums. I remember several years ago, probably about ten years ago, and I had grade 9 students argue that wifi access should be included within the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Thanks for your thoughtful response, Michael. Glad you brought up science – with technology the scope of R&D and just advancement of science in general is exponentially increasing. Being able to incorporate this into lessons, bringing current, cutting-edge research into discussion in classrooms everyday is invaluable in my opinion.
That’s awesome about your grade 9s. I do agree that the governments should be thinking of access and equity but they often need the extra push. It is the young ones of today who will make a better world for tomorrow, and technology will be central to that. With resources like the one you’ve described we can help them develop their own voices by exposing them to the world of today instead of the publication year of their printed textbook.
Hi Michael, thanks for sharing your A3. I really enjoyed listening to your podcast creation. You are brave! I have always wanted to do a podcast but I really hate the sound of my voice. I am very interested in the “live textbook” idea. This would be game changer for sure! I really liked hearing about all the aspects that make the idea of these books more important than before! Being updated, so we wouldn’t have to waste money on buying new books. The inclusion of videos and live pictures would be fantastic especially in the primary world, as well as the sounds of animals you mentioned. This would be a gift for primary educators. The one thing that really got me excited was the camera aspect that would turn the area into AR. That would be amazing. As much as I would prefer the Harry Potter “live textbooks” I would settle for this technology in my classroom. Students would thrive with this technology in their hands. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Tyler! I have thought about this a lot in the past as social studies textbooks are so quickly outdated, especially with the emphasis of current events in some programs now. However as I started to look into this more I started to realize that this could be add to so many other subject areas. As for the podcast, I didn’t mind it, I got a lot more use to my voice with online learning, although I am still not a fan of the videos of myself. I do think a website would have been better in presenting some of my ideas, as I definitely rushed a bit and even took out some of my ideas, but it was a great experience with trying a podcast and I do think they will be getting used more and more in the classroom.
No its all good! I think I excited to try pod casts in the classroom, have you tried any? I am really excited about AR this upcoming year. I have already purchased the Minecraft World that uses AR and I know the kids will love it if we have the schools open. In primary, we don’t have many textbooks we use only picture books. Can you imagine how cool picture books with AR for kids would be?