Unit Three: E Publishing Opportunities

Introduction:

    As technology develops and there is a shift in reading platforms and materials, E-Publishing seems to be newest and even most environmentally friendly option. Although I am still old school and love the feel and smell of paper books, it is not the way of the future. Well actually it's not even the way of the present with Nooks, Kindles, and other e-readers. Although I will always love paper and pen and keep hand written notes current students are no longer required to do this. Because of this I hope to learn and grow in my E-Publishing abilities. There are many environments available that allow for mobile capabilities, instant and appealing formatting and interactive links. I was impressed on how easy it is to build a personal app and how easy it is to distribute created and collected material through social media. 

     For my technological implementation I used Joomag. Please click on this link to view my brochure: https://www.joomag.com/magazine/success-at-phs/M0458128001438377460.

The purpose of this Joomag is to provide the students with written and visual prompts of teacher expectations. When students are held to high standards they are able to produce better work and not try to see how little they can do but instead how far the can reach. I will be providing a link to this e-publishing within group, blended and flipped lessons in order to foster a sense of collegiality, and independence as well. Please leave a comment and let me know how I could improve this product, thanks.

Analysis of Technology Development Environment

            For the Technology Implementation section of this unit we were to focus on digital publishing that are available on Web, Mobile and Social Environments. I actually found this assignment to be not difficult but I had a hard time with the various environment links provided. One actually downloaded a number of other toolbars and apps that I now have to remove. I also some found were very creative but not suitable for my environment as High School teacher. Below is my analysis of the various environments:  

• issuu Digital Publishing Product: http://issuu.com/

I really liked the polished look of this website and how many help articles and help community are part of this platform. Yet, it does require PDFs to be previously created and I had not yet created these and wanted control to change text within the published document as I built it. Yet, it is definitely an option for the future.

• Joomag: https://www.joomag.com/

This is the environment I decided to use because it had the most options and built in templates. It also had quick video tutorials that helped me get started. It also works like Photoshop and Fireworks, two other programs I am currently learning to use. I liked the ability to upload my own pictures and images. I will discuss this product a bit more in my reflection.

• CoverPage: https://www.coverpageapp.com/

            This looks like an amazing environment. It is more of an app building platform that has     definite visual and user-friendly appeal. Yet it requires quite a bit of forethought and at      least a story board or bubble map of some kind to be created with links to resources. It    also requires everything to be uploaded in JPEG or PDF for which I haven’t completely done as of yet. I will definitely be looking at this in the future because I can see creating an app that students can download that would include links to lesson documents, interactive components, audio and visual material to support flipped and blended learning type lessons.

• Scoop.it!: http://www.scoop.it/

I was unable to understand this website. I was basically “scooping up” items, articles, images, videos, and other types of multimedia into a page and then share it with others. After several attempts I realized that I would have had to have my own sources uploaded and ready and then scoop them up. At this point I don’t see myself using this since I hope to use my personal website. It also is hard to control what my students could access some things being not age appropriate and too high for their learning level. This is not a product I would use in the future.

• Paper.li: http://paper.li/

This product is very much like Scoop it! I would read others Paper.li’s but would not create on because I would have to watch, read or listen to all content and could put my students in danger of material not suited for them. It looks fun but not something I would use as an educator.

• Yudu: http://www.yudu.com/

This is another app creator tool. It seems fairly easy to use. As I previously mentioned this seems like a great idea to build classroom community and a connection with parents. Yet at this point it seems rather time consuming and not something I can build quickly.

• ePublish: http://epublish4me.com/

This environment is amazing and I have bookmarked it for future use. I like the ability to add interactive and other media sources. I also like that it is available on all devices including phones, tablets, desktops and laptops. I would like to see if this could turn into a project for an advanced class. They could produce a class magazine that incorporates completed projects that emphasize critical thinking skills and then other students would add and contribute content as well. My curiosity is piqued and I have a few lesson plan ideas bottled up after visiting this site.