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Ebooks and Education
1/08/2008
Author :
Graeme Daniel
"For
reliable transmission of knowledge across time and cultures, which
technology, that of the medieval book or that of computer media, is
more advanced?" (BookNews : July 19, 2007)
Readers' preferences in the ebooks / real books debate have always been strongly polarised. Ebook proponents
are fascinated by a technology which delivers so much text and
supporting content in such small packages - floppy disks, CDs, DVDs,
memory cards and USB flash drives; they are much taken by the number of
books they can carry around with them, and by the breadth of choice
offered by a plethora of venues, many offering free downloads; some
also make much of their reading devices, often displaying them as
lifestyle statements.
On
the other hand, conservative book-lovers love real books - the smell of
a new book, the feel of holding a book, handling real paper, the
convenience of not requiring electricity or a technological interface;
they prize the handiness of being able to curl up in bed with a good
book, and the simplicity of being able to drop it on the floor when
they are finished. A visit to the library or a bookshop is a chance to
enjoy the beauty of well-designed books.
In
educational environments, books have long played a central role, though
the relativities are changing, with an increasing reliance on ICT-based
learning resources - see for example Mark Treadwell's graphic
explanation of the decline of the book-based education paradigm in The Upper Limit Hypothesis.
In this edition of WWWTools for Education we look at the burgeoning impact of ebooks in our educational environments.
Terminology.
Readers
will soon discover that meanings and spellings of e-book / ebook are
still open to the vicissitudes of opinion and personal preference:
Wikipedia honours both spelling variants, and describes the E-book as: 'the
digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book ... a
specialised type of e-text... Some books exist only in electronic form.' The article also covers History, Formats, Advantages, Disadvantages, and Production, and includes the customary supplementary notes and references.
In What Is an eBook? (wiseGEEK, 2008), Tricia Ellis-Christensen describes an eBook as 'an electronic version of a previously published and printed book.' Contains interesting comments for both writers and readers.
Google lists 6 Definitions of Ebook on the Web
Background Reading.
All about eBooks (African American Literature Book Club, 2000) - an extensive article providing an historical perspective.
Free Books, Articles, Essays And Informational Documents on the Web (Mark Dykeman / Bugle Observer: April 22, 2008) - introduces a few useful sources to get you started with some free reading: Project Gutenberg ,
Google Book Search , Free-eBooks.net , ManyBooks.net , and Getfreeebooks.com
An Introduction to eBooks and eBook Readers (electricstory: March 18, 2006) - Bob Kruger's informative personal perspective.
Trends.
2005
E-Books Still Have Hard Time Catching On (Mark Evans / Financial Post: June 28, 2006 ) - sales of ebooks grew by 44% in the United States in 2005, accounting for less than 1% of total book sales.
2006 - 2007
S. Korean E-Book Market Forecast to Grow Over Threefold in 2006 (2007?) (Asia Pulse: February
07, 2007)
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March/April 2008) - a core reading for this topic. Under Recent E-Book Developments:
- Figure 1 shows
US ebook sales in 2006 (trade books) about double 2005 figures. Higher
growth in ebook sales per capita elsewhere - in Japan, Korea, China and
Europe in particular.
- Project Tomorrow figures indicate that 22% of grades 6–12 students use e-textbooks, and 39% expect e-textbooks to be common in the future.
- Table 2. Student and Faculty Preferences for P-books Versus E-Books compares
student and faculty preferences for using ebooks versus paper books for
conducting research, as a textbook, and for leisure reading. 24.5% of
students prefer ebooks for research, 18.5% prefer etextbooks, but only
2.6% favour ebooks for leisure reading.
2008
Screen Savers (The Economist: May 24, 2007) - Japanese trend: novels delivered to mobile phones.
Software: Which Ebook Format?
Because of the diversity of available software / hardware combinations, suppliers offer a multiplicity of formats - eBook Sale
lists 15 different electronic formats: acrobat (.pdf), microsoft word
(.doc), plain text (.txt), web browser (.html), microsoft reader
(.lit), sony reader (.lrf), sony librie (.lrf), mobipocket (.prc),
palm (.pdb), rocket (.rb), hiebook (.kml), plucker (.prc), isilo
(.pdb), fictionbook (.fb2), psion (.tcr)
Sections differentiating eBook formats are to be found in:
10 Reasons Why PDF Is the Right Format for Ebooks in Education (Keybookshop Blog: March 23, 2008).
See also the video introduction to Bob Conolly's book 'Dynamic Media', promoting PDF.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March / April 2008) has an up-to-date section on New E-Reader Software and Devices.
Hardware.
PORTABLE STORAGE SOLUTIONS:
These provide simple solutions for reading ebooks via a variety of common devices - Lights... Digital Camera... ACTIONS! (Peter iNova / Graphics Management Press, 2008) is supplied either on a USB Flash Drive or on a CD - certainly eliminates download problems. More detail on this ebook here
iPHONE:
DEDICATED EBOOK READING DEVICES:
Some devices may be designated 'dedicated', though to greater or lesser degrees they tend to incorporate features unrelated to the main game:
Two popular Sony devices - the Sony Reader (PRS505) , and the Sony LIBRIé EBR-1000EP (mainly for the Japanese market).
Isabella Snow's eBook Readers - A Comparison of eBook Software (HubPages 76) briefly reviews Sony Reader, the iLiad, and iRiver’s E-BOOk Reader (further information from Ryan Block at engadget )
... and then there's...
KINDLE: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Amazon Books) - Product Description, Video Demonstration,
Technical Details, customer reviews. The considerable generally enthusiastic Webwide comment has included:
Cover Story: The Future of Reading (Steven Levy / Newsweek:
November 26, 2007) - Amazon's Jeff Bezos on books, ebooks, and the
Amazon Kindle. This thoroughly entertaining and informative piece
compares Kindle with earlier readers (Sony Reader, Rocket eBook)
and delineates new unique features deriving from Kindle's 24/7 wireless
connectivity - ordering / downloading ebooks; subscribing to
newspapers, magazines, blogs; Internet search; email; read Word
documents, PDF files. Will this first 'always-on book ... transform the discovery process for readers.'?
LAPTOPS:
any small computer with appropriate software and adequate input
facilities (e.g., Internet; floppy, CD or DVD drives; USB port) may
serve as an ebook reader. Some likely contenders:
- The Eee PC 900(ASUS) - as reviewed by Rory Reid (ZDNet Australia). The device has now been released in Australia - see Asus Launches 8.9-inch Eee PC, Windows Only for Retail Chains(Chris Nicholls / current.com.au: May 08, 2008)
- The Smallest Laptop - Sony VAIO UX (Tim Wang's eLearning Blog: July 16, 2006)
- The Thinnest Laptop – Apple MacBook Air (Tim Wang's eLearning Blog: January 15, 2008)
- The OLPC XO-1 (Wikipedia) - developed by the One Laptop per Child organisation to be distributed to children in developing countries. Further to the purpose, see David Rothman's E
As a Bridge: How E-libraries and the right E-book Devices Could Bring
Nations, Socioeconomic Classes and Generations Closer Together (TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home: March 14, 2008)
- Classmate PC (Wikipedia) - formerly known as Eduwise, is Intel's commercial answer to the OLPC's XO. See also Waterproof Linux Laptop - Classmate PC Specs Here (Zara Baxter / Australian PC Authority:
AprIL 03, 2008) - Optima provides Classmate PCs for Australian
schools; look for the retail launch of the second generation soon.
- A useful adjunct may be The Lightbook: a $20 eBook Reader (Martin Woodhouse / One Laptop Per Child News: December 20, 2007) - not a computer, but a solar powered ebook reading device using Illumination software. Martin Woodhouse's presentation puts the case for the Lightbook / Illumination combination . See also comment from Stephen Downes at Stephen's Web .
Ebooks: Pros and Cons.
E-book (Wikipedia) outlines Advantages, Disadvantages.
Love a Tree, Read an (e)Book (Lisa L. / gather: April 10, 2008) - environmentally sound consumer choices.
Affordable and 'Green' eBooks May Be Problematic for Classes; Online Use Not Always Reliable (Ivette Figueroa / The Hurricane Online: April 21, 2008) - cost, copyright, connectivity. Lists comparative prices (Spring 2008).
Textbooks or E-Books? (Leonard Low / Mobile Learning: August 24, 2007) - emphasis on portability.
eBooks – Costs and Benefits to Academic and Research Libraries
(Rita A. Renner) - advantages in terms of access, breadth of coverage,
updates, storage requirements, maintenance costs, and staffing time.
Cites figures from a study by Attfield Dykstra & Partners /
Springer (2007) regarding library eBook adoption and usage.
About eBooks (ebookmall) - lists features that paper books lack.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March/April 2008) - copyright, form factor and usability, display issues, epaper.
Ebooks in Education.
E-Book FAQs (Inspiring Teachers)
7 Things You Should Know About E-Books (EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, 2006) - follows the format for this series: Scenario;
What is it? Who’s doing it? How does it work? Why is it significant?
What are the downsides? Where is it going? Implications for teaching
and learning?
Technology and Reading - eBooks in Education (Terence and Catherine Cavanaugh) - the premier website for this topic. Recommends MS Reader as a format fostering high interactivity. Sections are:
- Online eBook Libraries - a huge directory of free online libraries.
- Florida Public School Recommended Reading List with links to free downloads.
- Effective Reading Strategies applied to eBooks.
- Reading Difficulty and Reading Education
- Reading Strategies
- Additional Reading Supports
- Classroom/Lesson Ideas
-
eBooks - History; News; Platforms; Features; Accommodations (special
needs,ESL/ESOL; Samples; Higher Education; Digital Big Books; Creating
PowerPoint EBooks; Technology Enhanced Literature Circles; Booktalking
Tech: Book Trading; Online Book Cataloging.
In K-12.
eBooks in Schools (Gigi /
HubPages 58) - describes a test program using Sony eBooks at Stamford's
Bi-Cultural Day School
Dinosaur Tracking
(Terence & Cathy Cavanaugh, March 06, 2008) - activities for
understanding and interpretating dinosaur tracks. Under construction,
but much useful material here; see the Table of Contents for detail.
TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - promotes the establishment of a national Digital Library System, and accessible devices for reading ebooks. For a case in point, see Useful Lessons from the South Side of Chicago (David Rothman, 2001) - the St. Elizabeth's Experiment.
SAWS e-Books teach young children important water lessons .
Microsoft's Kid’s Corner (Beginner Developer Learning Center) features ebook lessons on programming.
Higher Education.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review:
March/April 2008) - recent developments, adoption barriers, standards
for portability and IP protection, software and devices, cultural
acceptance, significance for higher education, key questions, notes.
eBooks in Higher Education
(Terence & Cathy Cavanaugh, , 2008) - tabulates advantages and
disadvantages, lists software programs for creating ebooks, ideas for
using ebooks in teaching. A More Resources list covers eTextbooks, eBook Research, eBooks for Faculty, and Retail Sources for eBooks.
Next Chapter for E-Books (Inside Higher Ed:
April 09, 2008) - under the State University of New York Press's
'Direct Text' program, electronic copies of front-list hardcover books
will be made available to faculty and students for $20, with printing
or online access options - emphasis on texts in Philosophy, Political
Science and Asian Studies
Examples of eTextbooks.
An Electronic Textbook on Instructional Technology (Irene Chen, 2003?) - one of the earlier etextbooks: note the clean uncluttered style.
The Elements of Style (William Strunk, Jr.) - listed as part of Writing Resources in the University of Connecticut Libraries' Resources for Education
Learning Theories (Wikibooks) - featured as a quality example. Printable and PDF versions are available.
Student Created Course WikiBook (Education with Technology: March 31, 2007) - describes how undergraduate preservice teachers at Old Dominion University developed a WikiTextbook called Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education
Welcome to Our Wikitechbook (PBwiki, 2008) - a Technology for Educators class develops its own textbook.
Ebooks for Professional Reading.
Instructional Technology/Utilizing Technology for Meaningful Learning (Wikibooks)
Teachers' Toolbox (Wikibooks) - teaching methods.
eBooks about Education (Gigi Reynard) - a great current awareness tool.
eBooks: Education (Digital Book Index) - many free items across 12 pages.
Free Computer Books for Programming, Web Development, Networking, Operating Systems, Admin, etc. (intelligentedu)
Educating the Net Generation (eds. Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Oblinger / EDUCAUSE, 2005)
Learning Spaces (ed. Diana G. Oblinger / EDUCAUSE, 2006)
Psychology: An Introduction (Russell A. Dewey, 2007)
Cognitive Apprenticeship As an Instructional Model (Jennifer Brill et al / Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia)
Developing, Promoting, & Sustaining the Undergraduate Research Experience in Psychology (Society for the Teaching of Psychology)
Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic Practice (Heather Fry et al / Kogan Page)
Learning 2.0 for Associations (Jeff Cobb / Mission to Learn, 2008) - on using blogs, wiki, podcasts, and social networks.
E-Learning Handbook ( Jane Hart / Free E-Learning Books, March 02, 2008) - free ebooks and chapters from printed books.
Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources (OECD, 2007) - a comprehensive overview of the Open Educational Resources phenomenon; challenges for higher education.
162 Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools (eLearning Guild)
834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction (eLearning Guild)
Scaffolding (Lindsay Lipscomb, 2008)
Ebooks for Sale.
Mark Treadwell's "Whatever!" The Conceptual Era & the Evolution of School v2.0 may be downloaded whole or in sections. See also his exceptional range of allied Professional Learning Resources ; in particular, don't miss Building a New "Paradigm": School v2.0 .
Keep an eye out for Mark's 'Whatever Next: The Global Curriculum',
which will be based on a conceptual curriculum: developing units of
work, inquiry learning, core competencies for the new global
curriculum. Should be available for download in June 2008.
Teaching Curriculum Through the Arts (eLibrary)
Increasing Student Learning Through Multimedia Projects (Michael Simkins et al / eBookMall)
Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time (Jane Pollock / ASCD E-Book, 2007)
Education eBook Sub-categories and Authors (Diesel eBooks)
Educational Ebook Resources at Keybookshop
Ebooks - 102,000 commercially available popular, professional and academic ebooks.
Library Services.
Online eBook Libraries for Mobile Learning (Leonard Low / Mobile Learning: February 08, 2007) - ebooks at the ACT Public Library
Research Guide: Education Resources (comp. Laura Raccagni / University of Connecticut Libraries)
KnowBetter Lending Library - join and log in to borrow ebooks.
Search Engines
ebooksearchr
eBook Search Engines (see-search.com)
Ebook Collections.
Top 10 Best Places to Get Free Books Part 1 and Part 2 (Friedbeef's Tech)
Project Gutenberg - the first producer of free ebooks; over 25,000 free books. See Also Project Gutenberg of Australia
The Internet Classics Archive (Daniel C. Stevenson) - 441 mostly Greco-Roman works, some Chinese and Persian.
Free Computer Books, Tutorials & Lecture Notes (FreeComputerBooks.com) e.g., A Companion to Digital Humanities (ed. Susan Schreibman et al / Oxford: Blackwell, 2004)
Librivox - free audiobooks and podcasts.
Wikibooks: Featured Books - the best of Wikibooks.
Open-Access Text Archive (Internet Archive) - 407,231 items
Pitt Latin American Series (University of Pittsburgh Press) - 56 works.
Abraham Lincoln Books (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Open Content
Alliance) - 26 items.
Ebooks on Bookyards - categories list. See also Related External Links to 1,159 other collections.
Education Ebooks (elibrary)
The World Public Library OLPC eBook Collection (One Laptop Per Child) - popular children's books.
Podiobooks.com - lots of free audiobooks.
Baen Free Books (Baen Free Library) - science fiction and fantasy novels.
Index of /books (dwalin.ru) - plain text fiction files, many modern authors, many Russian texts.
Wowio - some free, some not.
Free eBooks for Your PDA, iPod, or eBook Reader (manybooks.net) - 20,507 free eBooks
Café Madras.com - books for mobile devices. Large collection, fast download.
eBook Libraries for Your Cell Phone (Terence and Catherine Cavanaugh)
Future.
The Future of eBooks (David Chisnall / informIT: April 25, 2008) - size, portability, usability, readability; colour, cost, newspaper comparisons, lending models.
Richard Baraniuk: Goodbye, Textbooks; Hello, Open-Source Learning (TED Talks: August, 2006) - Richard Baraniuk on Connexions, a system that lets teachers share digital course materials, modify them and give them to students free.
Third Annual World eBook Fair: July 4th to August 4th 2008 - The Million Book Project's more than 1.5 million books are online at The Universal Digital Library ; all will be freely accessible during July.
BOOKS.
The Digital Reader: Using eBooks in K-12 Education (Terence W. Cavanaugh / ISTE; Tch edition, 2005)
Paperback: $37.95
ISBN-10: 1564842215
ISBN-13: 978-1564842213
- see also the publisher's description at ISTE
Literature Circles through Technology (Terence W. Cavanaugh / Linworth Publishing, 2006)
Paperback: $26.37
ISBN-10: 1586832034
ISBN-13: 978-1586832032
Mark Treadwell's "Whatever!" The Conceptual Era & the Evolution of School v2.0
may be downloaded whole or in sections, or bought as a CD or as a
printed book, which is priced at $NZ71.07 (converts to $US54.68 or
$AU57.89)
"For
reliable transmission of knowledge across time and cultures, which
technology, that of the medieval book or that of computer media, is
more advanced?" (BookNews : July 19, 2007)
Readers' preferences in the ebooks / real books debate have always been strongly polarised. Ebook proponents
are fascinated by a technology which delivers so much text and
supporting content in such small packages - floppy disks, CDs, DVDs,
memory cards and USB flash drives; they are much taken by the number of
books they can carry around with them, and by the breadth of choice
offered by a plethora of venues, many offering free downloads; some
also make much of their reading devices, often displaying them as
lifestyle statements.
On
the other hand, conservative book-lovers love real books - the smell of
a new book, the feel of holding a book, handling real paper, the
convenience of not requiring electricity or a technological interface;
they prize the handiness of being able to curl up in bed with a good
book, and the simplicity of being able to drop it on the floor when
they are finished. A visit to the library or a bookshop is a chance to
enjoy the beauty of well-designed books.
In
educational environments, books have long played a central role, though
the relativities are changing, with an increasing reliance on ICT-based
learning resources - see for example Mark Treadwell's graphic
explanation of the decline of the book-based education paradigm in The Upper Limit Hypothesis.
In this edition of WWWTools for Education we look at the burgeoning impact of ebooks in our educational environments.
Terminology.
Readers
will soon discover that meanings and spellings of e-book / ebook are
still open to the vicissitudes of opinion and personal preference:
Wikipedia honours both spelling variants, and describes the E-book as: 'the
digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book ... a
specialised type of e-text... Some books exist only in electronic form.' The article also covers History, Formats, Advantages, Disadvantages, and Production, and includes the customary supplementary notes and references.
In What Is an eBook? (wiseGEEK, 2008), Tricia Ellis-Christensen describes an eBook as 'an electronic version of a previously published and printed book.' Contains interesting comments for both writers and readers.
Google lists 6 Definitions of Ebook on the Web
Background Reading.
All about eBooks (African American Literature Book Club, 2000) - an extensive article providing an historical perspective.
Free Books, Articles, Essays And Informational Documents on the Web (Mark Dykeman / Bugle Observer: April 22, 2008) - introduces a few useful sources to get you started with some free reading: Project Gutenberg ,
Google Book Search , Free-eBooks.net , ManyBooks.net , and Getfreeebooks.com
An Introduction to eBooks and eBook Readers (electricstory: March 18, 2006) - Bob Kruger's informative personal perspective.
Trends.
2005
E-Books Still Have Hard Time Catching On (Mark Evans / Financial Post: June 28, 2006 ) - sales of ebooks grew by 44% in the United States in 2005, accounting for less than 1% of total book sales.
2006 - 2007
S. Korean E-Book Market Forecast to Grow Over Threefold in 2006 (2007?) (Asia Pulse: February
07, 2007)
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March/April 2008) - a core reading for this topic. Under Recent E-Book Developments:
- Figure 1 shows
US ebook sales in 2006 (trade books) about double 2005 figures. Higher
growth in ebook sales per capita elsewhere - in Japan, Korea, China and
Europe in particular.
- Project Tomorrow figures indicate that 22% of grades 6–12 students use e-textbooks, and 39% expect e-textbooks to be common in the future.
- Table 2. Student and Faculty Preferences for P-books Versus E-Books compares
student and faculty preferences for using ebooks versus paper books for
conducting research, as a textbook, and for leisure reading. 24.5% of
students prefer ebooks for research, 18.5% prefer etextbooks, but only
2.6% favour ebooks for leisure reading.
2008
Screen Savers (The Economist: May 24, 2007) - Japanese trend: novels delivered to mobile phones.
Software: Which Ebook Format?
Because of the diversity of available software / hardware combinations, suppliers offer a multiplicity of formats - eBook Sale
lists 15 different electronic formats: acrobat (.pdf), microsoft word
(.doc), plain text (.txt), web browser (.html), microsoft reader
(.lit), sony reader (.lrf), sony librie (.lrf), mobipocket (.prc),
palm (.pdb), rocket (.rb), hiebook (.kml), plucker (.prc), isilo
(.pdb), fictionbook (.fb2), psion (.tcr)
Sections differentiating eBook formats are to be found in:
10 Reasons Why PDF Is the Right Format for Ebooks in Education (Keybookshop Blog: March 23, 2008).
See also the video introduction to Bob Conolly's book 'Dynamic Media', promoting PDF.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March / April 2008) has an up-to-date section on New E-Reader Software and Devices.
Hardware.
PORTABLE STORAGE SOLUTIONS:
These provide simple solutions for reading ebooks via a variety of common devices - Lights... Digital Camera... ACTIONS! (Peter iNova / Graphics Management Press, 2008) is supplied either on a USB Flash Drive or on a CD - certainly eliminates download problems. More detail on this ebook here
iPHONE:
DEDICATED EBOOK READING DEVICES:
Some devices may be designated 'dedicated', though to greater or lesser degrees they tend to incorporate features unrelated to the main game:
Two popular Sony devices - the Sony Reader (PRS505) , and the Sony LIBRIé EBR-1000EP (mainly for the Japanese market).
Isabella Snow's eBook Readers - A Comparison of eBook Software (HubPages 76) briefly reviews Sony Reader, the iLiad, and iRiver’s E-BOOk Reader (further information from Ryan Block at engadget )
... and then there's...
KINDLE: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Amazon Books) - Product Description, Video Demonstration,
Technical Details, customer reviews. The considerable generally enthusiastic Webwide comment has included:
Cover Story: The Future of Reading (Steven Levy / Newsweek:
November 26, 2007) - Amazon's Jeff Bezos on books, ebooks, and the
Amazon Kindle. This thoroughly entertaining and informative piece
compares Kindle with earlier readers (Sony Reader, Rocket eBook)
and delineates new unique features deriving from Kindle's 24/7 wireless
connectivity - ordering / downloading ebooks; subscribing to
newspapers, magazines, blogs; Internet search; email; read Word
documents, PDF files. Will this first 'always-on book ... transform the discovery process for readers.'?
LAPTOPS:
any small computer with appropriate software and adequate input
facilities (e.g., Internet; floppy, CD or DVD drives; USB port) may
serve as an ebook reader. Some likely contenders:
- The Eee PC 900(ASUS) - as reviewed by Rory Reid (ZDNet Australia). The device has now been released in Australia - see Asus Launches 8.9-inch Eee PC, Windows Only for Retail Chains(Chris Nicholls / current.com.au: May 08, 2008)
- The Smallest Laptop - Sony VAIO UX (Tim Wang's eLearning Blog: July 16, 2006)
- The Thinnest Laptop – Apple MacBook Air (Tim Wang's eLearning Blog: January 15, 2008)
- The OLPC XO-1 (Wikipedia) - developed by the One Laptop per Child organisation to be distributed to children in developing countries. Further to the purpose, see David Rothman's E
As a Bridge: How E-libraries and the right E-book Devices Could Bring
Nations, Socioeconomic Classes and Generations Closer Together (TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home: March 14, 2008)
- Classmate PC (Wikipedia) - formerly known as Eduwise, is Intel's commercial answer to the OLPC's XO. See also Waterproof Linux Laptop - Classmate PC Specs Here (Zara Baxter / Australian PC Authority:
AprIL 03, 2008) - Optima provides Classmate PCs for Australian
schools; look for the retail launch of the second generation soon.
- A useful adjunct may be The Lightbook: a $20 eBook Reader (Martin Woodhouse / One Laptop Per Child News: December 20, 2007) - not a computer, but a solar powered ebook reading device using Illumination software. Martin Woodhouse's presentation puts the case for the Lightbook / Illumination combination . See also comment from Stephen Downes at Stephen's Web .
Ebooks: Pros and Cons.
E-book (Wikipedia) outlines Advantages, Disadvantages.
Love a Tree, Read an (e)Book (Lisa L. / gather: April 10, 2008) - environmentally sound consumer choices.
Affordable and 'Green' eBooks May Be Problematic for Classes; Online Use Not Always Reliable (Ivette Figueroa / The Hurricane Online: April 21, 2008) - cost, copyright, connectivity. Lists comparative prices (Spring 2008).
Textbooks or E-Books? (Leonard Low / Mobile Learning: August 24, 2007) - emphasis on portability.
eBooks – Costs and Benefits to Academic and Research Libraries
(Rita A. Renner) - advantages in terms of access, breadth of coverage,
updates, storage requirements, maintenance costs, and staffing time.
Cites figures from a study by Attfield Dykstra & Partners /
Springer (2007) regarding library eBook adoption and usage.
About eBooks (ebookmall) - lists features that paper books lack.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March/April 2008) - copyright, form factor and usability, display issues, epaper.
Ebooks in Education.
E-Book FAQs (Inspiring Teachers)
7 Things You Should Know About E-Books (EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, 2006) - follows the format for this series: Scenario;
What is it? Who’s doing it? How does it work? Why is it significant?
What are the downsides? Where is it going? Implications for teaching
and learning?
Technology and Reading - eBooks in Education (Terence and Catherine Cavanaugh) - the premier website for this topic. Recommends MS Reader as a format fostering high interactivity. Sections are:
- Online eBook Libraries - a huge directory of free online libraries.
- Florida Public School Recommended Reading List with links to free downloads.
- Effective Reading Strategies applied to eBooks.
- Reading Difficulty and Reading Education
- Reading Strategies
- Additional Reading Supports
- Classroom/Lesson Ideas
-
eBooks - History; News; Platforms; Features; Accommodations (special
needs,ESL/ESOL; Samples; Higher Education; Digital Big Books; Creating
PowerPoint EBooks; Technology Enhanced Literature Circles; Booktalking
Tech: Book Trading; Online Book Cataloging.
In K-12.
eBooks in Schools (Gigi /
HubPages 58) - describes a test program using Sony eBooks at Stamford's
Bi-Cultural Day School
Dinosaur Tracking
(Terence & Cathy Cavanaugh, March 06, 2008) - activities for
understanding and interpretating dinosaur tracks. Under construction,
but much useful material here; see the Table of Contents for detail.
TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - promotes the establishment of a national Digital Library System, and accessible devices for reading ebooks. For a case in point, see Useful Lessons from the South Side of Chicago (David Rothman, 2001) - the St. Elizabeth's Experiment.
SAWS e-Books teach young children important water lessons .
Microsoft's Kid’s Corner (Beginner Developer Learning Center) features ebook lessons on programming.
Higher Education.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review:
March/April 2008) - recent developments, adoption barriers, standards
for portability and IP protection, software and devices, cultural
acceptance, significance for higher education, key questions, notes.
eBooks in Higher Education
(Terence & Cathy Cavanaugh, , 2008) - tabulates advantages and
disadvantages, lists software programs for creating ebooks, ideas for
using ebooks in teaching. A More Resources list covers eTextbooks, eBook Research, eBooks for Faculty, and Retail Sources for eBooks.
Next Chapter for E-Books (Inside Higher Ed:
April 09, 2008) - under the State University of New York Press's
'Direct Text' program, electronic copies of front-list hardcover books
will be made available to faculty and students for $20, with printing
or online access options - emphasis on texts in Philosophy, Political
Science and Asian Studies
Examples of eTextbooks.
An Electronic Textbook on Instructional Technology (Irene Chen, 2003?) - one of the earlier etextbooks: note the clean uncluttered style.
The Elements of Style (William Strunk, Jr.) - listed as part of Writing Resources in the University of Connecticut Libraries' Resources for Education
Learning Theories (Wikibooks) - featured as a quality example. Printable and PDF versions are available.
Student Created Course WikiBook (Education with Technology: March 31, 2007) - describes how undergraduate preservice teachers at Old Dominion University developed a WikiTextbook called Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education
Welcome to Our Wikitechbook (PBwiki, 2008) - a Technology for Educators class develops its own textbook.
Ebooks for Professional Reading.
Instructional Technology/Utilizing Technology for Meaningful Learning (Wikibooks)
Teachers' Toolbox (Wikibooks) - teaching methods.
eBooks about Education (Gigi Reynard) - a great current awareness tool.
eBooks: Education (Digital Book Index) - many free items across 12 pages.
Free Computer Books for Programming, Web Development, Networking, Operating Systems, Admin, etc. (intelligentedu)
Educating the Net Generation (eds. Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Oblinger / EDUCAUSE, 2005)
Learning Spaces (ed. Diana G. Oblinger / EDUCAUSE, 2006)
Psychology: An Introduction (Russell A. Dewey, 2007)
Cognitive Apprenticeship As an Instructional Model (Jennifer Brill et al / Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia)
Developing, Promoting, & Sustaining the Undergraduate Research Experience in Psychology (Society for the Teaching of Psychology)
Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic Practice (Heather Fry et al / Kogan Page)
Learning 2.0 for Associations (Jeff Cobb / Mission to Learn, 2008) - on using blogs, wiki, podcasts, and social networks.
E-Learning Handbook ( Jane Hart / Free E-Learning Books, March 02, 2008) - free ebooks and chapters from printed books.
Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources (OECD, 2007) - a comprehensive overview of the Open Educational Resources phenomenon; challenges for higher education.
162 Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools (eLearning Guild)
834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction (eLearning Guild)
Scaffolding (Lindsay Lipscomb, 2008)
Ebooks for Sale.
Mark Treadwell's "Whatever!" The Conceptual Era & the Evolution of School v2.0 may be downloaded whole or in sections. See also his exceptional range of allied Professional Learning Resources ; in particular, don't miss Building a New "Paradigm": School v2.0 .
Keep an eye out for Mark's 'Whatever Next: The Global Curriculum',
which will be based on a conceptual curriculum: developing units of
work, inquiry learning, core competencies for the new global
curriculum. Should be available for download in June 2008.
Teaching Curriculum Through the Arts (eLibrary)
Increasing Student Learning Through Multimedia Projects (Michael Simkins et al / eBookMall)
Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time (Jane Pollock / ASCD E-Book, 2007)
Education eBook Sub-categories and Authors (Diesel eBooks)
Educational Ebook Resources at Keybookshop
Ebooks - 102,000 commercially available popular, professional and academic ebooks.
Library Services.
Online eBook Libraries for Mobile Learning (Leonard Low / Mobile Learning: February 08, 2007) - ebooks at the ACT Public Library
Research Guide: Education Resources (comp. Laura Raccagni / University of Connecticut Libraries)
KnowBetter Lending Library - join and log in to borrow ebooks.
Search Engines
ebooksearchr
eBook Search Engines (see-search.com)
Ebook Collections.
Top 10 Best Places to Get Free Books Part 1 and Part 2 (Friedbeef's Tech)
Project Gutenberg - the first producer of free ebooks; over 25,000 free books. See Also Project Gutenberg of Australia
The Internet Classics Archive (Daniel C. Stevenson) - 441 mostly Greco-Roman works, some Chinese and Persian.
Free Computer Books, Tutorials & Lecture Notes (FreeComputerBooks.com) e.g., A Companion to Digital Humanities (ed. Susan Schreibman et al / Oxford: Blackwell, 2004)
Librivox - free audiobooks and podcasts.
Wikibooks: Featured Books - the best of Wikibooks.
Open-Access Text Archive (Internet Archive) - 407,231 items
Pitt Latin American Series (University of Pittsburgh Press) - 56 works.
Abraham Lincoln Books (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Open Content
Alliance) - 26 items.
Ebooks on Bookyards - categories list. See also Related External Links to 1,159 other collections.
Education Ebooks (elibrary)
The World Public Library OLPC eBook Collection (One Laptop Per Child) - popular children's books.
Podiobooks.com - lots of free audiobooks.
Baen Free Books (Baen Free Library) - science fiction and fantasy novels.
Index of /books (dwalin.ru) - plain text fiction files, many modern authors, many Russian texts.
Wowio - some free, some not.
Free eBooks for Your PDA, iPod, or eBook Reader (manybooks.net) - 20,507 free eBooks
Café Madras.com - books for mobile devices. Large collection, fast download.
eBook Libraries for Your Cell Phone (Terence and Catherine Cavanaugh)
Future.
The Future of eBooks (David Chisnall / informIT: April 25, 2008) - size, portability, usability, readability; colour, cost, newspaper comparisons, lending models.
Richard Baraniuk: Goodbye, Textbooks; Hello, Open-Source Learning (TED Talks: August, 2006) - Richard Baraniuk on Connexions, a system that lets teachers share digital course materials, modify them and give them to students free.
Third Annual World eBook Fair: July 4th to August 4th 2008 - The Million Book Project's more than 1.5 million books are online at The Universal Digital Library ; all will be freely accessible during July.
BOOKS.
The Digital Reader: Using eBooks in K-12 Education (Terence W. Cavanaugh / ISTE; Tch edition, 2005)
Paperback: $37.95
ISBN-10: 1564842215
ISBN-13: 978-1564842213
- see also the publisher's description at ISTE
Literature Circles through Technology (Terence W. Cavanaugh / Linworth Publishing, 2006)
Paperback: $26.37
ISBN-10: 1586832034
ISBN-13: 978-1586832032
Mark Treadwell's "Whatever!" The Conceptual Era & the Evolution of School v2.0
may be downloaded whole or in sections, or bought as a CD or as a
printed book, which is priced at $NZ71.07 (converts to $US54.68 or
$AU57.89)
"For
reliable transmission of knowledge across time and cultures, which
technology, that of the medieval book or that of computer media, is
more advanced?" (BookNews : July 19, 2007)
Readers' preferences in the ebooks / real books debate have always been strongly polarised. Ebook proponents
are fascinated by a technology which delivers so much text and
supporting content in such small packages - floppy disks, CDs, DVDs,
memory cards and USB flash drives; they are much taken by the number of
books they can carry around with them, and by the breadth of choice
offered by a plethora of venues, many offering free downloads; some
also make much of their reading devices, often displaying them as
lifestyle statements.
On
the other hand, conservative book-lovers love real books - the smell of
a new book, the feel of holding a book, handling real paper, the
convenience of not requiring electricity or a technological interface;
they prize the handiness of being able to curl up in bed with a good
book, and the simplicity of being able to drop it on the floor when
they are finished. A visit to the library or a bookshop is a chance to
enjoy the beauty of well-designed books.
In
educational environments, books have long played a central role, though
the relativities are changing, with an increasing reliance on ICT-based
learning resources - see for example Mark Treadwell's graphic
explanation of the decline of the book-based education paradigm in The Upper Limit Hypothesis.
In this edition of WWWTools for Education we look at the burgeoning impact of ebooks in our educational environments.
Terminology.
Readers
will soon discover that meanings and spellings of e-book / ebook are
still open to the vicissitudes of opinion and personal preference:
Wikipedia honours both spelling variants, and describes the E-book as: 'the
digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book ... a
specialised type of e-text... Some books exist only in electronic form.' The article also covers History, Formats, Advantages, Disadvantages, and Production, and includes the customary supplementary notes and references.
In What Is an eBook? (wiseGEEK, 2008), Tricia Ellis-Christensen describes an eBook as 'an electronic version of a previously published and printed book.' Contains interesting comments for both writers and readers.
Google lists 6 Definitions of Ebook on the Web
Background Reading.
All about eBooks (African American Literature Book Club, 2000) - an extensive article providing an historical perspective.
Free Books, Articles, Essays And Informational Documents on the Web (Mark Dykeman / Bugle Observer: April 22, 2008) - introduces a few useful sources to get you started with some free reading: Project Gutenberg ,
Google Book Search , Free-eBooks.net , ManyBooks.net , and Getfreeebooks.com
An Introduction to eBooks and eBook Readers (electricstory: March 18, 2006) - Bob Kruger's informative personal perspective.
Trends.
2005
E-Books Still Have Hard Time Catching On (Mark Evans / Financial Post: June 28, 2006 ) - sales of ebooks grew by 44% in the United States in 2005, accounting for less than 1% of total book sales.
2006 - 2007
S. Korean E-Book Market Forecast to Grow Over Threefold in 2006 (2007?) (Asia Pulse: February
07, 2007)
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March/April 2008) - a core reading for this topic. Under Recent E-Book Developments:
- Figure 1 shows
US ebook sales in 2006 (trade books) about double 2005 figures. Higher
growth in ebook sales per capita elsewhere - in Japan, Korea, China and
Europe in particular.
- Project Tomorrow figures indicate that 22% of grades 6–12 students use e-textbooks, and 39% expect e-textbooks to be common in the future.
- Table 2. Student and Faculty Preferences for P-books Versus E-Books compares
student and faculty preferences for using ebooks versus paper books for
conducting research, as a textbook, and for leisure reading. 24.5% of
students prefer ebooks for research, 18.5% prefer etextbooks, but only
2.6% favour ebooks for leisure reading.
2008
Screen Savers (The Economist: May 24, 2007) - Japanese trend: novels delivered to mobile phones.
Software: Which Ebook Format?
Because of the diversity of available software / hardware combinations, suppliers offer a multiplicity of formats - eBook Sale
lists 15 different electronic formats: acrobat (.pdf), microsoft word
(.doc), plain text (.txt), web browser (.html), microsoft reader
(.lit), sony reader (.lrf), sony librie (.lrf), mobipocket (.prc),
palm (.pdb), rocket (.rb), hiebook (.kml), plucker (.prc), isilo
(.pdb), fictionbook (.fb2), psion (.tcr)
Sections differentiating eBook formats are to be found in:
10 Reasons Why PDF Is the Right Format for Ebooks in Education (Keybookshop Blog: March 23, 2008).
See also the video introduction to Bob Conolly's book 'Dynamic Media', promoting PDF.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March / April 2008) has an up-to-date section on New E-Reader Software and Devices.
Hardware.
PORTABLE STORAGE SOLUTIONS:
These provide simple solutions for reading ebooks via a variety of common devices - Lights... Digital Camera... ACTIONS! (Peter iNova / Graphics Management Press, 2008) is supplied either on a USB Flash Drive or on a CD - certainly eliminates download problems. More detail on this ebook here
iPHONE:
DEDICATED EBOOK READING DEVICES:
Some devices may be designated 'dedicated', though to greater or lesser degrees they tend to incorporate features unrelated to the main game:
Two popular Sony devices - the Sony Reader (PRS505) , and the Sony LIBRIé EBR-1000EP (mainly for the Japanese market).
Isabella Snow's eBook Readers - A Comparison of eBook Software (HubPages 76) briefly reviews Sony Reader, the iLiad, and iRiver’s E-BOOk Reader (further information from Ryan Block at engadget )
... and then there's...
KINDLE: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Amazon Books) - Product Description, Video Demonstration,
Technical Details, customer reviews. The considerable generally enthusiastic Webwide comment has included:
Cover Story: The Future of Reading (Steven Levy / Newsweek:
November 26, 2007) - Amazon's Jeff Bezos on books, ebooks, and the
Amazon Kindle. This thoroughly entertaining and informative piece
compares Kindle with earlier readers (Sony Reader, Rocket eBook)
and delineates new unique features deriving from Kindle's 24/7 wireless
connectivity - ordering / downloading ebooks; subscribing to
newspapers, magazines, blogs; Internet search; email; read Word
documents, PDF files. Will this first 'always-on book ... transform the discovery process for readers.'?
LAPTOPS:
any small computer with appropriate software and adequate input
facilities (e.g., Internet; floppy, CD or DVD drives; USB port) may
serve as an ebook reader. Some likely contenders:
- The Eee PC 900(ASUS) - as reviewed by Rory Reid (ZDNet Australia). The device has now been released in Australia - see Asus Launches 8.9-inch Eee PC, Windows Only for Retail Chains(Chris Nicholls / current.com.au: May 08, 2008)
- The Smallest Laptop - Sony VAIO UX (Tim Wang's eLearning Blog: July 16, 2006)
- The Thinnest Laptop – Apple MacBook Air (Tim Wang's eLearning Blog: January 15, 2008)
- The OLPC XO-1 (Wikipedia) - developed by the One Laptop per Child organisation to be distributed to children in developing countries. Further to the purpose, see David Rothman's E
As a Bridge: How E-libraries and the right E-book Devices Could Bring
Nations, Socioeconomic Classes and Generations Closer Together (TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home: March 14, 2008)
- Classmate PC (Wikipedia) - formerly known as Eduwise, is Intel's commercial answer to the OLPC's XO. See also Waterproof Linux Laptop - Classmate PC Specs Here (Zara Baxter / Australian PC Authority:
AprIL 03, 2008) - Optima provides Classmate PCs for Australian
schools; look for the retail launch of the second generation soon.
- A useful adjunct may be The Lightbook: a $20 eBook Reader (Martin Woodhouse / One Laptop Per Child News: December 20, 2007) - not a computer, but a solar powered ebook reading device using Illumination software. Martin Woodhouse's presentation puts the case for the Lightbook / Illumination combination . See also comment from Stephen Downes at Stephen's Web .
Ebooks: Pros and Cons.
E-book (Wikipedia) outlines Advantages, Disadvantages.
Love a Tree, Read an (e)Book (Lisa L. / gather: April 10, 2008) - environmentally sound consumer choices.
Affordable and 'Green' eBooks May Be Problematic for Classes; Online Use Not Always Reliable (Ivette Figueroa / The Hurricane Online: April 21, 2008) - cost, copyright, connectivity. Lists comparative prices (Spring 2008).
Textbooks or E-Books? (Leonard Low / Mobile Learning: August 24, 2007) - emphasis on portability.
eBooks – Costs and Benefits to Academic and Research Libraries
(Rita A. Renner) - advantages in terms of access, breadth of coverage,
updates, storage requirements, maintenance costs, and staffing time.
Cites figures from a study by Attfield Dykstra & Partners /
Springer (2007) regarding library eBook adoption and usage.
About eBooks (ebookmall) - lists features that paper books lack.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review: March/April 2008) - copyright, form factor and usability, display issues, epaper.
Ebooks in Education.
E-Book FAQs (Inspiring Teachers)
7 Things You Should Know About E-Books (EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, 2006) - follows the format for this series: Scenario;
What is it? Who’s doing it? How does it work? Why is it significant?
What are the downsides? Where is it going? Implications for teaching
and learning?
Technology and Reading - eBooks in Education (Terence and Catherine Cavanaugh) - the premier website for this topic. Recommends MS Reader as a format fostering high interactivity. Sections are:
- Online eBook Libraries - a huge directory of free online libraries.
- Florida Public School Recommended Reading List with links to free downloads.
- Effective Reading Strategies applied to eBooks.
- Reading Difficulty and Reading Education
- Reading Strategies
- Additional Reading Supports
- Classroom/Lesson Ideas
-
eBooks - History; News; Platforms; Features; Accommodations (special
needs,ESL/ESOL; Samples; Higher Education; Digital Big Books; Creating
PowerPoint EBooks; Technology Enhanced Literature Circles; Booktalking
Tech: Book Trading; Online Book Cataloging.
In K-12.
eBooks in Schools (Gigi /
HubPages 58) - describes a test program using Sony eBooks at Stamford's
Bi-Cultural Day School
Dinosaur Tracking
(Terence & Cathy Cavanaugh, March 06, 2008) - activities for
understanding and interpretating dinosaur tracks. Under construction,
but much useful material here; see the Table of Contents for detail.
TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home - promotes the establishment of a national Digital Library System, and accessible devices for reading ebooks. For a case in point, see Useful Lessons from the South Side of Chicago (David Rothman, 2001) - the St. Elizabeth's Experiment.
SAWS e-Books teach young children important water lessons .
Microsoft's Kid’s Corner (Beginner Developer Learning Center) features ebook lessons on programming.
Higher Education.
E-Books in Higher Education: Nearing the End of the Era of Hype? (Mark R. Nelson / EDUCAUSE Review:
March/April 2008) - recent developments, adoption barriers, standards
for portability and IP protection, software and devices, cultural
acceptance, significance for higher education, key questions, notes.
eBooks in Higher Education
(Terence & Cathy Cavanaugh, , 2008) - tabulates advantages and
disadvantages, lists software programs for creating ebooks, ideas for
using ebooks in teaching. A More Resources list covers eTextbooks, eBook Research, eBooks for Faculty, and Retail Sources for eBooks.
Next Chapter for E-Books (Inside Higher Ed:
April 09, 2008) - under the State University of New York Press's
'Direct Text' program, electronic copies of front-list hardcover books
will be made available to faculty and students for $20, with printing
or online access options - emphasis on texts in Philosophy, Political
Science and Asian Studies
Examples of eTextbooks.
An Electronic Textbook on Instructional Technology (Irene Chen, 2003?) - one of the earlier etextbooks: note the clean uncluttered style.
The Elements of Style (William Strunk, Jr.) - listed as part of Writing Resources in the University of Connecticut Libraries' Resources for Education
Learning Theories (Wikibooks) - featured as a quality example. Printable and PDF versions are available.
Student Created Course WikiBook (Education with Technology: March 31, 2007) - describes how undergraduate preservice teachers at Old Dominion University developed a WikiTextbook called Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education
Welcome to Our Wikitechbook (PBwiki, 2008) - a Technology for Educators class develops its own textbook.
Ebooks for Professional Reading.
Instructional Technology/Utilizing Technology for Meaningful Learning (Wikibooks)
Teachers' Toolbox (Wikibooks) - teaching methods.
eBooks about Education (Gigi Reynard) - a great current awareness tool.
eBooks: Education (Digital Book Index) - many free items across 12 pages.
Free Computer Books for Programming, Web Development, Networking, Operating Systems, Admin, etc. (intelligentedu)
Educating the Net Generation (eds. Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Oblinger / EDUCAUSE, 2005)
Learning Spaces (ed. Diana G. Oblinger / EDUCAUSE, 2006)
Psychology: An Introduction (Russell A. Dewey, 2007)
Cognitive Apprenticeship As an Instructional Model (Jennifer Brill et al / Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia)
Developing, Promoting, & Sustaining the Undergraduate Research Experience in Psychology (Society for the Teaching of Psychology)
Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic Practice (Heather Fry et al / Kogan Page)
Learning 2.0 for Associations (Jeff Cobb / Mission to Learn, 2008) - on using blogs, wiki, podcasts, and social networks.
E-Learning Handbook ( Jane Hart / Free E-Learning Books, March 02, 2008) - free ebooks and chapters from printed books.
Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources (OECD, 2007) - a comprehensive overview of the Open Educational Resources phenomenon; challenges for higher education.
162 Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools (eLearning Guild)
834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction (eLearning Guild)
Scaffolding (Lindsay Lipscomb, 2008)
Ebooks for Sale.
Mark Treadwell's "Whatever!" The Conceptual Era & the Evolution of School v2.0 may be downloaded whole or in sections. See also his exceptional range of allied Professional Learning Resources ; in particular, don't miss Building a New "Paradigm": School v2.0 .
Keep an eye out for Mark's 'Whatever Next: The Global Curriculum',
which will be based on a conceptual curriculum: developing units of
work, inquiry learning, core competencies for the new global
curriculum. Should be available for download in June 2008.
Teaching Curriculum Through the Arts (eLibrary)
Increasing Student Learning Through Multimedia Projects (Michael Simkins et al / eBookMall)
Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time (Jane Pollock / ASCD E-Book, 2007)
Education eBook Sub-categories and Authors (Diesel eBooks)
Educational Ebook Resources at Keybookshop
Ebooks - 102,000 commercially available popular, professional and academic ebooks.
Library Services.
Online eBook Libraries for Mobile Learning (Leonard Low / Mobile Learning: February 08, 2007) - ebooks at the ACT Public Library
Research Guide: Education Resources (comp. Laura Raccagni / University of Connecticut Libraries)
KnowBetter Lending Library - join and log in to borrow ebooks.
Search Engines
ebooksearchr
eBook Search Engines (see-search.com)
Ebook Collections.
Top 10 Best Places to Get Free Books Part 1 and Part 2 (Friedbeef's Tech)
Project Gutenberg - the first producer of free ebooks; over 25,000 free books. See Also Project Gutenberg of Australia
The Internet Classics Archive (Daniel C. Stevenson) - 441 mostly Greco-Roman works, some Chinese and Persian.
Free Computer Books, Tutorials & Lecture Notes (FreeComputerBooks.com) e.g., A Companion to Digital Humanities (ed. Susan Schreibman et al / Oxford: Blackwell, 2004)
Librivox - free audiobooks and podcasts.
Wikibooks: Featured Books - the best of Wikibooks.
Open-Access Text Archive (Internet Archive) - 407,231 items
Pitt Latin American Series (University of Pittsburgh Press) - 56 works.
Abraham Lincoln Books (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Open Content
Alliance) - 26 items.
Ebooks on Bookyards - categories list. See also Related External Links to 1,159 other collections.
Education Ebooks (elibrary)
The World Public Library OLPC eBook Collection (One Laptop Per Child) - popular children's books.
Podiobooks.com - lots of free audiobooks.
Baen Free Books (Baen Free Library) - science fiction and fantasy novels.
Index of /books (dwalin.ru) - plain text fiction files, many modern authors, many Russian texts.
Wowio - some free, some not.
Free eBooks for Your PDA, iPod, or eBook Reader (manybooks.net) - 20,507 free eBooks
Café Madras.com - books for mobile devices. Large collection, fast download.
eBook Libraries for Your Cell Phone (Terence and Catherine Cavanaugh)
Future.
The Future of eBooks (David Chisnall / informIT: April 25, 2008) - size, portability, usability, readability; colour, cost, newspaper comparisons, lending models.
Richard Baraniuk: Goodbye, Textbooks; Hello, Open-Source Learning (TED Talks: August, 2006) - Richard Baraniuk on Connexions, a system that lets teachers share digital course materials, modify them and give them to students free.
Third Annual World eBook Fair: July 4th to August 4th 2008 - The Million Book Project's more than 1.5 million books are online at The Universal Digital Library ; all will be freely accessible during July.
BOOKS.
The Digital Reader: Using eBooks in K-12 Education (Terence W. Cavanaugh / ISTE; Tch edition, 2005)
Paperback: $37.95
ISBN-10: 1564842215
ISBN-13: 978-1564842213
- see also the publisher's description at ISTE
Literature Circles through Technology (Terence W. Cavanaugh / Linworth Publishing, 2006)
Paperback: $26.37
ISBN-10: 1586832034
ISBN-13: 978-1586832032
Mark Treadwell's "Whatever!" The Conceptual Era & the Evolution of School v2.0
may be downloaded whole or in sections, or bought as a CD or as a
printed book, which is priced at $NZ71.07 (converts to $US54.68 or
$AU57.89)
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