As I previously shared, I’ve been experimenting with creating a ebooks in the ePub format and am very impressed with how simple it really is! Here’s a screencast I recorded with more details on how I created my sample ePub.

Links to sample Pages and ePub documents I mentioned are at jasonrhode.com/myfirstepub

If you are a Windows users, there are other utilities for automatically converting existing PDF or HTML files to ePub. I must admit I’ve not tried any of these yet so I can’t confirm whether or not they do in fact work.

If you’ve tried creating an ePub, whether you used Pages or some other tool, leave a comment let me know your experience!

Attending a recent Apple Education Seminar, “Mobility with iPads at Illinois Institute of Technology” earlier this week, I learned of the relative easy process for creating an ePub file using Pages on a Mac.

For those who aren’t familiar with ePub, it is a free, open e-book standard that is quickly becoming the universal format for ebooks. ePub is the format that Apple’s iBooks app reads and offers some very interesting capabilities for information distribution in mobile formats beyond the traditional PDF format.

To try creating an ePub for myself, I took a look at Apple’s instructions for creating ePub files using Pages. I then downloaded the “ePub Best Practices” sample Pages document and used that as a template to create my ePub.

I decided to take an existing syllabus I had created for a recent online course, Social Networking in Online Learning, and create an interactive ebook version of the syllabus. Here’s a brief tour of the finished ePub file viewed on an iPad and iPhone:

This ePub is an item in my course podcast feed, available in iTunes here or via the RSS feed.

Or, the ePub can be downloaded directly from http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7112775/%7Esn/syllabus.epub

The source Pages document that I used to create the ePub from can be downloaded from http://edtechsandbox.com/~sn/syllabus.pages

In a later post, I’ll share a tour of the Pages ePub template document and the details to be aware of in formatting an ebook in ePub format.

**UPDATE 3/12/11 – Tutorial demonstrating steps to create an ePub using Pages is available at jasonrhode.com/howtoepub

This PBS video features some of the foremost thought leaders, innovators and practitioners in the field of education sharing a startling preview of a 21st Century education revolution.

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media – New Learners Of The 21st Century.

Lawrence C. Ragan, Director of Faculty Development for Penn State’s World Campus, discusses their online instructor performance expectations. In this short video clip he shares the following general guidelines for PSU’s online faculty for teaching an online course:

1. Show up and teach
2. Monitor the learning experience for the students
3. Develop regular patterns of communications
4. Communicate to the learners if there are changes or adjustments to the activities or flow of the course
5. Respond to learner inquiries within 24 hours (12 hours if possible)
6. Be very concise and clear in feedback
7. Submit assignment and exam grades promptly (24-48 hours for assignments)
8. Communicate to learners when they can expect feedback from you
9. Use communication tools from within the learning management system
10. Ensure a quality learning experience by correcting errors in course materials as soon as possible
11. Have a good relationship with your institutional support services
12. Have ready and reliable access to your online course

What additional performance recommendations would you recommend for online faculty? Leave a comment with your suggestions!

PBS recently aired a Frontline episode called “Digital Nation,” about how technology is transforming our country and our global culture…. and completely distracting us. The fourth section of the program is particularly applicable for those who teach children today.

Have you personally found that as your use of technology has increased, you are more easily distracted? These are certainly timely issues to consider, especially as technology isn’t going away.

Google recently announced Google Buzz, a new microblogging tool integrated within Gmail designed for starting conversations about the things you find interesting. Here’s a quick video introduction to Google Buzz:

It will be interesting to see how Google Buzz can be leveraged for learning opportunities. Since Google Buzz is integrated in Gmail, you won’t have to create a new account or password to use it. This should make Buzz easily accessible to students and teachers that are using Gmail but yet at the same time will isolate users who don’t or choose not to have a Gmail account.

What are your thoughts about Google Buzz? Might you consider trying it either Buzz in your classroom?

This video is from Lynn Schofield Clark’s Innovation in Mass Communications class at the University of Denver. If you are a fan of The Office, and you follow the discussions about technology use in the classroom, you will love this. They really nail the opening, and they have some great moments. Thanks to Michael Wesch for passing this along!

Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore.

This video is produced by the author of Socialnomics.

I recently noticed how filthy my laptop screen has become and found this great how to video showing steps to safely clean a glossy display.

No more excuses for having smudges and dust on your laptop screen!

Google has unveiled a new experiment called “Social Search” that adds results from members of one’s public “social graph” to search results. This video explains how this new, experimental feature works:

Sound intriguing? Take a look at this demo video:

I’ve created my Google profile and have joined the Google experiment. I’ll no doubt be tweeting my experience in the days ahead. How might Google Social Search impact teaching and learning?

Blogs have become common tools for communicating and collaborating online. While setting up a blog takes only a matter of minutes, effectively incorporating blogs into online teaching requires purposeful planning and structuring of activities to leverage the power that blogging brings to the learning environment. This presentation I gave at the 2009 SLATE Conference shared the experiences of incorporating instructor and student blogs into an online course as well as practical recommendations for those considering utilizing blogs in online learning. Sample instructor and student blogs as well as activities designed specifically for blogs were reviewed.

In addition to recording the session using a FlipVideo camera and sharing via Vimeo as well as a podcast in iTunes, I also experimented with live streaming the session using Twitcam. My colleague, Stephanie Richter, moderated the live stream / Twitter comments. The interactive online handout contains all the links, screen shots, and examples that I shared and/or referenced. Enjoy!

Cite this presentation as:

Rhode, J. F., & Richter, S. L. (2009, Oct. 16). Blogger beware: Teaching with blogs best practices. Presented at the 2009 SLATE Conference, Chicago, IL

One of the foremost concerns of online instructors is that teaching online requires more time than the traditional face-to-face classroom setting. The Strategies for Managing the Online Workload (SMOW) video podcast offers a collection of short descriptions, tips, techniques, and methods developed and used by experienced online educators to manage their time more effectively in the online teaching environment. *Note – The free iTunes software is required in order to download and view the video podcast episodes.

Here’s a video introduction to the podcast by Larry Regan, Director of Instructional Design and Development, Penn State University World Campus:

Additional contributions to this collection are welcomed. If you have an idea of how to save time when teaching online, contact Larry Ragan at Penn State University at lcr1@psu.edu for additional information on how to add your idea to this collection.

Have you ever wanted a customized map for a special trip or event? Give Google’s “My Map” feature a try. Here’s a quick video that explains how to create a customized map in Google Maps.

The next time you need a customized map, give Google’s “My Maps” feature a try!

Have you ever been in a presentation that dragged on and on?  Or perhaps are you looking for an alternative approach to presenting information in a concise and memorable way?  Then you need to give Pecha Kucha a try!

Pecha Kucha is a presentation format (usually creative) in which information can be easily and informally shown. This presentation style started back in 2003 in Tokyo, Japan, by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham. Originally, this presentation form was created for young designers to meet, network, and show off their work.

The idea behind Pecha Kucha is to present information in a concise way. Each presenter is allowed to show 20 images, with 20 seconds per slide. The goal of the presentation is to keep interest high and information flowing. Pecha Kucha has sprung interest all around the world and currently occurs in over 157 cities.

Since there are no restrictions to the type of information presented in a Pecha Kucha style presentation this formula can be used in all types of learning formats. As several of my students have pointed out, there are numerous applications for how this type of abbreviated, engaging presentation format in any number of contexts.

Here’s a sample pecha kucha presentation to get a taste of what the impact is like…death to bullet points!

Do you like to keep up on various blogs and other websites that seem to be updated frequently?  If so, using the free Google Reader can save you A LOT of time!  This new video from Common Craft explains how easy it is to get started using Google Reader.