Creating Significant Learning Environments
Anthologize via kwout
While I haven’t had a chance to work with this just yet (I need to upgrade my blog to WordPress 3.0) the concept of taking blog content and putting it into a book format is wonderful.
Anthologize is a WordPress plugin that allows one to use existing WordPress blog content and content from other electronic sources and then outline, order, and edit the work, crafting it into a single volume for export in several formats, including PDF, ePUB and TEI.
Ubimark enhances physical reality (books, places, objects) with stories, travel experiences, ratings or information through the use of 2D codes that provide links to the web. Until ereaders mature for the iPad and similar devices this system provides a very simple and pragmatic way to enhance traditional print material. The following video offers an excellent explanation:
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A National Association of College Stores Foundation survey conducted this past fall at 19 campuses nationwide reveals that 74% of students surveyed still prefer to use a printed textbook when taking a class. These results really shouldn’t be a surprise considering that at our present state of ereader development a digital textbook does not offer anything more than a traditional text. Furthermore, when you consider the limited annotation abilities of most ereaders, digital texts offer less than traditional texts.
With the release of the iPad and the explosive growth in the iPad App development community we may start to see progress soon on the development of dynamic and interactive tools necessary to provide a rich experience with digital texts.
R. David Lankes, director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, NY, laments over the fact that today’s batch of ereaders are limited gadgets that do very little to enhance the reading experience. He does acknowledge that he enjoys and readily uses ereaders of various sorts but is hopping for much more. He also points to the fact that collobration with the author other readers and other information is really where the future of ereaders should be.
We are on the cusp of something significant and perhaps with the release of the iPad we will start to scratch the potential of the future of reading and perhaps learning. We do have a long way to go but you have to start somewhere…
Copia announced the first socially enabled ereader at the Computer Electronics Show (CES). While a new ereader isn’t significant news the social networking component is and if the company can live up to its CES announcement ereaders many finally be evolving into something useful. This is definitely one to watch…
