uberauthor



=Curriculum Rationale =  The renewed Saskatchewan English Language Arts curricula makes one of its broad goals **Composing and Creating**. feelings, and experiences in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences.” ||
 * = "Students will  extend their abilities to represent, speak, and write to explore and present thoughts,

Furthermore, there are three broad areas of learning that are common to all of the renewed curricula:
 * **//Building lifelong learners //**
 *  Students who construct and apply English language arts knowledge naturally and authentically develop a more positive disposition toward learning and become more competent and confident language learners.
 *  **//Building a sense of self and community//**
 *  To develop English language skills, students need not only to use the language but also interact with others and respond effectively in a variety of situations.
 * **//Building engaged citizens //**
 * Language can empower students to make a difference in their personal lives, as well as the lives of their peers, family and community. It allows them input into the world in which they live.



Copyright Government of Saskatchewan, Ministry of Education =Vision=


 * Wouldn't it be great to celebrate our students’ successes in our schools and community?
 * Wouldn't it be meaningful if we allowed students to share their stories with each other and make comments on those of their peers?
 * Wouldn't it be a fantastic learning experience for our students to go through the complete process of writing, laying out, and publishing their own books?
 * Wouldn’t our students be motivated to know that in the end, their books would be professionally printed, bound, and would become a permanent part of their schools’ library?
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Wouldn’t such an activity achieve the learning outcomes of the curriculum for almost any subject area and facilitate the infusion of technology into those classes?

=Plan=
 * **//Our goal:// //to have our students write more and write better.//**
 * Key to this is an understanding that students must have pride in what they write and the accountability that comes from public scrutiny.
 * //**The plan: to use online tools to publish and promote student writing.**//
 * Student writing can be published to these online services, many of which offer bound and published books for sale at reasonable prices.
 * The school will then purchase the books and make them available in the school libraries, increasing library circulation and encouraging students to read each other’s work.
 * There are a number of online services that publish books in a variety of forms:
 * Tikatok.com
 * Blurb.com
 * Lulu.com
 * Myebooks.com
 * Shutterfly.com
 * Mixbook.com
 * Student authors can have their work published and bound or they can be published online to share with the world.
 * //**We are living in the midst of a publishing revolution**//. E-books are beginning to take off and it has never been easier for an individual to publish a book than it is right now.

=Online Services:=
 * Tikatok**
 * Features:
 * Simple and easy to use.
 * Teacher dashboard controls enable teachers to manage student accounts and publishing
 * Viewable online gallery with public and private settings allows visitors to browse and publish the works for themselves.
 * Suitable for grades 3-8.
 * Costs:
 * Approximately between $14 (Soft cover) and $18 (Hardcover)
 * Downloadable ebooks are available for approximately $3.00
 * [|www.tikatok.com]


 * Blurb**[[image:Blurb.jpg width="350" height="217" align="right"]]
 * Features:
 * Users can download Blurb's BookSmart software and layout their pages on their own computer before uploading them to Blurb’s website.
 * PDF files can be uploaded through the website.
 * Teachers can use a shared account to publish books to one location in the gallery.
 * Viewable online gallery with public and private settings allows visitors to browse and publish the works for themselves.
 * Publisher features are available as well.
 * Suitable for grades 7-12.
 * Costs:
 * Prices begin at $5 (black and white, 20-40 pages) and increase based on interior colour, cover options, page count, and size.
 * [|www.blurb.com]


 * Lulu**
 * Features:
 * PDF files can be uploaded through the website.[[image:Lulu.jpg width="350" height="223" align="right"]]
 * Teachers can use a shared account to publish books to one location in the gallery.
 * Viewable online gallery allows visitors to preview published books, but not see the complete book. Public and private settings allows visitors to browse and publish the works for themselves.
 * Integrated with Apple’s new iBookstore, allowing users to publish books for the iPad and iPhone.
 * Lulu has been designed as a self-publishers website and has a book reviewer feature to enter prior to ordering a printed book.
 * Books can be cross-listed and purchased through Amazon.
 * Suitable for grades 10-12 or for teachers who want to publish their own material.
 * Costs:
 * Prices begin at $4 (black and white, 80-100 pages) and increase based on interior colour, cover options, page count, and size.
 * There is a wide variety of pricing options: $8.50 - $25 large size colour photobooks and a mini 4 pack for $15.
 * [|www.lulu.com]


 * MyEBook**
 * Features: [[image:Myebook.jpg width="350" height="245" align="right"]]
 * PDF files can be uploaded through the website or designed and laid out using the online ebook builder.
 * Teachers can use a shared account to publish books to one location in the gallery.
 * Viewable online gallery allows visitors to re read the ebooks. Public and private settings allow visitors to browse and read only what the publisher allows.
 * There is no publishing option, though completed ebooks can be downloaded and printed through other means.
 * Ebooks can be sold for profit or opened up to free viewing by the public.
 * Suitable for grades 3-9 or for teachers who want to publish their own material online.
 * Costs:
 * Ebooks can be purchased for the price set by the publisher or made available free of charge.
 * [|www.myebook.com]


 * iPhoto**
 * Features: [[image:iphoto.jpg width="350" height="213" align="right"]]
 * iPhoto is simple to use and integrated with the Mac OS X software.
 * Text and layout options are limited. There is also no public sharing option, except possibly through iWeb.
 * Useful for photo and picture books.
 * Suitable for grades 2-5.
 * Costs:
 * Full colour photobooks from $4 (3.5x2.6”) to $50 (10x13”) for 20 pages
 * []


 * Other Services to Consider**
 * Shutterfly – Another service offering users the option to publish photobooks
 * Mixbook – Another service offering users the option to publish photobooks

=Incorporating UberAuthor into your Classroom=
 * UberAuthor is not just for ELA, but can be branched out into other curriculum areas as well, including science (classroom science text), social studies (History books and town photobooks), Math (Summation of the Year’s math concepts), Art (Photobooks of completed art projects), or Phys Ed. (Sport Reports from throughout the year).
 * Writing is an essential skill that fits into **all** curriculum areas.

=Strategies= >>
 * **English Language Arts:**
 * Grade 1-2: Students draw pictures in a sequence that tell a story. They then write short sentences that describe the pictures. The pictures and words can be collected into a children's book.
 * Grades 4-12: The students select what they regard as their best short stories of the year. They type them up, take pictures or draw pictures that illustrate or represent their stories. The stories are then collected in a short story anthology that sums up the school year's work, which can then be placed in the library as well as in the teacher's classroom collection. This can also be used by the teacher as a portfolio item to illustrate student knowledge.
 * Grades 4-10: Graphic Novels
 * **Social Studies:**
 * **Math**
 * **Science**
 * **Physical Education**
 * **Arts Education**
 * **P****ractical and Applied Arts**
 * **Physical Education**
 * **Arts Education**
 * **P****ractical and Applied Arts**
 * **P****ractical and Applied Arts**
 * **P****ractical and Applied Arts**
 * **Technology Literacy Classes:**
 * Over the coming weeks, the learning technologists will be developing lessons and strategies that teachers interested in the UberAuthor could implement into their own classes.
 * Furthermore, over the remainder of the 2009-2010 school year, as well as the 2010-2011 school year, the learning technologists will be actively promoting the UberAuthor Program in all interested Horizon schools.
 * Furthermore, over the remainder of the 2009-2010 school year, as well as the 2010-2011 school year, the learning technologists will be actively promoting the UberAuthor Program in all interested Horizon schools.

=Logistical Issues=
 * There are some legal issues that need to be addressed.
 * A very hard line needs to be taken against plagiarism and copyright violation to ensure that all published work is produced by the students.
 * Also, there must be communication with the libraries to ensure that they understand and are onboard with what we hope to achieve.

=Funding=
 * The UberAuthor program requires funding in order to be successful.
 * Funding can be a tricky thing.
 * While most companies do allow you to purchase large gift cards or credits to publish your entire class at once figuring out how to pay for it in a PO based system is a challenge.
 * School community councils are often looking for initiatives and ways to support their local schools. The UberAuthor program is an excellent opportunity for councils to support the school in an academic and curricular way. They could purchase allotments for student publishing, the book could then be published and added to the library collection for the benefit of the entire school!

=Success Stories=

As the program progresses, we will be putting up examples of student books in PDF form. Here is an example from a Grade 6 student in Holdfast: = = =Authoring Images=
 * =[|UberAuthorExample.pdf]=

These images have been created to brand the student books as part of the UberAuthor program.

This comment box can appear at the bottom of each page to allow students to write their comments in the books after they are published.

This image appears at the end of the book, on the back cover, or on the title plate to identify the book as part of the UberAuthor program and inform the reader of our objective.

And here is a banner that can be used on the cover of the book.

=Presentation= A short presentation on the UberAuthor Program: media type="custom" key="6056455" align="center"

=Issues and Lessons Learned= Wow I just learned this one:

When we plant photos into our book using booksmart we may get a warning sign. To fix this try one of these solutions:
 * resize the photo to fit into the image box or alter the image box size.
 * use photo's of a higher resolution/dpi (booksmart can use 300dpi but in print the image will low in quality)