Ha! I bet you're thinking that I'm going to talk about Flipping Your Classroom or Flipping Your Online Course, right? Well, you're wrong! I would NEVER address such a mainstream and interesting educational topic, something with the potential to reshape the very educational ground from whence our ivory towers of knowledge spring, when there's a geeky, fun app to discuss instead!
That's right...on Day Four of the Blogging Challenge, I'm going to tell you about turning your syllabi (or other classroom materials) into interactive Flipbooks. Flipbooks that your students will READ!
If you teach college, you have made the following statement at one time or another (many times during the same class period): "It's in the syllabus." It's common enough that Inside Higher Ed ran an article last October, depicting a community college professor flashing his t-shirt with the saying on it, while mugging for the camera. (Read the entire article at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/18/t-shirt-many-professors-would-enjoy-wearing)
That's right...on Day Four of the Blogging Challenge, I'm going to tell you about turning your syllabi (or other classroom materials) into interactive Flipbooks. Flipbooks that your students will READ!
If you teach college, you have made the following statement at one time or another (many times during the same class period): "It's in the syllabus." It's common enough that Inside Higher Ed ran an article last October, depicting a community college professor flashing his t-shirt with the saying on it, while mugging for the camera. (Read the entire article at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/18/t-shirt-many-professors-would-enjoy-wearing)
He was asked to "look mean" by his students!
While I would love the opportunity to let my clothing do my talking for me, I teach online. I have to engage my students in a different manner. Yes, I've resorted to the time honored method of requiring them to pass the mandatory Syllabus Quiz, which then reveals the magical contents of the class to them, but I've also had that backfire. Two weeks into the class, I've had a student email me about "Where are the assignments?" He'd never bothered to TAKE the Syllabus Quiz, let alone pass it, so he was never granted access into the Aladin's Treasure Cave that is my Interpersonal Communications class.
No dummy, I started think of ways that I could make my syllabus more compelling for my students. I've seen some instructors who have turned their syllabus into a comic book. Nah...too time consuming. I've seen some faculty who have videoed themselves READING the syllabus to their students. No way...I'm not that interesting, and I wouldn't sit through a half an hour of Talking Head Julie reading to the kiddies, let alone expect my students to do so!
Then I remembered a cool website that had all kinds of tools available for web use, and many of these were FREE. (If you're in education, you know that FREE is good....very good.) This website was
SnackTools http://www.snacktools.com/en/ and one of the features was that it could take a PDF file and create an interactive "flipping book." The juvenile in me had a good chuckle over the whole "flippin' book" thing, and figuring that's what they probably called my syllabus anyway, why not give it a try?
I typed up my syllabus in MSWord, saved it as a PDF file, and then logged into the sister site, FlipSnack, to create my new best-seller. A few minutes later, I had a beautifully rendered book with clickable pages, and swishy sounds as the pages turned. More importantly, for FREE, it gave me embed code, links, and fairly detailed analytics so that I could see if students were indeed reading my "flippin' syllabus." AND THEY DID!
I've used this for several semesters now. I embed it on my course home page for the first week,but I still provide a traditional file of the syllabus, and it is available all semester. Some of my students have commented on the novelty of having a syllabus that is interactive, and they love it. Some of my students are afraid of it, seriously...they think it might break their computers...and will go directly to the traditional file, download, open, and print. Either way...I WIN! They read it!
I'm going to give you a peek at what my online students will be seeing when they log into my course in the morning. (Or what the super-excited ones will see when they log in at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow. Yawn.)
Here's my FlipSnack syllabus! Link - http://www.flipsnack.com/55D695BA9F7/fdp3y3l5 or embedded below.
See you on Day Five! ~Julie
No dummy, I started think of ways that I could make my syllabus more compelling for my students. I've seen some instructors who have turned their syllabus into a comic book. Nah...too time consuming. I've seen some faculty who have videoed themselves READING the syllabus to their students. No way...I'm not that interesting, and I wouldn't sit through a half an hour of Talking Head Julie reading to the kiddies, let alone expect my students to do so!
Then I remembered a cool website that had all kinds of tools available for web use, and many of these were FREE. (If you're in education, you know that FREE is good....very good.) This website was
SnackTools http://www.snacktools.com/en/ and one of the features was that it could take a PDF file and create an interactive "flipping book." The juvenile in me had a good chuckle over the whole "flippin' book" thing, and figuring that's what they probably called my syllabus anyway, why not give it a try?
I typed up my syllabus in MSWord, saved it as a PDF file, and then logged into the sister site, FlipSnack, to create my new best-seller. A few minutes later, I had a beautifully rendered book with clickable pages, and swishy sounds as the pages turned. More importantly, for FREE, it gave me embed code, links, and fairly detailed analytics so that I could see if students were indeed reading my "flippin' syllabus." AND THEY DID!
I've used this for several semesters now. I embed it on my course home page for the first week,but I still provide a traditional file of the syllabus, and it is available all semester. Some of my students have commented on the novelty of having a syllabus that is interactive, and they love it. Some of my students are afraid of it, seriously...they think it might break their computers...and will go directly to the traditional file, download, open, and print. Either way...I WIN! They read it!
I'm going to give you a peek at what my online students will be seeing when they log into my course in the morning. (Or what the super-excited ones will see when they log in at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow. Yawn.)
Here's my FlipSnack syllabus! Link - http://www.flipsnack.com/55D695BA9F7/fdp3y3l5 or embedded below.
See you on Day Five! ~Julie
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