BoomWriter - let students write a book collaboratively - now offering free publication of book

BoomWriter is a free service that let's students write a book collaboratively. They are now offering to publish the book for free and ship a free copy to your class. This offer is for all teachers in the United States.

They have also made some updates to the site and teacher dashboard to make it easier to use.

Here's a video that explains BoomWriter in more detail and shows how it can be used to help students read and write better.



Check it out: http://www.boomwriter.com/schools

SparkNotes app available for Android -teach students responsible use

I remember in high school when ever we had a book report due, we'd head off to the library or bookstore for Cliff Notes. Now students have SparkNotes website and now an Android App. SparkNotes provides guides and chapter summaries of books. The app is free and their is an iOS version.

While some students misuse this and use this instead of reading the actual book, teachers could show these kinds of resources to their students and how to use them to help them understand what they are reading. Show the students that these are help resources, not something to replace the actual reading of the book.

The app has 50 study guides pre-loaded, you can download more and it has a built-in social networking feature to connect with other users.

This is one more resource that students have available to them. One way or another they are going to use it. As educators, we need to show them how to use the resource properly.

Get the SparkNotes app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.sparknotes.sparknotes

Related:

Android for Education resources and apps - app reviews, apps for education, news, tips, resources, and more.

Litcharts - free, downloadable alternative to Cliff Notes