Seward Incorporated

Up till now, the successful eBook was text based.  Although the technology allows for graphics, the beauty of the eBook is the ability to change the font size.  This is one of the most important reasons people buy eBook readers.  A winning strategy for an eBook was to have illustrations complement the text and not dominate it.  Although there are options for illustrated novels and comic books, by their very nature eBook readers, due to their different resolutions and formats, will have a difficult time rendering things that are in a fixed position in a standard and pleasant way.  You don’t want your user having to use a magnifying glass with a PDF document or move the interface around to see all the illustrations.

There is a wide array of technologies to choose from to produce a standard eBook similar to a print version, but they basically boil down to the choice of PDF or EPUB.  EPUB is markup similar to what goes into a web page.  Although the Kindle doesn’t support EPUB, there is a free tool, Kindlegen, which will convert the EPUB markup to the format used by Amazon, MOBI.  If you only want to produce for the Kindle, Kindlegen will allow you to produce your document from other formats including standard HTML and XML.  But you don’t want to limit yourself to the Kindle, do you?  According to a study done by Aptara, the preferred eReader was the iPad, not the Kindle.

If you are simply making a conversion of a printed book to an eBook, similar to making apps, it is best to utilize a technology that will easily allow you to port your document to all the various formats.  If learning the EPUB syntax seems too daunting, there are other tools you can use to convert your document to the EPUB format.  Calibre is one such tool.  You simply save off a Word document in HTML format and use this as input to Calibre.  This will generate the document in EPUB format for all readers but the Kindle, and MOBI for that.  If you want, you could then play around with the code that is generated to make small tweaks to your book if things don’t layout appropriately.

Although a standard eBook will gain you market share, the next generation of eBooks are trying to make a book more than a book: it should be a fully interactive experience, much like the web.  Although taking this approach will obviously limit your exposure to more advanced devices than say the standard Kindle, this is the cutting edge of eBook development.  A couple examples of technologies utilizing this new paradigm are inkling and iBooks Author.  These books involve deep user experiences: video, interactive models and quizzes.  Inkling even offers social networking tools that allow a user to take notes and then share these notes with other classmates, perhaps to get answers for their questions.  To see more, check out their video.

The type of eBook you will create depends on both your target audience and the content you are delivering.  Being on the cutting edge is great, but it will limit your exposure.  If your content is really a conversion from print, it may not benefit you to be cutting edge; it may make more sense to make a standard eBook.  But definitely investigate the alternative, because this is the wave of the future.  People crave more interactivity, and frankly expect it with the advances in web technology and the experience it provides.  There will always be a place for the standard textbook, but its market share and viability diminish more daily as people use and expect a higher level of innovation and a more immersive experience.

Illustrator and author Maurice Sendak, creator of “Where the Wild Things Are”, “In the Night Kitchen” and “Outside, Over There” has passed away at 83. It is an impossible task to catalogue the countless ways Sendak has contributed to our culture. His work is so unique it seeded itself into the smallest cracks of our consciousness when we were young and now yields strange, wonderful things.

But in one thing I am certain; ask any graphic or interface designer who designs for children if they have been personally influenced by Sendak’s work, you will likely meet an emphatic “Yes”.

This is not a simple matter of aping style or technique. While Sendak’s illustrative craft is masterful, it is something deeper those of us who design respond to.

Sendak himself said, “I don’t write for children. I write, and they tell me it’s for children.”

I believe that is the ideal philosophy by which to approach creating any sort of character, interface or design with children intended as the end users. What Sendak did so admirably is understand that kids are as complex, contradictory and philosophical as any adult. While the twin pressures of deadlines and creating a polished product make it is easy to fall into a default design mode of all bright colors and smooth edges, it is worth remembering that it is the rough edges that catch the corners of a child’s imagination. Kids are endlessly questioning, and as such, are often pleased to be confronted with something a little different. To have something a little scary, something a little strange and something a little honest about the world can go far in keeping a child’s attention where it might otherwise stray.

Now all that said; interface design exists in service to instructional design. It is the gelatin that suspends the delicious marshmallows of knowledge in the final product salad. It is not the role of graphic design for children’s software to diverge into confrontational and unsettling places. It must be approachable, easily understood and must not drown out the lessons or curriculum presented. It is not meant to be a ‘Wild Rumpus’.

But there are countless ways, little touches that you can include into a design that tells kids; you know that they know.

Maurice Sendak was instrumental to my childhood. But I’m astounded now, as a parent and a graphic designer who works on projects aimed at school kids, how instrumental he is to me as an adult.

Thanks, Mr. Sendak

It is well known that Teachers, School Leaders, and Teacher Trainers are key actors in maintaining and improving education systems around the globe. At the school level, however, the teachers themselves are the most important factor affecting individual student performance. When teachers lack the training and skills necessary for managing a modern-day classroom it becomes impossible to maximize the potential of the students. Nowhere is this more apparent than throughout the developing world.

This past week I had the pleasure of attending the 56^th annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) where teams from around the world gathered to share their experiences and ideas on the improvement of education systems. While I attended many fantastic presentations on a wide variety of topics, one session in particular stuck out to me as a fantastic resource for teachers. Team leaders from the Inter-American Teacher Education Network (ITEN) showed off their free-to-use professional network and development platform.

Funded by Organization of American States (Not US States but North American, Central American, South American, and Caribbean nation-states), ITEN provides a wide range of valuable resources for improving teacher performance. The ITEN site provides content in both English and Spanish through three primary methods. These include an online community, webinars, and a series of online courses.

The online community of ITEN was designed to encourage collaboration and interaction between teachers throughout the Americas. Monthly blogs address common issues affecting teachers and include topics anywhere from “Contemporary issues in technology and teacher education” to “how do some students overcome their socio-economic background”. Further discussions are encouraged on any teaching-related topic through their online forums and OAS community forums.

ITENs webinar series addresses relevant themes in the field of teacher education. From conflict resolution to ICT integration to effective classroom management, the webinars provide a wealth of information for teachers in their ongoing quest for professional development.

Last but not least, ITEN provides online courses focused on introducing ICT into the classroom using constructivist methods through student centered learning and collaborative project based learning. With all the 1:1 laptop initiatives currently rolling out or already in place, teachers, more than anything, need to learn how to effectively use these new technologies in their classroom.

ITEN is an ever-expanding set of resources and a solid community for teacher improvement that is available to anyone in the world. Best of all, it’s free! If you haven’t already heard of them, I’d suggest you check it out. For the school leaders and teacher trainers out there, please point your teachers at it. For those of us in the business of improving education systems, take a close look and see how you can integrate it into your projects.

Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are becoming more and more common in the classroom. These devices, comprised of a large display (which look a lot like traditional whiteboards) and a projector that is hooked up to a computer, were first introduced by SMART in 1991. While these devices have been around for more than 20 years, it is only in recent years that they have seen a particular boom in growth.

The National Survey of Interactive Whiteboard Usage: 2011 (Education Market Research) - this survey of 18,000 educators was conducted Spring 2011 and included teachers and principals at the elementary, middle/junior high, and senior high levels). Key findings from this report included:

• 63.5% of educators now have a dedicated interactive whiteboard in their classroom
• The install base of IWBs in K-12 schools is about 1.471 million units.
• SMART (70.5%) is the brand leader in terms of units currently in use, followed by Promethean (28.7%), and Mimio (6.7%).
• The number of IWBs of any brand now installed in the average school is 19.8
• A strong majority (65.1%) of EMR’s survey sample said they use an IWB with their students every day, which would work out to about 20 times a month.
• Nearly half said they were “somewhat experienced/knowledgeable” (47.4%) regarding the IWB, while another 27.3% said they were “very experienced/knowledgeable.”
• According to the largest group of survey respondents (42.7%), they have their IWBs in use more than 5 hours a week. The average duration is 4.6 hours a week.
• In grades K-2, Mathematics (93.8%) and English/Language Arts (92.3%) get the most mentions for frequent IWB use.
• In grades 9-12, Mathematics (55.7%) is still number one, but Science (32.9%) and Social Studies (30.5%) come before English/Language Arts (26.3%).
• The largest group of respondents (45.9%) indicated that the majority of instructional resources they use with their IWB comes from their own imagination and ingenuity.
• 69.8% of teachers surveyed believe that IWB “is definitely here to stay, and its penetration will grow significantly over the next few years,” but also think that “pad-like devices” (57.3%) are the next “big thing”
• Two years from now, nearly nine out of ten educators expect to be using an IWB every day.

K-12 Tech Tools and Trends 2012 report (Simba Information) - this report was built around an MCH Strategic Data survey send out to school district educators, administrators, and technology directors who are responsible for implementing technology in the classroom). Key findings from this report included:

• IWBs were used in 29.5% of K-12 classrooms for at least 5.1 hours a day
• IWBs were found to have the most penetration of any recent tech device, with an average usage of over 70% in all major subject areas in elementary schools
• IWBs were reported to have a significant impact on student achievement by 60.7% of respondents in an MCH Strategic Data Survey
• IWBs are being used in all major subject areas, with the highest use in mathematics followed by reading/ELA

In 2011, Futuresource Consulting Ltd. estimated global penetration of IWBs at 9% (as of 2010 data) and that the market grew 15% in 2010. I’m curious to see whether this technology will continue to grow rapidly in the classroom setting or whether it will be eclipsed by smaller (and increasingly cheaper), personal devices such as iPads and other tablet-like devices.

Sources:

Educational Publishing – Survey Reveals How Educators Really Use Interactive White Boards
Simba Information – National Survey of Interactive Whiteboard Usage (see Description)
Marketwire – Interactive Whiteboards Used in 29.5% of Classrooms for At Least 5.1 Hours a Day: Simba Information
eBeam Rocks! – Interactive Whiteboards Taking Over Classrooms
SMART – SMART 2011 Annual Report
K-12TechDecisions – The Mainstreaming of Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom

Note: The two main reports referenced in this blog post were not accessible for free public viewing, but key findings were reported on a number of websites.

Not too long ago, parents were allowed instant access and updates to their children’s grades online via their school’s website. As of the 14^th of March 2012, parental access was made easier by the public schools in the city of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, who introduced a free mobile app that allows parents of students to stay current with their children’s grades and more. This free application relies on InformationNOW technology, and is created by School Connect for Apple and Android mobile devices. School Connect is a non-profit, Oklahoma-based company that aims to provide free “mobile communication platforms to school districts”.

Through this School Connect app, parents are offered full access to their child’s “grade book, discipline records and attendance records” as soon as they are posted. All that is required is for the parent(s) to visit the Tahlequah public schools board of education office and show a photo I.D. They will then be given a user name and password for access.

Is this recent phenomenon promoting convenient and increased parental control a healthy one? Here are a few pros and cons:-

Pros

• Prompts students to work/try harder on a daily basis, not simply during exam week.
• Allows parents the opportunity to address academic/behavioral issues and concerns early on.
• Ends parental illusion with regards to children’s grades prior to reports being handed out.
• More incentive for teachers to grade at a quicker pace, and gives them quicker feedback.
• Eliminates the need for weekly/daily report cards.

Cons

• Allows little room for children to solve problems on their own, the app involves parents immediately.
• Promotes further parental micromanagement, by making it easier for parents to check scores on exams and assignments and soon as the grades are posted, which might lead to tensions at home.
• Exerts further pressure on public school teachers.
• May cause extra stress on the child which could lead to undesirable side-effects such as depression.
• Muddles children’s goals. Child may put in effort in fear of parent instead of wanting to excel to be a better student to better themselves and their futures.

This app is certainly a milestone in parental access and convenience. However, this level of parental comfort brings rise to controversial questions regarding the diminishing student privacy, parental intrusion and the amount of access that ought to be accorded to parents.

NOTES:

• If you have more than one child you can use the same user name and password for all your children.
• For more information on this product and School Connect, visit: http://www.schoolconnectapps.com/.

In my last blog, I noted the dearth of vocabulary-building apps for kids in early elementary school. The team here at Seward Incorporated is excited to announce the release of an iPad app that will help fill the void: Vocab-a-splat!

Many children’s apps claim to be educational, but their value is negligible. Not so with Vocab-a-splat. Vocab-a-splat is an educational game with a pedigree. It is a spin-off of The First 4,000 Words, a web-based program used to teach the 4,000 most frequently used English words. Research-based and field-tested, The First 4,000 Words has been proven effective with students in grades 1-4.

The words taught in Vocab-a-splat come from the same well-regarded sources as those used for The First 4,000 Words: The Educator’s Word Frequency Guide and Hiebert’s Word Zones^TM corpus. Vocab-a-splat contains 20 levels, each with 10 vocabulary words centering on a theme such as “Family,” “Science,” or “All About You.”

About now you might be thinking, “This all sounds well and good, but is the game fun?” Yes, we think it is. And our testers, aged 4-6, agreed. Using a slingshot, players fling balls at the pictures that match the spoken words. Players try to make 10 matches before running out of balls. Animations and sound effects sustain the fun.

Vocab-a-splat is now available for free at the App Store. Download it today. Your favorite kindergartener will thank you.

While recently attending the funeral of a dear friend and colleague, Absalom Phiri, I was struck by the overwhelming community support that coalesced at that trying time for the Phiri family.  Thousands of friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, and church members sat with the family and sang together to say “we are all here with you.”  I thought about how different this was from most Western funerals, where it’s not inconceivable to have a funeral with no one attending.

As an American colleague and I discussed this we asked “Is this progress?  Is this development?  Is this what we are trying to help these countries move toward?”

Earlier that week, a more humorous manifestation of this idea flooded my senses.  Everywhere I looked I could see something that has become trendy in the West–something the young, rich, and educated are willing to pay more for here–but are simply a way of life in Malawi.  These include:

Local food

Local food markets in Malawi

Local food markets in the West

Free range poultry in the West

Free range cattle in Malawi

Distressed designer jeans in the West

Distressed jeans in Malawi

Handmade wooden toys in Malawi

Handmade wooden toys in the West

While I liked the parallels between these Noah’s Ark toys, the average Malawian would probably be playing with something like this:

Kid-made wooden toy (from Central African Republic but similar to toys in Malawi)

Thatched roof house in the West

Thatched roof house in Malawi

Baby slings in Malawi

Baby slings in the West

Media-free retreat in Malawi

(All pictures come from Flickr’s creative commons collection or Wikimedia; except wooden toy Noah’s Arks, which link to the originating websites).

Several companies are making tremendous efforts to compete with Apple for the tablet market.  There are a lot of similarities between Android Tablets and iPads, including the apps used on each one.  What are these apps?

The first thing you’ll notice is that most of these are games:  Angry Birds, Angry Birds Space, Draw Something (appearing in both lists for the free and paid versions!), Osmos, Monopoly, Hunger Games, Cut the Rope, and Where’s My Water?  That’s over half the list!  Clearly, tablets are for gaming.

Next come communications apps.  Seeing Facebook on the list for Android apps, it’s a little surprising that it doesn’t make the list for the App Store.  Either way, Facebook isn’t a surprising use of time on any mobile device, be it a phone, iPad, or Android tablet.  Likewise, Skype is a natural use for any tablet with a front-facing camera.

Photo management is another important task to most tablet users. iPhoto covers the task on the iPad, and Camera ZOOM FX provides that functionality on Android tablets.  Given the way tablets in general are positioned as media consumption devices, this comes as no surprise.

Music comes next.   On the iPad, Magic Piano provides a fun way to jam out some tunes on a (short) keyboard.  Android users seem to be more aligned with listening to music with Pandora than playing.  It might also just be that iPad users don’t seek out music-player apps, having iTunes as an inherent part of the device.

Finally, we get to the point where you see different types of apps in the two realms.  iPad users obviously enjoy reading e-books with the Kindle app.  While Android tablets may also work well for reading e-books, it’s not as ubiquitous for Android Marketplace users.  Instead, many spend time using Beautiful Widgets to customize the home screens on their devices - something that no one is doing with their iPads (either a blessing or a limitation, depending on whom you ask).

All told, most of the uses for tablets remain the same regardless of whether they come from Apple or an Android supplier.  There are a lot of games available for tablets!

Seward Incorporated and colleagues far and wide mourn the loss of Dr. Absalom D.K. Phiri who died in a car accident over the weekend. Absalom was the leader of Seward’s office in Malawi. He was an essential contributor to the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) we have been doing over the past 24 months under a USAID contract.

Stephen Harvey, Chief of Party for the Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support project said, “Since the CPD that Absalom headed was nation wide, the whole nation is at a loss.”

And indeed it was. The impact of Absalom’s life was evident on Sunday when thousands attended the funeral and service outside his home.

Absalom was a natural teacher and leader. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech - his colleagues already had heard the news one day after his passing. He worked for the Malawi Ministry of Education, capping a career that started as a teacher and continued in the service of training new teachers. Wherever you went with Absalom, someone knew him.

Absalom joined Seward Incorporated International as the head of the Malawi office in 2010. We were fortunate to have found such an experienced and respected leader for the project.  He led with grace, wisdom, and even humor. He was not one to take his own accomplishments too seriously - and there were many. If there was pride, it was in the accomplishments of his children.

In this very sad time, we want to lend our voices to the many family, friends, and colleagues who respected and loved Absalom. He will be missed terribly, but we were so lucky to have known him. We should all have the opportunity once in our lives to know such a great human being.