It has been a while since I played with iBook Author but I spent some time this week, once again, looking at creating an iBook using CK12-org material. Currently my Math Eight class is looking at linear functions so I found material that would be of use to them. I also spent time looking at how widgets, created using Bookry and BookWidgets, could make the iBook more interactive.
First step was to find the material. On CK12.org I found a section dealing with slope. I downloaded the section as a pdf opened it using Preview then copied the pdf content into a new Pages document. With the document in Pages I could then import the content into iBook Author. Everything went well except for the import of the latex math based symbols. Keeping a browser window open with the CK12 editor allowed me to copy the Latex code then add it back into iBooks Author using insert an equation. I did this replacing all content that wasn’t imported correctly.
When finished I added a couple of widgets. From Bookry I added a Youtube slope video to a widget. Then I added a Worksheet widget using BookWidgets. The worksheet wizard allows me to add a number of questions types and I chose multiple choice questions, a short answer questions and a sketch. It even allows you to add a calculator.
BookWidgets also allows you to embed a web page into a widget. So using the Desmos online graphing calculator I modified an existing slope exploration then added the web page into a widget that then became part of the iBook.
Am wondering how this might fit into portfolio creation and it has obvious possibilities in both the traditional or flipped class.
Latest iBook sample is here.
Just noticed that when I copied directly from the CK12 edit mode and pasted into Pages the Latex Code copied as well. This will save a bit of time.
