Thing 33 - eBook Creation

eBook Creation - Thing 33

Having just completed the Digital Storytelling “thing”, and keeping my upcoming ELA7 collaboration in mind, I was very excited to see this new “thing” with ideas for creating eBooks. It seemed like the perfect topic to continue with!  This is the first year my school has fully embraced Google and Google Classroom / Google Drive so I am still learning how to use all the features.  When I saw that Google Slides could be used for eBook creation, I was super excited to explore that option. I have 24 ChromeBooks in my library, so using a Google “app” for this 7th grade project would be an ideal way to get “my feet wet” with both eBook publishing and extending my knowledge of Google applications.

Before I got going with Google Slides, I explored StoryBird so I’d have something to compare Google slides to. I found StoryBird a bit too “young” feeling for what I have in mind for the 7th grade project. It was simple to use though.

So on to Google Slides eBooks! I opened a new Google Slides project and followed the directions to customize the layout. I then went downloaded and printed the Google Cheat Sheets eBook and printed the detailed information on How to Create an Interactive eBook on Google slides. After browsing through this information, I began creating a Google Slides eBook about our upcoming visiting author Wendy Mass.

I entered some basic information onto slides with varying backgrounds within the theme. I experimented with doing my own master slide edits, but found it simple enough to customize the regular Google slides template on my own, so I didn’t really explore changing the master slides too much.  The video tutorial moved pretty quickly, and did not have voice-over, so that will take a couple of viewings the fully comprehend. I did see how the author was able to change the template with the gray header box and create space holders. I was inspired to attempt bringing a YouTube video into my eBook, though, and found the movie trailer for Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life (one of her books that was made into a movie).  Success!!

After I finished adding content, I went back to the tutorial to learn how to export the eBook and publish for the web.  I already knew how to download/export as a PDF, but had never created anything for direct web publication. It was so easy to do!  You can check out my eBook about Wendy Mass that I created by visiting the following URL:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16wLzjWHpD6OhR6ijMv9YbwhVvGTwdlJvcXpWXlUYIO0/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

After going through this exercise, I’m not 100% sure that this will work for the 7th grade project, since they are looking at more animation & sound features for the bedtime stories project. However, I now better understand the difference between digital storytelling from my earlier “thing” and eBook publishing. Since I have several ChromeBooks in my library, I looked at Book Creators for Chromebooks to get specific ideas for publishing student eBooks to my library webpage in the future.  I plan to introduce eBook publishing with my 6th graders for sure - they can publish digital version of the Zines they are making in preparation for our Wendy Mass visit. It is something I think they will definitely enjoy - just like I enjoyed learning about eBook creation using Google slides!