Student Published eBooks with Alliance City Schools

Over the last few years students at Alliance City Schools have created and published over 60 eBooks, with the guidance of Jon Smith, Technology Integrationist for the district. Those eBooks have been downloaded over 37,000 times by readers all over the world.

Students from all grade levels and subject areas have created these eBooks using tools including iBooks Author, Book Creator, and Google Docs, and then published them through iBooks for the world to see.

By making their writing available to a broader authentic audience, students are motivated to write more, work harder, use feedback, and revise their writing to make it better. This impact has been seen with all students, especially those who were reluctant to write or felt they were not good writers.

Jon often shares a quote from Ruston Hurley that summarizes this idea: "When children create for the world, they make it good. When they create only for their teacher, they make it good enough."

We want our students to move past just "good enough" and increase their creativity, collaborate with others, and communicate their ideas. Regardless of the tools our students use (iBooks Author, Google Docs, blog posts, etc.) the important thing is to share their work beyond the teacher, to peers, family, community, or the world.

To view all of the Alliance students' eBooks, go to their website at: tinyurl.com/classibooks

How are your students sharing their work with the a broader audience? Share your experiences and links in the comments below.