EDLD 5364 - Bookbuilder Reflection

     Another part of our assignment in the EDLD 5364 class this week was to create an ebook in the Cast Bookbuilder website.  The website was very user friendly.  It offered great tutorials and examples to help the user become familiar and confident with the process.  My ebook went along with my lesson that was created on the UDL lesson assignment for the week.  I created a book about the causes of the Texas Revolution.  I used two characters to help introduce information about the book at the beginning.  The two characters also interjected important insights to events that were taking place in the book.  Many times I would use the character to prompt the reader, or ebook participant, into thinking about how they could apply things from the lesson to their lives today.
     One of the things I liked about the book was the tools at the top left hand corner.  The reader can highlight any word or words in the ebook, and then by mashing the green arrow from the tools mentioned earlier, it will be read to them.  I think this aspect of the ebook is beneficial in using with struggling readers.  I also like the fact that you can have your students respond or participate by recording their findings in the bottom right corner of the book.  For the tech savvy creator, one can include audio or music to the book.  If this choice is made, then the file must be a mp3 file to be uploaded into the book builder.
     Upon completion, I had my daughter who is a junior in high school sample the book.  She thought it was interesting and served its purpose in creating some excitement about the lesson.  When I first heard about this part of the assignment, I cringed at the thought of having to create the ebook.  Looking back at the experience, I actually enjoyed it.  The activity definitely increased my knowledge about a strategy that could be used to captivate a classroom audience.  I think the tool would probably serve a greater purpose as an activity that my students used to present information they have learned from one of my lessons.  My reasoning for this was due to the amount of time I spent creating the ebook.  I only made seven pages to my book, and it took me about three and a half hours.  This is an exercise that someone would become faster at completing through practice.  I also feel that it is a tool or strategy that would be more beneficial in lower grades.