Building+a+UDL+Digital+Book

Creating a digital book, with the [|CAST site], was very time consuming, even utilizing copy and paste to transfer the copyright free story into the website. This factor really helped me understand the time costs for teachers, technology leaders, and school when it comes to the initial set of up a new technological resource. It showcases how vital a person on campus dedicated to assisting teachers with initializing a new program truly is for the incorporation of technology. I can definitely see the benefits of creating such books, but I honestly can't see many teachers doing it. Using a hard copy picture book they can still have the visual and vocal components, as that's what a read a-loud includes. If the students could work with the book digitally, they would be able to have it read to them over and over without the reader (either themselves or an adult) becoming frustrated. However, I think that some meaning is lost with the computer-generated voice as the reading lacks emotion and intonation. As Hossein Arsham said in 2002, "If you can't teach better with technology, don't use it" (USDLA Journal). The glossary does offer some additional support, but many teachers already do those things with discussion, vocabulary activities, and word walls.

I like the fact that teachers can share the books they made with each other; however, the fact that they can only be viewed online is a disadvantage. If the school's internet goes down, then the teachers can't access the needed materials for the day. Being able to download a copy partially solves this issue because you can still open the book in a web browser without a working internet connection. Though the students may not find it so, I found having to open each page separately very disruptive to my thought processes and the flow of the story, when having to access the book without direct internet access. If they would develop a small program that would allow you to string the pages together in the same fashion as when viewed online, it would greatly increase the usability and functionality of the digital books. Not only for when the school's internet connection is broken, but for situations in which schools have one-to-one computing but students do not necessarily have internet access at home.

I can see the benefits of students being able to choose their level of support, but how do they access the books as an individual if they are stored on the teachers' CAST account? CAST does not currently provide student accounts, which means that students would not have anytime access to the digital books created by the teacher. I think there is much that needs to be changed to make CAST's book builder a viable option for classroom use.