Products
LiveBook & LivePlanner
9/5/2012 By: MaryAnn Karre
www.livebookpd.com Retail Price: Mapping to the Core: LiveBook - $34.95; Mapping to the Core: LivePlanner - $194.95 (LivePlanner includes full access to its accompaning LiveBook)
LiveBook 360 by School Improvement Network is a
multimedia learning experience that combines author
interaction and content updates, webinars, links to Web sites,
video, audio, polls, downloadable content, notes, and forums
with the author’s text. LivePlanner is an ebook that provides
users with application, implementation, and practical use
exercises that they can apply to the “theories” found in LiveBook.
Quality and Effectiveness: A LiveBook is so
much more than a standard ebook. Any highquality
text by an internationally recognized
expert is impressive, but when that text grows and
changes, and can be supplemented and augmented
by the author and the readers, it becomes a
learning and teaching tool that is far more effective
than the digitalization of a printed text.
Authors have the opportunity to pair
their LiveBook content with a companion
“LivePlanner,” as seen in Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs’s
work. For example, Dr. Jacobs’s Mapping to
the Core: LivePlanner provides step-by-step
guidance, examples, and templates to help the participants translate
the LiveBook content to a working curriculum product. While the
LiveBook presents theory and builds comprehension, Mapping to the
Core: LivePlanner focuses on implementation, creation, and hands-on
experiences for the community of learners.
Ease of Use: A LiveBook is as easy to read as an ebook,
but because it is in electronic format, it is also an
interactive tool. Icons that float with the text by using a
mouse-over feature allow the reader to contribute, share
in discussions, and build knowledge.
Creative Use of Technology: Because the LiveBook 360 platform is
cloud-based, the latest author updates and content can be available
every time it is opened, without downloads or re-purchases. The book
becomes a host site, allowing users to take part in polls, surveys and
forums, add and upload artifacts and download tools, take notes, and
bookmark sections for review. These features cannot be accessed
without using Flash; therefore the LiveBooks are not readable on
iPads and do not include the read-aloud option (NOTE: full iPad
compatibility will be available in Fall 2012).
Suitability for Use in a School Environment: School Improvement
Network created the LiveBook 360 platform specifically for teachers
and administrators. Each book hosts its own community. Users and
authors can designate forums dedicated to one section of the text and
generate focus groups within the community.
TOP FEATURES
• LiveBook learning grows and improves as more users become part of the
LiveBook community and as more titles are added.
• Because it is online, this professional development opportunity is accessible
from any Internet-based computer.
• LiveBook 360 provides a platform with the same interaction and features as
a personal workshop. Educators can participate in forums and collaborate
with peers as they turn the theory in LiveBook into practice with step-by-step
instructions and customizable tools.
OVERALL RATING:
LiveBook 360 has
morphed ebooks from
static, individual tools to
high-quality, interactive
professional learning
communities.