Digital books

Community approach

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New literacy skills

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What should teachers know about digital books?

Many UK schools have begun to use iPads, Google Chromebooks and other portable touchscreens in lessons, giving children more opportunities to access digital books and storyapps. Accessing an interactive digital book is a different experience from clicking through an e-book on the desktop PC and many teachers, especially those in primary schools, are legitimately questioning the value of using interactive digital books in their literacy lessons.  The current evidence (see References) says that:

References: qualitative approaches

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School approach

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Examples of digital books

 Free access to high-quality digital books from around the world is provided by International Children’s Digital Library:

http://en.childrenslibrary.org/ 

Magic Blox offers a special pricing program for schools interested in using their digital library which involves several digital books, as well as the possibility to create and upload users’ own books.

http://magicblox.com/

Supporting new and traditional literacy and language outcomes

The research suggests that digital books can support children’s traditional literacy and language outcomes, as well as new literacy skills. See the information which follows

What are digital books?

There is no agreed definition and terminology for children's digital books. Digital books for children aged 2-8 years -- available on tablets and smartphones -- are often called story apps (or book apps). Those which are downloadable for eReaders (e.g., Kindle, Kobo), or for computers or laptops, and are typically used with older children, are often called e-books. This is not the norm, however, and publishers and digital producers often use the terms interchangeably.

References

The author has been researching in children’s reading particularly digital reading since 2010. She has published widely in the area (see her publication list on www.academia edu) including three years funded research for her PhD and subsequent projects funded by the literacy charity The Book Trust.

The references here are part of the evidence base for this resource and are indicative of the most recent and relevant publications in the area.

Implementing digital books in the classroom

When implementing digital books in the classroom, you need to consider:

- the entire context, the entire classroom environment.

-the literacy skills you wish to support with the digital books

-the literacy and digital competency of individual children

-the quality and appropriateness of a digital book (see “Criteria”)

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