Benefits of Digital Books:Rocks ROCK!

Janelle KaczorSpecial Education/

Childhood EducationFaculty Sponsor: Dr. Marya Grande

What are Digital Books?

• An electronic book (also e-book, digital book)

is a text and image-based publication in digital

form produced on, published by, and readable on

computers or other digital devices. (Oxford

Dictionary, 2010).

Benefits of Digital Books for

Children with Learning Disabilities

• Readability

• Vocabulary

• More Availability to Resources

• Text can be Read Aloud

Readability

• Creating audio files allow the books to be read

aloud to students without a webreader.

• Enables students with reading difficulty to master

content even though they may have problems

decoding.

• Leads to increased comprehension.

Vocabulary

• Textpoppers

– A written definition of a word can be provided for

content or unfamiliar vocabulary.

– A visual can also be provided.

– Words that have textpoppers are highlighted and

users can choose (or not choose) to view the support.

– Definitions are right there! Searching in the glossary

is unnecessary.

Sidebars• Located on the right or left hand side of pages.

• Gives readers access to more information related

to the subject on the page.

• Although some traditional books may have this

feature, digital books allow instant access to the

information by taking the reader to the

appropriate website right then!

• If a link to a website or a Youtube video is in the

sidebar, all the student has to do to access the

information is click on the hyperlink.

Interactive Activities

• Scrapbooks and slideshows can show many

different images to the student.

• Traditional books have limited room for pictures

and some readers may benefit from more.

Activities such as matching games or crossword

puzzles allows for informal assessment of

comprehension and are appealing and fun for the

student.

Assessment Features

• Testpoppers and quizpoppers

– Includes multiple choice questions, true and false,

ordering, short answer and essay questions.

– Benefits are that these assessments allow readers to

check answers right away and if they are interested,

go back into the digital book and make sure they

understand correctly.

Gifted Students

• Digital Books are not only beneficial for students

who have disabilities, they are also good for

gifted and talented students.

• Gifted and talented students need to be

challenged in the classroom so links to websites

and videos allow for easy access to more

ENRICHING information.

Easy to Access

• Direct weblinks to the digital books

– Perfect for students who are absent, students who

would benefit from repeated reading and exposure to

the content.

– Can be accessed on many different types of tech

devices (will need to be able to run Adobe Flash for

full functionality of interactive activities).

Creating Digital Books

• It is easy for teachers! Try

Softchalk for 30 days for free!

• Allows teachers to choose exactly

what content they want their

students to learn because they can

create it!

• They are more flexible in regards

to ability of users and can easily

modified for accessibility.

My Digital Book on Rocks!

• Designed for the NYS second grade science

curriculum.

• Made for a self-contained 2/3 grade classroom in

Cheektowaga School District.

• Meant to reinforce concepts learned about

Universal Design for Learning (UDL).