Ben Sondgeroth is an Education Technology Coordinator for the Learning Technology Center for Illinois. He's also a Certified Google For Education Trainer and holds a Master’s Degree in Curriculum Technology Education Reform. We met Ben around 5 years ago when he was working for as a trainer for EdTechTeacher.
Ben has been a Book Creator Ambassador since those days, so when he told us about a book he was writing on creativity we jumped at the chance to partner with him to bring it to a wider audience.
Ignite Creativity in your Chromebook Classroom is a book packed with tools and lesson ideas that you can use right away. This is an essential read for any teachers using Chromebooks in the classroom (although most of these apps will work on multiple platforms).
In this book, Ben sets out to challenge the inertia that has arisen from a traditional culture of consumption in our schools. This model of learning, where the teacher imparts knowledge and the students are required to regurgitate it for a test at the end of the unit, has been the norm for decades. What's more, this mindset is being applied even in classrooms that have access to technology. Students are often asked to sit and consume videos, textbooks and worksheets on their device rather than being challenged to focus on creativity.
Ben's idea is to take advantage of this consumption mindset - to flip the concept so that students become the creators of the content they consume. This is an idea we can get behind!
Over 60 pages of text, video, screenshots and audio tips, Ben presents 11 apps that you may not have heard of, all of which can be used to ignite a creative spark in your students. There are four categories within the book:
- Turn Your Students into Authors
- Leverage the Power of the Microphone
- Students as Video Creators
- Students as Image Creators
Ben draws from his own experience to present workable ideas that you can apply with ease to your own situation. We really appreciate the work that Ben has put into providing this amazing content, and are happy to present it to you for free, as part of our Technology & Creativity in Education ebook series.
Dan Kemp is the Marketing Director and has been working here since 2013. One of Dan’s favourite jobs is hearing the stories of how Book Creator is used to bring joy to classrooms all over the world, and he happily retells these stories on these pages!
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