BookCreator???

I was a little confused by the BookCreator assignment and have to admit to having not finished it at this point.  Part of my issue was simply my own lack of experience with this platform.  I do what we all do in these situations, I Googled BookCreator and tried to go through the hundreds of hits, mostly video tutorial, exemplars and descriptions. That was were my Friday class went and I still felt a little confused. I guess the reason was that I still didn't "get it".  I have not taught for 10 years so I have been away from students and the various tools teachers now employ.  After reading different descriptions and viewed different Books created by BookCreator I think I have figured out my confusion.  There were no bells and whistles,  the beauty of Book Creator is that it allows you to combine various platforms and sources onto one "page".  To me this was not a huge deal because all of the descriptions I read, heard and watched focused on one form of media.  I admit that I may be completely missing the point but students a teachers are using various platforms to display or share information.  One interview explained how the most impressive part of Book Creator occurred when a student that stuttered read several sentences without stuttering.  Another described how a student with anxiety prepared and presented a recorded presentation for the class.  Those examples could always have happened before, send the student off with an Ipad go over the video option and have them "do their thing"... they could have done it without Book Creator and teachers have been doing it for at least 30 years.   Derek Smallgeese had a cleft lip and lisp but loved the camera, before the advent of phones that you did everything but talk on, we had video tapes. And he used video ad naseum to share his work.  Or.... he presented in person to myself or another staff member.

I left the class a little confused because I was not seeing the fireworks.

Later that afternoon my other instructor was discussing her iphone and her dependence.  She described the three platforms required to do her dissertation and related course work and the cost in dollars, weight and effort that was required to work on her desk top.  She then held up her i phone and said..when this is over, regardless of the effort to learn a new platform I am changing to Apple, " It is all here, someone was finally listening to us ( the disabled community)"  That was my A HA moment for Book Creator.

Individually it is nothing special.  Book Creator will not change lives because the opportunity to use the technology to change lives already existed.  BookCreator does  allow you to scaffold ( layer, combine, marry, infuse, overlap) those different potential life changing devices onto one page. The way I understand it is Derek no longer needs to run off and create a video,  sometimes the only one using video... he can now work in a team ( or without if I could figure out airdrop) and have Melissa ( the great artist), Samantha ( the amazing writer) and he ( the shy boy who avoided talking in front of the class, was significantly lagged in writing, with a single minded interest in snow machines and caribou) to work together in their individual and separate areas of strength and comfort, and create one, seamless product.

And for Francis, that could have been life saving.