Macintosh Ilife in the Classroom

Rating:
Summary: Where's the teacher?
Review: First, much as I admire Jim Heid, this is just a reprint of his Macintosh iLife 04 book with a chapter on teaching. The lesson plans are not really pedagogically effective since there's no opportunity for skills development, cross subject connections, or even assessment. There's no instructional purpose given--or even suggestions about fitting them into a standard curricula. I'd much rather read a book written by someone who actually used iLife as part of their instructional arsenal.

Rating:
Summary: Lighten up! This is a great teacher's guide
Review: I received a copy of this book at the NECC conference in New Orleans, and plan to get copies for all the teachers at my school. This book is a great teacher's companion, and it's a lot more than just an "extra chapter" on teaching.

The front section of the book contains a long essay about using digital media in the classroom. It was written by Nikos Theodosakis, who wrote "The Director in the Classroom." He's a real teacher's teacher when it comes to digital media. The essay ranges from philosophical (why use digital media for learning) to practical (how to share a couple of camcorders with an entire classroom).

The back section of the book contains about 10 lesson plans from Apple's Distinguished Educator contest. The lesson plans are very detailed -- broken down into phases, with great tips on shooting, getting better sound, and assessing student progress.

Also, I was amazed that this book doesn't cost an extra cent more than Heid's "The Macintosh iLife '04". They're both the same price, even though this book has about 100 more pages! It's as if Mr. Heid and his publisher were giving this extra material to teachers. I really appreciated that.

This book will change the way our school uses iLife and digital media, and I for one am very glad that PeachPit Press and company have paid attention to educators.

Rating:
Summary: Not much new
Review: Identical to Heid's regular (and pretty good) iLife book with a bit of additional material added. Not what I was expecting in a separate new volume - was expecting much more of a teaching orientation that this book provides.

Rating:
Summary: 75 Additional Very Helpful Pages
Review: The Mac and iLife make a great teaching tool. The basic concept of computers, that they aren't very bright and persist in doing just what you tell them to do rather than what you want them to do is very well brought out. You can certainly teach these things using subjects the kids understand like music, photos, and movies rather than the more traditional word processing, spread sheets, etc.

Basically this book is the authors best selling book on using this software combined with about seventy five pages of information specially aimed at teachers on using this book in the classroom. Seventy five pages of material is enough to make the design of a class around this subject much easier, but not enough to take away all of your work.

The disk that comes with the book contains both DVD information that may help you or some of your advanced students with the concepts. It also contains additional materials that will help with the teaching/learning task.