Dot Learnt

With long car rides, layovers and multi-time zone flights taking charge of your summer, you’re looking for ways to keep your little one occupied. We’re here to share with you ways to inspire a love for reading in your children with these eBook gems!

Solar Systems for iPad: Your child will be consumed for hours on end with this interactive exploration. You’ll have a grand tour of the diverse planet system. With over 40 fully rotatable and zoomable 3D objects and 600 images offered by NASA, ESA and JAXA space mission, your child will find this book to be out of this world!

Wild About Books: Named a New York Times Best Children’s Book for the iPad, this interactive picture book will take your child on an exotic safari excursion. Tilt, swipe and tap away to make the most of the unique 3-D environment.

The Adventures of BB and Sam: This Bon Education created eBook  explores multiculturalism and raises global awareness like  no other eBook I have come across. Plus, the parent pack is the go-to guide for how you can interact with your child in their reading process. Bon voyage! (more…)

With BB and Sam jet setting the world, I thought it would be an appropriate time to check in with the creative minds behinds the series. Take a look at this quick interview with Co-Founders, Anna and Chris Batchelder as they share their outlook on the importance of global awareness and eBooks for kids reading.

What inspired you to create The Adventures of BB and Sam series?

The answer is simple. We are passionate about reading and promoting global awareness amongst children (and adults) around the world! We also have a travel bug. But we have a different philosophy on travel. A lot of people visit a country and try to see as much of it as possible. We prefer to park ourselves in one or two cities for a period of 2-3 weeks and absorb the vibe of the place: the food, culture, people. The best way to get to know a place is to live there. It’s tough when there are so many countries in the world.

What is your process for creating e-books for kids and families?

First we select the country we want to focus on in each story. We spend a significant amount of time in that country learning about the culture, taking photos, capturing original video footage and imagining possible storylines.

Then a tremendous amount of time is spent working with the Bon Education team to write the story, edit it and make sure it is exciting and age-appropriate. We have children, parents and teachers in different countries read the story drafts along the way, to make sure we are on the right track.

We work with our amazing illustrator Richard Peter David to create character and scene sketches, full color illustrations and interactive diagrams. (more…)

Bon Education creates innovative multi-media children’s book series, The Adventures of BB and Sam, using Apple iBooks Author.

Dubai, UAE – May 15, 2012 – Education technology company Bon Education announces the launch of The Adventures of BB and Sam - a new multimedia fiction book series that aims to take children on virtual adventures around the globe via the touch of an iPad. Created with Apple’s iBooks Author, the series is filled with text, illustrations, videos, mood music, photo galleries, quiz features and more.

“When Apple launched iBooks Author as a tool to create engaging multi-touch digital textbooks, we immediately thought to ourselves, ‘This is an amazing tool for creating children’s literature as well!’” said Bon Education CEO Anna Batchelder. “So many kids are choosing to watch TV and play video games over reading these days. By adding a variety of digital enhancements and interactivity to our books, we hope kids will rediscover their love of reading in a digital world.” (more…)

Each month, the Virtual Roundtable Series sponsored by CISCO brings together distinguished education leaders to discuss observations, comments and ideas that are meant to transform education. During the week of February 20^th, the series hosted a roundtable on Social Media in Education – What’s Working and What’s Not.

Anna Batchelder, CEO and Co-Founder of Bon Education was invited to weigh in. Anna directed the conversation towards the use of social media as it relates to cross-cultural understanding, digital literacy and open education.

Alongside Anna, Dr. Ron Burnett, President and Vice-Chancellor at Emily Carr University of Art & Design addressed issues on social media and the philosophy of learning.  Judy O’Connell, lecturer at the School of Information Studies at Charles Stuart University exposed participants to e-learning, game-based learning, ICT in education and media literacy. (more…)

Peer 2 Peer University is back again this month with some added bonuses. Early February, P2PU School of Ed eagerly announced their latest offerings – a new round of free, open-licensed professional learning groups meant specifically for educators.

Classes will begin on March 5^th and will explore a range of topics including:

• Student Grant Writing – Students will learn the grant-writing process
• Empower Your Personal Learning – For students and educators, this course unearths the different manners by which you can take control of your personal learning
• Writing and Inquiry in the Digital Age – Students will have the opportunity to join the National Writing Project
• Effective Use of Multimedia and Graphics – Learn to foster deeper learning through multimedia and graphics
• Global Classroom Collaboration Elementary and Secondary – Teachers from all around the world will talk over and design collaborations in order to bridge international classrooms
• Connected Learning with Youth Voices – A study group that encourages and helps teachers become accustomed to Youth Voices, a school-based social network (more…)

Dear Bon Education Team!

I wanted to wish you all a very happy new year and thank you for your hard work and dedication in 2011.

We are really excited to finally launch BB and Sam (our interactive digital literature app) in 2012 – that’s one of our big goals we have for this year. With all of your fabulous talents and skills I know we can make the final push these next two months towards a successful launch on the app store. We will also continue to grow and build our training and consulting business working with schools, teachers and students to empower and personalize their learning through technology.

I read an article in the NY Times this morning about the CEO of IBM.  He had these four questions that guided his management of IBM.  These are great reflection prompts, both from a company perspective as well as an individual perspective.  (link)

• “Why would someone spend their money with you — so what is unique about you?”
• “Why would somebody work for you?”
• “Why would society allow you to operate in their defined geography — their country?”
• “And why would somebody invest their money with you?”

The answers to these questions are where we’re going with Bon Education.  It’s about focusing on the purpose and impact of the work we do. I trust that if we are happy with our answers to these questions the financial returns required to sustain and grow Bon Education will follow. (more…)

The new year is a time for reflection on both past and future. As the Bon team prepares our Dot Learnt editorial calendar for 2012, here are some of our favorite posts from 2011 that we’d like to remember

We’ve talked about:

Open Education Resources: Hop on over to Stanford University for some free technology courses & with MIT OpenCourseWare celebrating it’s 10^th year in free education, there are no limits to who can receive an Ivy education.

Game Based Learning:  In Learning Hard and Playing Hard we took a look at the evolution of play with ChicagoQuest, the newest addition to the realm of gamed-up curriculums. The school is now open, with hundreds of children currently enrolled in the interactive curriculum. We also hosted Tim Hydari, Practitioner of Development and Therapeutic Play, who delved into the importance of gaming and Play Therapy.

Social Media in the Classroom: After chatting with Yasmin Fodil on how Social Media Can Technically Fix all Your Problems, the CEO and Principal Consultant at BYO Consulting shed some light on integrating social media tools from governments to the classroom.  While in Mohammed and Five of Your Friends Just ‘Checked-In’ To… School? you’ll find hard-hitting examples of what the latest Facebook apps can do for schools in emerging markets.

And some other random emerging market extras: (more…)

Edtechistas and Edtechers – back again for your global education technology fix. Dig in for this month’s most talked about topics unearthing across the globe:

Too Cool for School

These days it is all about mobility. School in a Box brings the very concept of portability and convenience to the notion of schooling. The new non-profit initiative providesaccess to education ICTs in rural populations throughout India and sub-Saharan Africa. Weighing in at 11 KG, the $1600 boxes will set up teched out schools. Each box contains an iPad, solar panel, projector and speakers. Looks like officials in Zimbabwe are liking what they see…

Samsung Africa is shedding some light on education. The new Solar Powered Internet School in Boksburg, South Africa is one of the first of its kind. The Internet accessbile and solar-powered school grants students more accessibility to education, especially throughout areas that lack connectivity.  Shine on Africa!

Spreading that Tech Love

Looking for free Wi-Fi can be tough, but when it comes to emerging markets, finding any Wi-Fi can be a challenge. Last month, the Global Education Challenge, a competition to find original ideas that can improve student outcomes across the globe, announced their annual winners. Prizewinner Neil Dsouza introduced Education Hotspots, a program that provides mobile hotspots and free educational courseware to emerging communities lacking Internet connection. Neil’s in good company – check out the other GEC winners, here. (more…)

• Best individual Blog: Good.is/category/education
  • Liz Dwyer, GOOD’s education editor, continually inspires me. Her posts explore the hottest and freshest topics, and have a unique way of appealing to individuals across sectors.

• Best group blog: http://blogs.worldbank.org/education/blog
  • In an effort to explore global education policy, the World Bank writers delve into the most crucial issues unfolding across emerging markets in terms of education. Their lucid global perspective helps link the development process across the globe.

• Best ed tech blog: http://mobileactive.org/blog
  • This blog taps into the mobile tech developments unearthing in the global community. By doing so, readers instantly begin to understand the true ability of technology to both enhance and reinvent the learning process. (more…)

Fellow EdTechies – as much of the east coast is digging out from the first snowfall of the season, I’m here to remind you that some things do stay hot in the midst of November. Read on for the most thought-provoking topics in the edtech sphere happening all across our world:

Emerging Elements

The Silicon Valley is getting a run for its money. World Wide Web Foundation alongside Mobile Web Ghana are two organizations working together to transform Accra, Ghana into the next tech hub. The team looks to prepare participants with the tech and business skills necessary to start a successful mobile web company. The recent wave of graduates has already created 10 distinct mobile programs.

Nokia has unleashed its latest line of cell phones meant for emerging markets. The Symbian S40 class is alow-end set meant to bring Internet connection to the “next one billion” consumers throughout South Asia and Africa. The Asha 300 and 302 will be released late 2011, running between 85-115 Euros a piece, while in 2012, the Asha 200 and 201 will go for about 60 Euros a pop. Angry Birds, for all!

Tech for the Trade

Eager to find out what UNESCO is up to? Look no further. Tuesday, November 1st marks the launch for the UNESCO Open Educational Resources Platform. In this first-ever platform, users can access UNESCO publications as open educational resources. Furthermore, UNESCO/COL Guidelines on Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education will highlight key issues in terms of integrating OER into higher ed. Get ready to freely use and reshare! (more…)