When I was at the 2013 Apple ADE institute in Bali we all began work on a “One Best Thing” iBook (link launches iTunes). At the time I didn’t really grasp the idea and sort of passed it off as a bit trivial. Nevertheless I was excited about some collaborative projects I had been doing in my classroom so I decided to focus on that as my OBT.

One Best things screen shotQuite a bit of time passed and I didn’t hear anything from Apple. My thoughts on the project joined all the other half baked plans and ideas I have had but never seen to fruition that now reside out in the ether somewhere. Low and behold months and months later I get an email from Apple letting me know they are about to unveil the project. My book was chosen as one of the 100 “One Best Thing” iBooks. All the books were created using Apple’s iBooksAuthor software which is actually a very powerful yet relatively simple app to use. If you are new to iBooks I recommend seeking out some tips and tricks before you begin a new project in earnest. There are definitely some time saving tips and tricks that will make your life a lot easier.

I finally got around to spending some time looking over some of the other titles in the One Best Thing series and I was blown away with the quality and breadth of topics. All these books center on classroom practice and how to use technology in fun, innovative, and meaningful ways. I kept finding myself saying, “Heck Yeah!.. Sweet!… Awesome!. If you find yourself with a moment why not head over and check them out. I almost guarantee you’ll find some nuggets to enjoy.

If you like, you can check out my book, Connecting Classrooms: Activities to Promote Global Collaboration“.

As always any feedback is welcome!