Learning & Leading Through Technology

Create Your Own Resources for Free with Net Texts

For a variety of reasons includ- ing 1: 1 implementations and overall cost savings, many schools today are looking to phase out textbooks and begin using ebooks in the classroom. But what if one book won’t fit your needs, or you want to create your own resources or use materials from other teachers or content providers?

That was my situation last year when I began using Net Texts, a free content management system that helps teachers replace textbooks with open educational resources (OER) or their own customized multimedia courses.

The Net Texts system consists of a student app for iPads and Android tablets and a content management website for teachers. Students download their courses on their devices so they can access their work anywhere— on a bus, in a car, or at home.

Net Texts allows teachers to find resources created by other educators or professionals. If you don’t have time to create new resources or convert your materials to a digital format, you can use Net Texts to access a library of curated collections of high-quality OER. If you find a course, lesson, or unit you like, you can download it to the content management system and use it as is or tweak it to make the resource your own.

In my case, I needed a way to create my own materials. Using a textbook to teach my ninth grade computer applications class wasn’t a good option because technology and software are constantly changing. And I wasn’t able to find ready-made OER courses that fit my students’ needs. So, instead, I created my own course materials.

Flipped Learning and Teaching

Creating and re-creating course content isn’t the only advantage of using Net Texts. I, like many educators today, am always looking for different and engaging ways to teach. I have found that a flipped classroom model works really well with my computer applications class. In this model, the roles of instruction and homework are reversed.

Students watch and listen to lessons and instructional videos at home, and class time is devoted to projects, discussions, and individualized help.

By flipping my lessons, students get more targeted assistance and improve their understanding of the material.

Why? When you lecture to a class
of 30 students, it can be easy for one
student to fall behind. That student
may have no idea what’s going on but
might be too embarrassed to ask ques-
tions. By recording my lectures and
making them accessible through Net
Texts, students can stop, rewind, and
watch my lessons at home as many
times as they want. It gives them the
time they need to grasp the informa-
tion, which is great because students
learn at different levels.

Having a flipped classroom is also helpful when students miss school because they can still go onto Net Texts and see a video of my lecture. It helps them keep up with the class instead of coming in the next day and being completely lost.

Recording Lectures

To record my lectures, I use an online screen recorder called Screencast-O-Matic. With Net Texts, I can then load all of my materials into a course, divide them into units, and give students access to my content 24/7. I can also add video, PDFs, Word documents, content areas with links and directions, Power-Points, images, and audio. Students