Flex Book downloaded as ePub to iBook.
My Rating: ** out of *****
The Good: The text is relevant and current with a 2012 publication date. The information is accurate and interesting. The book focuses on sustainable energy and examines the issue from a British perspective. The book makes a strong case for looking at the data in order to better understand that we cannot sustain the energy plan used today. Alternative renewable energy sources are critiqued and labeled as "good" or "bad." Graphs and illustrations are good as well.
The resource is a digital version of a textbook. There is no way for the user to interact with the content. No multimedia. Many of the images are not available in the iBook version of the Flex Book. However you can also download the book as a mobi or pdf file. The online version of the book does have images that load without error.
Because the book is written from the British perspective, the units of measurement are also in the British standard format. Metrics throughout as well as other British units not commonly used in United States. The content seems most appropriate for upper-level high school or even college courses studying sustainable energy. It is definitely not appropriate for middle school or lower high school. Information presented is presented in a straightforward way, and the author is quick to point out the good the bad and the ugly when it comes to sustainable energy. The last half of the of the book contains information that is highly technical, leaving me wonder what sort of course might be able to use this depth of information. It is probably best for an energy course at the university level. I believe the book could be an excellent reference book for teachers and I will probably use it this way in the future when teaching an introduction to environmental studies course at our university.
I give this first review a TWO STAR rating, as it is chock full of excellent information, but presented in a traditional way rather than utilzing the potential of learning in the digital age.
I give this first review a TWO STAR rating, as it is chock full of excellent information, but presented in a traditional way rather than utilzing the potential of learning in the digital age.
I wonder if someone could take this content and add mo media and interactivity....I'll have to investigate what types of intellectual property licensing is associated with this content...
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