EDIA Papyrus - A Tool for Materials Writers and Publishers

As a materials writer, editor and publisher, I’m constantly looking for tools that will save time, increase quality, and make my life easier. One of the best of these I’ve found recently is EDIA Papyrus.

How it works
EDIA Papyrus is a very simple to use tool that analyses the level of any text I write against a target level and shows me how close to my target level the text is.

More than that, it can show me which words will be difficult for the level and if I click on the words it will offer me some substitute words and show me what level those words are.

The tool is based around analysing text in relation to the CEFR, so it’s great for TESOL and TEFL teachers who want to create their own materials and professional materials writers, but it can also cross reference to a range of other measures, so almost anyone who writes educational text should find this useful.

It is possible to write directly into the EDIA Papyrus interface, but I tend to copy paste between my own documents and EDIA Papyrus as at present there is no way for free users to save their documents there.

Pricing
EDIA Papyrus is a free tool for any individual teacher, but there is an API for any publisher or content production company. This is really useful if you use a number of writers and you want to help support them and standardise the level of their content across a product.

The API can plug into a number of different tools such as MS Word or Google Docs and this enables writers to check the level and change vocabulary and sentence length as they type rather than having to go to the EDIA Papyrus site to do it.

The API is based around a per-text costing and if you are interested in finding out more about the API it’s best to contact: walter [at] edia.nl

I have to say, I’m becoming a regular user these days, as it is a quick way to check the level of a complete text and get a really good understanding of how I need to change it.

I hope you find it useful too.

You can find links to many more tools like this and activities for the digital classroom in my ebooks at: https://payhip.com/peacheypublications

To sign up for my free newsletter and get a free copy of Digital Tools for Teachers go to: http://eepurl.com/dtgL79

Check Out My Books:

• Hacking Creativity
• 10 Short Image Lessons
• 10 Lessons in Digital Literacy
• Digital Video
• Thinking Critically through Digital Media 

Best
Nik Peachey

Creativity, Global Issues and the English Language Classroom

It’s been gratifying over the last few months to see an increase in interest in the role of creativity in learning and particularly language learning, so I thought I’d share some of the work I’ve been doing with Alan Maley on behalf of the British Council and hope to encourage a few more teachers to get involved with the C Group.

I was really glad to see the culmination of over a years’ work come to fruition with the publication of Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom. This is book is now available as a free download from the British Council site.

The book focuses on the development of a deeper understanding of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 and explores creative ways teachers can raise awareness of and promote these goals among our students.  This is a book I co-edited with Alan and also wrote a chapter for and which I presented in a live webinar on October 5th for Teachers’ Day.

Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom from Nik Peachey

The book was a follow on from our earlier volume Creativity in the English language classroom - also published for free by the British Council back in 2015.

This is where the C Group comes in as the first book would probably never have existed if it hadn’t been for the work of Alan Maley in bringing together a group of teachers and authors all of whom shared a similar concern regarding an increasing orientation in teaching towards tests and certificates.

The C Group first met in Harrogate in 2014 and it was out of that first meeting and with the support of the membership that we were able to put together a proposal for the book.

Since then the C Group has grown considerably so it’s something that I would like to encourage more teachers to get involved with.

If you are interested in finding out more about the C Group please visit their website or Facebook page.

If you have work related to creativity in ELT that you want to circulate through social media or what to track what others are sharing please use the hanshtag  #cre8

I hope you enjoy these books and they help to spark your own creativity.

My eBooks:

• 20 Tech Enhanced Activities for the Language Classroom
• Digital Tools for Teachers
• Thinking Critically through Digital Media
• Exploiting Infographics
• 10 Lessons in Digital Literacy
• Digital Video – A Manual for Language Teachers

Best
Nik Peachey

Exploiting Infographics for Digital Literacy and Critical Thinking

This is just a short post to anounce the publication of my new ebook 'Exploiting Infographics for Digital Literacy and Critical Thinking'.

Exploiting Infographics follows on from 10 Lessons in Digital Literacy, which is a collection of lesson plans based around infographics, and looks in more depth at the genre and how infographics can be used as both sources of information and as creative learning tasks for students.

The tasks that accompany the infographics are intended to encourage students to think more critically about the information they are exposed to and to question the sources of information they find whilst browsing the internet. Exploiting Infographics should help teachers to start creating their own tasks, activities and lesson plans for students and to integrate infographics in a way that will enhance students’ critical thinking, digital literacy, language and communication skills. Exploiting Infographics was conceived as part of The Digital Classrooms Series which started with the award winning Digital Video - A Manual for Language Teachers.

The series is intended to help teachers, teacher trainers, materials writers and course designers integrate digital technologies into their classroom practice in a pedagogically sound and impactful way. I hope you enjoy these books and find them useful. Related links:

• My Lesson Materials

Nik Peachey

Empowering Teachers Through Self Publishing

This is the slide deck from my Keynote presentation at the 8th Virtual Round Table Web Conference 6-8 May 2016 (Fri-Sun). It covers my journey through self publishing and has tips advice and links for anyone who wants to publish their own ebook.

Empowering Teachers Through Self Publishing from Nik Peachey

You can also find more tips and advice at: http://peacheypublications.com

Related:

• Nik Peachey on Payhip 
• Digital Video - A manual for language teachers 
• 10 Lessons in Digital Literacy 

Best

Nik Peachey

Digital books for teacher development

Within the last few weeks I have launched my first attempt to raise the funding for a project to create the first in a series of digital e-books for teachers.

The project is called Digital Classrooms and the e-books will be aimed at helping teachers with both the technological and pedagogical aspects of exploiting new technologies. If the project is successful, the first of the e-books will focus on digital video and will be followed by others on developing digital literacies, using tablets and mobile devices inside and outside the classroom, developing speaking and listening skills with technology and a whole load more.

You can visit this link The Digital Classroom and watch the video below to find out more about the project.


If you think this project is of value, I’m hoping that you will help and support me in a number of ways.

How you can help

• You can share this link to the project http://igg.me/at/nikpeachey/x/4856585 with anyone you think might be interested in it.
• You can back the project by buying an advance copy of the book. (You should receive the actual e-book some time over the summer.) Click here for more information
• If you are really interested in the project and would like to be involved in producing it, then there are a number of ways you can get involved.
• You could write an activity or a review for the book. You would do this with my guidance and support and the piece would be published in the book with full credit to you. You can find out more here: Write an activity or review
• You could also help me by reviewing the finished book before it is published and sending me suggestions for improvements I could make before it is released. Again you would be credited in the book for your contribution to its development. You can find out more here: First look reviewer
• Finally, the simplest and easiest of ways, is to contribute your suggestions for what this first book should include. You can add your ideas for activities or recommend links to sites that should be included etc. on this interactive questionnaire.

If you are just interested in finding out how the project progresses, then you can get regular updates on the Digital Classrooms Facebook page. Just follow the link and click on 'Like'.

If you are interested in finding out how to create your own digital e-book and discovering some of the problems I come across and some of the resources I find to overcome these problems, then you can follow my digital magazine on Flipboard, where I’ll be sharing some of the ups and downs and insights into the project. Digital Classroom on Flipboard

I hope you find this project interesting, follow along and help me to make it a reality.

Related links:

• Publishing 3.0 - A new model for independent educational publishing 
• The Digital Classrooms on Indiegogo
• Digital Classrooms on Facebook
• Digital Classroom on Flipboard

Best

Nik Peachey

Create an eBook from Online Articles

ReadLists is a great tool for creating eBooks from any content you find online and you don't even need to register!

Just go to: http://readlists.com/new/ and paste in the URLs of any articles or webpages you want to include in your eBook then click on 'Add'.

Once you have finished adding article to your book, give it a title and a description.

 Then all you have to do is send it to the device of your choice.

You can also share the eBook on Twitter or Facebook or get a URL or Embed code for it.

Here's the URL for the Top 10 Most Popular Blog Postings from my Learning Technology Blog. You should be able to open this on iPad or iPhone or on any other reader: http://readlists.com/b7254a42



This is a great way to create eBooks from your own online content or from any content you find online.

• You can create and share reading lists for courses.
• Create your own eBooks of yours or your students' stories.
• Create your own collection of your favourite articles.
• Collect a reading list of articles to read when you don't have an Internet connection.
• Webpages that you capture in this way can be much easier to read and of course you have all the eBook's mark up and note taking functions which will store all your annotations on the eBooks you create.

There are a few things to watch out for though.

• Remember copyright. If you are creating eBooks from content that belongs to someone else, get their permission, especially if you start distributing it.
• It's a shame that video and other embedded elements from the webpage aren't included in the eBook version.

I hope you find ReadLists useful.

Related links:

• eBooks for Kids that Read Themselves 
• Create Books for the IPad
• Free ebooks on elearning
• Free Web Publishing Community
• Fantastic Free E-Books for EFL and ELT

Best

Nik Peachey