Scribd is better now

I like audiobooks, I really like audiobooks. They’ve changed the way I access a lot of non-fiction books and give my eyes a break from my daily screen-based grind. When I’m finished reading the things that I have to read on a screen, the last thing that I want to do is to spend more time in front of a screen reading the things that I want to read. Yes, I’m well aware that I can read a “book” but I find the readability of white text on a black screen so much easier for me to track and you can’t beat the portability of all our little devices. 

Back to Scribd. 

Scribd has changed their service, but not their price. Before I was paying $68 HKD per month to get

An audiobook and three books. I found that at this price, it was very limited and prevented me from actually having a solid service. Now they’ve changed to stream what you want (with an invisible, but promised, high ceiling of a limit) 

Now I can grab as many audiobooks as I have time for and there are a lot more quality audiobooks than ebooks that are available. 

If you haven’t gotten into audiobooks, I highly recommend this service. 

For teaching, I would recommend audiobooks for second language learners that would benefit from more access to English. It may even change D.E.A.R. time to D.E.A.L. time (Drop Everything And Listen). 

Verso feedback system

I found this app looking for videos to support my students with educational apps. I found Verso which is an interesting feedback system for students. Based on what I'm seeing, I think it might work well for Secondary ELLs and might also be an interesting tool for university students.

The idea is that you create a class and set assignments. Students write their answers anonymously and either answer the question or look at other students' questions. The thing that I like about this is that a class can comment on each other's work but the person whose work is being assessed can highlight posts that are beneficial to them.

Additionally, teachers can group responses so that related answers can be more easily identified.

Check out the promo video: