Sasha, a three-year-old girl with light brown hair, is trying to get Elmo back to Grover. It’s 12:35 p.m. on a Friday in early April, and she’s dragging one-inch pieces of virtual railroad track across an iPad screen in an effort to link the two characters. But Sasha is having trouble understanding how to make the pieces connect. Courtney Wong, a research specialist with Sesame Workshop and designated “child whisperer,” encourages her to try again.

“Okay,” says Sasha, now attempting to make the digital Elmo move across the screen—to no avail. Frustrated, she stabs at the image. “C’mon, c’mon, Elmo.”

It’s just a regular day of app testing at Sesame Workshop. Located in two rooms on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, these offices might seem a world removed from the TV show street featuring Oscar’s trash can, Gordon’s stoop, and the ever-cheerful presence of Big Bird. Those enchanted icons are about 20 miles away, on a sound stage at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Long Island City, in Queens, NY, where Sesame Street—now in its 44th year—is filmed.

In this office building, a new kind of magic is being crafted: Sesame Workshop’s digital content. Here, and at other locations, the Workshop has run more than 76 tests over two and a half years to understand how children, ages three to five, adopt and adapt to touch devices in their learning. The brand wants to ensure Sesame Street’s continued success—in a new media world.

A young tester puts an app through its paces at the offices of Sesame Workshop.

Capturing the digital audience

Competition for the pre–K digital audience is stiff, with networks from Disney Junior to Nick Jr.—both nonexistent when Sesame Street launched—vying for the opportunity to educate young children with apps. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Dora the Explorer are deep in the game.

So are Ernie and Bert, since Sesame Workshop considers its digital incarnation to be crucial to its original mission. “The goal has never changed from back in 1969, which is to reach children where they are to get them ready for school, and also to reach underserved children,” says Jennifer Perry, Sesame Workshop’s vice president of worldwide publishing. “Anything that becomes a destination for parents, we have to be there.”

In 1969, that destination was TV. Most families had televisions in their homes when Sesame Street first went on the air. Cocreator Joan Ganz Cooney’s idea of using TV for early learning was revolutionary at the time. For decades, Sesame Workshop and its groundbreaking show owned the block on educational television.

Given that history, the Workshop’s entry into digital involves seismic changes for the organization. While TV and books aren’t disappearing, tablets, smartphones, apps, and ebooks are increasingly drawing preschoolers’ attention. Sometimes it’s Dad handing off his Android during a long wait at the doctor’s office. Other times it’s a school media specialist launching a series of iPad literacy apps for kindergarteners.

Surveys confirm that devices are pulling people away from TV, and devices also tend to be cheaper. Americans spent about 127 minutes a day using mobile apps in 2012—up from 94 minutes a day in 2011—compared to the 168 minutes a day they spend watching television, according to Flurry Analytics, an organization that follows mobile app trends. Today, smartphones are practically given away with many mobile plans. Revenue from app sales generated about $15 billion globally in 2012, and is projected to rise to $25 billion by the end of 2013, according to Gartner Inc., a tech research firm.

Sesame Workshop’s digital earnings are up, too. The organization has seen its digital revenue grow from 5 percent of its total in fiscal year 2011 to 13 percent in fiscal year 2012. According to Sesame Workshop, digital is projected to comprise 15 percent of its overall revenue by year-end June 30.

Making the Workshop’s digital content stand out is crucial, given the direct competition and the vast number of apps for sale—more than 300,000 iPad apps in the Apple store alone. On a recent day in April, Nickelodeon held the third and fifth spots among the top paid iPad apps in Apple’s iTunes education section. Disney had eighth place, with Sesame Workshop’s Potty Time with Elmo at number 41. Among paid iPad books, Disney held three of the top 10 slots, Nickelodeon had two, and Sesame Workshop’s The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone (originally published by Golden Books in 1971) appeared at number 11.

Designing for limited attention spans

Those charged with building the next generation of Sesame Workshop educational tools are doing so with as much thought and research as Cooney invested in the show. But now, more than ever, a three-year-old’s attention waits for no one.

“We have to be nimble,” says Betsy Loredo, editorial director of Sesame Workshop, who is part of the team charged with re-inventing the Sesame Street brand for the digital domain. “Incredibly nimble. That, in some ways, is the antithesis of how we’ve been doing business for a very long time.” Traditionally, that process has been about “testing, testing, testing, and don’t put it out there until it’s perfect,” Loredo says.

“What we are now grappling with is how to balance this thoughtful approach with the incredible speed with which innovation and technology shifts are changing the landscape for kids,” she explains. “I think that’s a struggle every creator of print books currently faces. It’s just compounded for us by this heightened commitment we have to testing and to being a standard bearer for a fun and educational ‘safe space’ for preschoolers.”

An ongoing challenge is figuring out how to make learning fun so that a child doesn’t lose interest and tune out along the way. With that in mind, Sesame Workshop is constantly thinking about how app instructions are delivered to kids. A particular consideration is how long a child must wait before she can launch a story, a game, or any of the 75 live apps the Workshop has available in the marketplace.

“We used to have longer instructs and longer types of prompts,” says Mindy Brooks, Sesame Workshop’s director of education and research. “But now, we’re in this age of immediate responses.” She hits her finger repeatedly on the table, mimicking how a child might interact with a touch device.

Brooks and her colleagues are well aware that if children are comfortable with other apps, they expect to be able to navigate Workshop apps easily, too. They come to the apps thinking, “I can do this,” says Loredo.

“And it’s not responding,” adds Brooks.

“Then it’s broken,” concludes Loredo.

That isn’t the experience Sesame Workshop wants to deliver to the 16.5 million kids and parents it reaches on digital platforms every quarter. As of April, 35 Sesame Workshop book apps live on platform devices including iOS, Chrome, Windows 7, HP, Symbian, and Kindle Fire. And nearly 155,000 book apps have been downloaded so far in 2013, with 1.8 million downloaded since Sesame Workshop launched its first book app in December 2009.

Partnerships with big tech

Sesame Workshop’s dive into digital is aided by partnerships with third-party technology firms, including a $1 million pledge from the software company CA Technologies. That company is working with Sesame Workshop to develop a package featuring videos, lesson plans, and games, including the one three-year-old Sasha was testing, for a future STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) hub on SesameStreet.org.

Another recent partnership, with mobile outfit Qualcomm, focuses on augmented reality tools. For today’s children, this kind of cutting-edge technology is taken for granted, allowing them to play with and explore their surroundings.

At Sesame Workshop’s Upper West Side location, Loredo and Brooks launched a recent smartphone prototype that resulted from the Qualcomm relationship. On a smartphone screen, a grocery list appears for Big Bird. Eggs, carrots, and cereal are items on the list, and the child is charged with finding those same printed words in her environment. Holding the smartphone, the child selects a word and then aims the device at words he or she sees displayed in a grocery store, a restaurant, or wherever she is at that moment. When the phone’s camera sees the right word, such as “milk,” Big Bird exclaims, “Milk, mmm milk.” The screen then pulls up a word tree, providing the child with more context and definition.

Previewed at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the app is expected to launch this fall. It’s already gone through two formative rounds of testing and recently completed a month-long study with about 200 children in a few Head Start Centers in rural Idaho. Sesame Workshop wants to ensure that three- to five-year-olds can enjoy the app without frustration.

From book to app

Sesame Workshop’s ebookstore carries more than 160 titles, with approximately 100,000 ebooks downloaded to date. But print books still sell far more—to the tune of 27 million copies in 2011 alone.

Classics like The Monster at the End of This Book have been refashioned for today’s burgeoning reader, who may encounter his first title in electronic form—still, likely, while sitting on a parent’s lap. Almost prescient in its interactivity, the original version of The Monster at the End of This Book features Grover warning the reader not to turn the next page because of the monster at the end. Of course, the curious child turns the pages anyway, tearing down brick walls and infuriating Grover, who, at the book’s closing, reveals himself to be the anticipated monster, albeit a “lovable, furry old” one that the child adores.

In app form, the reader still pages through the story, sliding fingers along the corners where digital pages flap audibly. The on-screen Grover reads each word, but now we see him tying and nailing the pages, building a brick wall and complaining as the child breaks knots and smashes bricks, animated for today’s young digital users.

Molding future tech

Looking ahead, Sesame Workshop is planning to innovate far beyond book- and TV-derived experiences. A team of employees is analyzing cutting-edge technologies to see what learning experiences they might best support—and they’re even pushing developers to tune their new tech to children’s needs. Miles Ludwig, managing director of Sesame Workshop’s Content Innovation Lab, leads a five-person research and development team in pursuing technologies they expect will become available globally to children of all economic levels. Recently, Ludwig shopped a prototype application to firms working on voice recognition. His hope is to partner on a tool that children play with in which they give Cookie Monster clues to guess what animal they’re thinking about. Since voice recognition software is currently optimized for adult men, says Ludwig, it’s not ideal for the high-pitched musical tones and particular pronunciation that can come from a child’s mouth. Sesame Workshop hopes to change that.

As new technology develops, Ludwig and his team are also considering other places around the home where they could potentially interact with children—for instance, on screens that may be in an oven door or on a refrigerator.

“One of the things we’re thinking about now is embedded devices connected to the home, these sorts of concepts of the future, and what does that mean to us,” says Ludwig. An example might be when “Abby just shows up on this refrigerator screen and communicates something about healthy eating.” Another scenario could involve the Count helping a child count the eggs in a refrigerator, an activity based on the “Number of the Day” from that morning’s Sesame Street TV episode.

Delight in learning

As Sesame Workshop focuses on its longevity, its educational stronghold—the pre–K years—remains its primary focus. Back in the testing room, Sasha is on the iPad, tickling a swimming trunk-clad Grover; she sees him holding lightweight objects like flip-flops instead of heavy ones like metal keys. Sasha’s goal is to get him to let go of objects at the right time so the light ones float into the center of an inner tube. Sasha can’t quite time it right—and the objects end up floating outside the target, missing the goal. Wong offers encouragement.

“Let’s try to aim for that tube,” says Wong.
“I will try,” says Sasha. “I missed!”
“Uh oh, did that float?” says Wong, as Sasha selects a heavy object instead.
“Oooooh,” Sasha exclaims.

From another room, the researcher and show producer laugh, watching as Sasha navigates the game with a toddler’s intensity. She slides her finger once again over Grover and—success. She squeals.

“Look Mom!” says Sasha, immersed in the game. A child’s delight, delivered. Sesame Workshop hopes it’s a learning moment, too.

How big of a problem are STDs for U.S. youth? The Center for Disease Control statistics show that current STD prevention tools aren’t working. Young adults ages 15-24 make up just over one-quarter of the sexually active population, but account for half of the 20 million STDs a year (CDC). Forty-seven percent of high school students have had sexual intercourse (CDC). Only 13% of high school students have been tested for HIV (CDC). The National HIV/AIDS Strategy recommends educating youth about HIV before they engage in sexual activities. About 1 in 3 sexually active high school students did not use a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse. Approximately 60% of adolescents aged 15-19 have not had a conversation about HIV prevention with their parents.

In related news, Qpid.me, an HIV/STD prevention technology and the first sex education tool of its kind, was recently released. Qpid.me is a free app which helps students learn how to find a teen-friendly place to get tested, access their results online, and then confidentially share their status, if they choose. Qpid.me has been made available to health teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), providing a resource they can share with students in grades 7-12. Twelve year olds can get tested for a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and receive results without a parent’s consent in some states.

BBC Earth Wonders.BBC Worldwide LTD. 2013. iOS, requires 5.0 or later. Version 1.0. $3.99.
Gr 2 Up–Earth Wonders offers a collection of images showcasing the fierce and fascinating beauty of our natural world, including rare animals, plants, and natural phenomena. As such, it supports science research, though the brevity of the text may make it a supplemental resource. The app’s real standouts are the hundreds of high-quality photos and numerous videos that bring information to life in a way that text cannot. These can be accessed alphabetically, or by theme, or by tapping a globe.

Providing glimpses into the incredible and often dangerous facets of nature, the videos are sometimes grisly; sensitive viewers may be disturbed by a pack of lions hunting and devouring an elephant. Then again, what child can resist seeing a Venus fly trap capture its prey? Other videos are sheer awe and beauty, such as the time-lapse scenes of the aurora borealis. Users may be put off by the somewhat clumsy interface and the prominent link to purchase the BBC’s Planet Earth television series after each video, but kids will love navigating via the spinning globe. Overall, a welcome resource for those with a keen eye for nature.–Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CA

Fire Station. $2.99
Firefighter Dress-Up. $0.99.
ea vol: JumpSeeWow, Inc. 2012. iOS, requires 5.0 or later. Version 1.0.
PreS-Gr 2-Do your students and know the difference between a fire truck and a fire engine? In Fire Station, Clover the Rabbit takes kids through a cheery animated town where 10 documentary videos on the firehouse and firefighters’ equipment are embedded. Intuitive picture cues are tapped to launch the short films, which range in length from one to five minutes.

The narrated video clips include tours of the two aforementioned vehicles and the station. They star actual firefighters who describe their daily tasks, point out and name the different parts and functions of their vehicles, and demonstrate how they operate. (Two of the videos are available for preview at the Jump SeeWow site.) Children can easily navigate the app, swiping across screens to move through scenes. A few of the images around town are also interactive, but there are no cues pointing to the interactions. One video is of baguette making at the bakery, which may not interest children invested in the firefighter theme.

The app would work well in a preschool or early elementary setting as part of a unit on community workers, and is sure to appeal to children who can’t get enough information on the subject of firefighters. Firefighter Dress-Up is a related app with the same cartoon characters available to color and dress. There’s no text and the interface is clumsy. The clothing doesn’t snap into place easily and users must exit the app to clear the picture. Stick with Fire Station; young enthusiasts will find much to revisit in that production.–Shelley Harris, Oak Park Public Library, IL

Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. Loree Griffin Burns. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. iBooks 3.0 or later; iOS, requires 5.1 or later. Version 1.0. $ 9.99.
Gr 4-9–“There is a lot more trash out there than I expected.” This was the observation of a marine pollution researcher after his first flights over the Eastern Garbage Patch, an area of the Pacific Ocean where currents converge to create a floating landfill the size of Alaska. The vivid images, clear descriptions, videos, and animated diagrams in the iBook edition of will no doubt bring readers to the same realization. The title, one in the “Scientists in the Field” series (HMH, 2007) follows the efforts of Curt Ebbesmeyer and other scientists whose work studying ocean currents included tracking the routes of “roughly 80,000 sneakers” and 28,800 plastic tub toys adrift in the Pacific Ocean after two (separate) cargo spills, and referred to as “the largest and (cheapest) ocean drift experiment ever undertaken.”

The ebook has been enhanced with age-appropriate video content—one or two short multimedia components per chapter, including a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) animation of ocean currents that is both soothing and dizzying at the same time. The news is not all bad, though—readers also learn about scientists and conservationists who use techniques as basic as beachcombing and as advanced as satellite tracking to identify and clean up our oceans. Tracking Trash inspires further research and individual commitment to the environment, and with links to relevant websites and ongoing projects accessible from the tablet, the creators of the app have made it easy for students pursue their interests. Bonus: unlike the print version, the ebook edition isn’t made out of a tree and won’t end up in a landfill.–Paula Wiley, Pink Me

Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe.

Gr 9 Up –Based on two popular BBC science series hosted by physicist Brian Cox, this app immerses viewers in the science behind our solar system and the universe. It contains content from both television series with video clips, animated images, and infographics, alongside an incredibly rich and deep text.

Opening instructions guide users on how to navigate the app’s text and image gallery. The content is organized under the two broad areas (space and the universe), and both of these sections contains a number of subheadings or chapters. Chapters begin with a video clip introduction by Cox. Discussions start small–for example, sub-atomic and atomic particles expands to conversations about galaxies and the universe. A search box linked to a detailed index will help viewers locate specific information.

Cox is a great guide and the two-and-a-half hours of film clips of him discussing a variety of topics bring viewers to new levels of understanding. For instance, in considering the more than 2000 objects that circle the Earth, the author demonstrates what this “congestion” looks like with a clip of the identified asteroids in motion, and later, onsite at the Barrington Crater in Arizona.

Also included are more than 50 high-resolution 3D images that illuminate phenomena such as black holes and nebulae. These, along with authors’ renderings, can be saved, tweeted, emailed, or posted to Facebook.

To describe the content as multi-layered hardly does justice to this production. It’s a course in itself, taught by an engaging instructor, who while imparting his vast knowledge instills his students with awe and wonder appropriate to these otherworldly topics and scenes.—Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal

Kids Discover Galaxies. 2013. Version 1.1. Free.
Kids Discover Space. 2012. Version 2.0. $3.99.
ea: Kids Discover. iOS, requires 4.3 or later.

Gr 5-8 –Kids Discover has produced a number of apps based on their magazine series. Two of the recent offerings include the exemplary Galaxies and Space. The first focuses on the Milky Way and beyond, whilethe secondcovers our solar system.

In both productions, the writing is clear and engaging and the apps do an excellent job of presenting information via text and interactive features. In addition to navigation guides and visual indices, and a combination of pop-up text and/or captions, notes on important figures, Q & A’s, and definitions, these productions include a range of easily accessed elements such as film clips, animations, narrated segments, and background sounds that beautifully illustrate and enhance the accompanying text. For example, the more interactive Galaxies includes a projection of the Milky Way that allows viewers to zero in on Earth’s location and view it from a variety of angles.

Along with some spectacular photography, the apps contain reproductions, artists’ renderings, and colorful cartoon drawings. The activities included at the end of the texts–a jigsaw puzzle, a connect-the-stars drawing feature, etc.–are more appropriate for a younger audience, but these represent only a small portion of the otherwise stellar content. Overall, these are visually stunning, informative introductions to their subjects.—Lindsay Cesari, Baldwinsville School District, NY

You Are Stardust. Elin Kelsey. illus. by Soyeon Kim. Think Thirty-Three/Owlkids Books. 2012. iOS, requires 5.0 or later. Version 1.2. $4.99.

PreS-Gr 3–How often do we take the time to stop and observe the world around us with the children in our lives? You Are Stardust, based on the picture book of the same title, encourages us do just that. Written by environmentalist Elin Kelsey, the text is rooted in science, yet surprisingly poetic.

A comforting female voice narrates the text, accompanied by melodic tones, chimes, and sounds from nature. The book provides a springboard from which to see the interconnectedness of things, to imagine, and to ask questions. It reminds readers to “Be still. Listen,” and suggests that, “We are all connected. We are all nature. We are all stardust.”

Soyeon Kim’s diorama artwork was created using linen fabric; Japanese paper; dried flowers; and color-washed, 2D line drawings suspended inside wooden boxes. It’s extraordinary. The whimsy and 3D feeling of the original art successfully transfers to the digital version and subtle animations of wings flapping, falling stardust, and floating whales further help to enliven the text.

The app opens with two viewing and listening options and opportunity for children to make their own diorama. “More about Stardust” can be accessed to discover how Kim created her art, to read a note from the author, and more.

If it’s been a while since you’ve marveled with your kids about how the electricity in our brains is similar to lightning or the way baby birds learn to sing, You Are Stardust is a great place to start.—Kathleen S. Wilson, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY

Reviews in this column first appeared in SLJ’s column Touch and Go. Please note that later versions of some of these titles may now be available. Visit Touch and Go at slj.com under “Blogs & Columns” for additional reviews, commentary, and interviews with people in the field.–Daryl Grabarek

Atlas by Collins. Harper Collins Publishers. 2012. iOS, requires 5.0 or later. Version 1.0.3. $6.99.
Gr 6 Up–This expansive app contains seven globes: satellite, physical, political, population, environment, communications, and energy. For each thematic section text and illustrations combine to provide an overview of the subject.

“Living Earth” explores the natural world and a variety of landscapes, as well as changes in and threats to the planet, among other topics. “People and Power” considers where energy reserves are located, where energy is produced and consumed, how technology connects the world, and more. These and other subjects are addressed through questions and detailed answers are provided along with captioned photos, charts, and graphs (sources cited).

Viewers swipe to spin the 3-D globes; pinch and pull to zoom in and out. While zooming in the globe will switch to Google Maps with an Internet connection. A location bar at the top of each screen marks the city and country or region displayed. A tap on the information symbol opens a window that reveals country statistics and information on the nation’s land, climate, economy, demographics, and transportation, and a few images. Each entry also includes links to the country’s web site.

Menus below each globe provide readers with additional facts about our planet including birth rates, pollution hotspots, and Internet usage. Color-coded keys and symbols help readers interpret the information. (The app contains no narration or sound effects.)

The satellite globe is the only one that downloads when users purchase the app. The others must be installed individually, and the amount of time required to do so is considerable. While the breadth of information inAtlas is impressive, its tendency to shut down and the substantial amount of storage space required (1.3 GB) may prove problematic for some users.–Cathy Potter, Falmouth Elementary School, Falmouth, ME

Franklin Frog. Barry Tranter and Emma Tranter. Nosy Crow Ltd. 2012. iOS, requires 3.1.3 or later. Version 1.0.2. $4.99.
PreS-Gr 2–Hibernation is on the mind of an amphibian in this interactive, animated introduction to the habits and life cycle of a frog. Users meet the mature fellow resting on a lily pad. From there they direct him through his habitat and day as he hops to land, snares a tasty snail and worm, and swims in a pond, carefully avoiding predators. As the seasons change, the frog hibernates (viewers help locate a likely spot), awakens in the spring, and eventually finds a mate. From one of the eggs laid by the female, a frogspawn hatches and the story begins anew. With its simple activities and circular format, this colorful app is bound to keep young children engaged through several frog generations.

Children can read the story independently or listen to a winning child narrator. There are occasional verbal and visual (glowing dots, blinking arrows) prompts. The background music is soothing and the sounds of pond life, realistic. A delightful balance between educational and entertaining.– Amy Shepherd, St. Anne’s Episcopal School, Middletown, DE

Goodnight Moon. Margaret Wise Brown. Loud Crow Interactive. 2012. iOS, requires 4.3 or later. Version 1.1. $4.99; Android, requires 2.3.3 and Up. Version 1.2. $2.99
PreS-K–On the opening screen Brown’s classic title appears against pastel bed covers, a plush stuffed rabbit, and some not-too-subtle advertising for add-on purchases. A tap to the jacket and the book opens as the background becomes a deep-blue sky filled with twinkling stars. A double-page spread of the story covers only half the screen, so images and text are somewhat reduced in size.

The digital version retains the rich palette of Clement Hurd’s original illustrations, and there are loads of enchanting animations, sound effects, and interactive elements: flickering flames in the bedroom fireplace, a cow that jumps over the moon, stars that dissolve on touch, and the opportunity to inscribe the book with child’s name and/or photo. But there are also features and games that may not be intuitive, or of interest to kids: a mouse hunt, a sticker collection (more for purchase), and a spy glass that enlarges only a small portion of an image or the text while obscuring the rest of it.

The narration is evenly paced and soothing, and a gentle piano tune plays throughout (the volume is adjustable). To advance the text, a long swipe is best; a short one may trigger more interactivity, which can frustrate children.

Parents are likely to be turned off by the add-ons (though the pitch can be locked down), but kids who love this story will enjoy viewing it with animation. While the interactivity will engage them, the extras are just that.–Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal

Photo by Pixland

The Global Education Conference, held around the clock November 12–16, offered a wide range of sessions by and for educators worldwide. A highlight: “Apps Galore: Top Tools for Global Collaboration (iPad),” in which teachers Ruth Metka, Fran Siracusa, and Jennifer Williams at Country Day School in Largo, FL, recommended apps for school use. The educators incorporated these apps as a part of a Flat Classroom Project—a student-centered, multimodal learning environment—during which their school connected with schools in China, Turkey, and Minnesota.

The trio emphasized that the best way to successfully use apps with young children is to pair a virtual activity with a concrete one. For example, their students mailed painted handprints to other schools, but also used apps to create a videos, maps and presentations to send electronically.

The Tripline app lets kids share animated maps to show and narrate their (virtual) travels by pinning pictures, and adding background music or recordings to the map. Combine with any basic weather app to really let kids feel their destination.

For a really fun video-making experience, they suggested the Puppet Pals app. Kids cut out a picture of themselves using a finger on the iPad, then digitally manipulate the puppet on a background of their choice to create scenes. Try taking pictures of your school, then letting puppet-students give a tour.

The Country Day School teachers recommend two educationally-focused social networking apps with Web 2.0 components, which they felt encouraged participation, offered good teacher control, and were generally safe for classroom use. Neither tool requires kids to have an email address to register. The Edmodo app allows teachers to create groups (for example, for same-age classes at schools in different locations). Schoology is a lot like Edmodo, and kids like it because the interface is  similar to Facebook.

Nearpod gives teachers control over the pacing of presentations viewed on the iPad. Slides appear on students’ devices simultaneously, and multimedia and interactive elements keep kids from getting bored with their synchronized viewing experience.

Don’t forget that sometimes the most familiar apps are the most effective, they advised. Skype is a wonderfully versatile tool for connecting live. Just be sure you make clear rules about who gets to talk when — maybe pass around a special “talking stick.” And if you do carry out a global project in your school, be sure to blog about it.

Globaledcon sessions are archived online and can be viewed at anytime—check out presentations on themes ranging from “Expand online professional development for educators with mobile learning” to “The Connected Middle School Student: Fostering Global Collaborations through International Projects.” Presentations on language learning and environmental issues are especially well-represented.

What did people discuss during all this socializing? One topic: How reading, by nature a solitary occupation, can also be a social one. Educational technology consultant Linda W. Braun’s Saturday morning session, “Social Reading: Inside the Ebook Book Discussions,” examined the ways that talking about books creates connection among readers. And while sharing one’s enthusiasm on social reading site Goodreads is terrific, those exchanges happen outside the book.

Enter social reading within Ereaders. Typically, reading an Ebook allows for highlights, note-taking, and sharing on Twitter and Facebook from within the book. Braun showed her audience iPad apps that take social reading a few steps further. First, she introduced two book apps—Wonders of the Universe by Brian Cox (a 3-D tour of the universe, which Braun sees as the future of nonfiction) and Cupcakes! (an app for creating virtual cupcakes; the future of cookbooks).

Braun then introduced two free reading apps—Inkling (allows for purchasing a chapter of a book at a time, the creation of reading groups, and private or public notes) and Kno (a textbook app that provides detailed sharing options perfect for study groups).

David Levithan speaks at the YALSA Lit Symposium in St. Louis. Photo by Emily Goodknight.

But the bulk of the discussion focused on the Subtext app. Subtext allows for the creation of groups, the easy purchase of one title for a group of readers, the side-loading of EPUB titles onto the app (including original student work, for example) and extensive sharing features. It is not only possible to highlight and add notes to the original text, the reader can also tag those notes, mark notes as spoilers, keep notes private, or turn off the notes feature altogether. Every attendee of the session left with a code granting access to a free copy of Steve Hamilton’s (Alex Award-winning) novel The Lock Artist (Minotaur Books, 2010) and the ability to join a reading group to begin November 10th.

This opens up myriad possibilities for both classroom and literature circles. Using Subtext, teachers and librarians can be right in the story with teen readers. Teachers are able to insert questions within the text and implement a setting that cloaks other student replies until the reader has posted themselves. An in-the-book discussion could level the playing field for students who are slow processors. They could read at their own pace at home, taking their time answering questions within the text, yet still feel part of the discussion.

There’s great potential for book club discussions as well. Book club members unable to attend their meetings could still participate in the discussion within the book. Other uses? Prepping for author visits, sharing creative writing projects, peer editing, sharing alternative endings–the list goes on. In sum, Subtext allows librarians to be part of the reading experience. It’s all about building relationships with teen patrons.

On Saturday afternoon, Rollie Welch, collections manager at the Cleveland Public Library, led the session “Classic Literature vs.21st Century Novels: Survival of the Fittest.” The purpose was to share ideas for persuading adults who work with teens to move beyond assigning or recommending classics that rarely appeal to teen readers.

Earlier this year, at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Welch led a pre-conference session in which the attendees chose the one book that every teen should be assigned to read in 2057. In other words, what contemporary YA books will survive as a classic? (At that session, it came down to a tie between Laurie Anderson’s Speak (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999) and Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief (Picador, 2005)).

The YA Lit Symposium session really got rolling when Welch shared 15 theme areas. For each area, he began with a classic novel typically assigned in school, then offered a contemporary novel and a nonfiction title on the same theme. Audience members had a wonderful time recommending alternatives and applauding their favorites. For example, for the theme of “Young Soldiers at War,” rather than assigning The Red Badge of Courage, why not try Craig Crist-Evans’s Amaryllis (Candlewick, 2003) or Evan Wright’s Generation Kill (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004)? In the Mystery category, rather than The Hound of the Baskervilles, consider Rick Yancey’s The Monstrumologist (S&S, 2010), or Richard Jones’s Jack the Ripper: The Casebook (Andre Deutsch, 2009). Rather than Robert Lipsyte’s The Contender (Harper & Row, 1967), try Paul Volponi’s Black and White (Viking, 2005) or Brian Shields’s The WWE Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to World Wrestling Entertainment (DK, 2009).

Welch believes that at least three on his list of classics will still be read and enjoyed by today’s teens–The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Even so, he offered Printz Award winner, Ship Breaker (Little, Brown 2010) by Paolo Bacigalupi as an alternative to the latter in the category of “Hero’s Journey of Self Discovery.”

The YA Lit Symposium is held every other year. The 2014 conference will be held in Austin, TX, over the Halloween weekend.

Angela Carstensen is Head Librarian and an Upper School Librarian at Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City. She also blogs at Adult Books 4 Teens. Angela served on the Alex Awards committee for four years, chairing the 2008 committee, and chaired the first YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adult committee in 2009. Recently, she edited Outstanding Books for the College Bound: Titles and Programs for a New Generation (ALA Editions, 2011). Contact her via Twitter @AngeReads.