Integrated instruction - love the book!
595949
This was a great book for teaching an integrated science unit on Life Cycle of Butterfly along with basic addition facts  to 10 for students.  It worked very well with students with intellectual disabilities and lends itself to a lot of extension activities.  I liked the repetition and the integration of science and math.  A great idea.  Wish it had more ideas at the back but the few it did have were helpful.
2399496
I just wrapped up teaching a semester CS1 course using Zelle's book.  I hope I never have to use another book besides this, because this text is simply fantastic.

This was the third version of CS1 I've taught, and the first using Python instead of C.  The use of Python definitely contributed to the smashing success of this class (as did an exceptionally strong group of students), but much of the credit must go to this book.

Honestly, Zelle just nailed it.  The examples are illustrative and convincing:  his is one of the few books that manages to avoid the trap of silly and unreal examples that therefore provide no context for a student.  His writing is crystal clear and very well organized, replete with very helpful diagrams and illustrative examples (did I mention the examples?), and he has obviously paid a lot of attention to the aspects of programming that students find most difficult.

And the exercises:  wow.  This is the first time I haven't felt the need to write my own (although I did anyway, because it's fun).  They are fair but challenging (sometimes very), and for those of us on the teaching end, you'll be happy to know that the instructor's resources come with _complete_ sets of working solutions to all of the exercises.

Three chapters stand out in particular.  First is the chapter on graphics (Ch. 5).  Students love graphics, and Zelle has included a very nice wrapper on top of the TKinter library, which makes for a GUI package that students can actually use.  Second, there's the final chapter that actually introduces recursion and some of the interesting algorithms from the science (searching/sorting, permutations, etc.). I had a lot of fun demonstrating the difference between sorting /usr/share/dict/words with insertion sort (about 6 days) and merge sort (about 6 seconds).

But possibly the best chapter is one I almost skipped:  the chapter on software development, which is centered around a case study development of a "racquetball" simulation.  At the last minute, I decided to use this chapter as the jumping off point for integrating the ideas we'd seen up to mid-term into real software development.  I am convinced that this made the class.

Now there are a couple of things you might want to add as an instructor:  The main one is the fact that Python is such a high-level language, with so much hand-holding built in, that I'm worried that students going on to later CS classes in other languages could get a nasty surprise.  I finished up my class with a primer on languages with static type systems, in which you don't have wonderful Pythony things like string/list slicing, built-in hashtables, etc.  In a second edition of this book, I'd like to see another chapter on this.

Second is a very small quibble, and really just boils down to a difference with Zelle about the order in which I like to teach this material.  I ended up using every chapter in the book, but in the order 2,3,4,7,8,6,9,11,5,10,12,13.  As yet another thing I love about this book, the chapters are independent enough from each other, that I was able to do this with only careful selection of the sections.  Actually the book lends itself very well to alternative orderings.

In short, I simply have nothing bad to say about this book, and lots of good.  Zelle hit this one out of the park.  Everybody should be using it.
3513580
This is a wonderful resource!!!!  It's a MUST-HAVE item if you're an educator and you want to integrate other subject areas and lessons.
650288
Apple Training Series:  iLife '09

This book is an excellent resource for someone wanting a hands-on learning tutorial about every aspect of the iLife Suite:  iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD.  This is not a "how-to" reference manual -- you won't find feature listings or troubleshooting tips.  Its exclusive goal is training sessions with pre-developed material to be done a classroom or self-teaching format.  For someone who has never been exposed to these programs, it's a great resource with which to start from scratch.

Each module has lesson files that are installed on your computer and gives you a time estimate of how long the project will take.  According to the book's estimates, it will take you about 13 hours to complete; however for me the modules went much quicker.  Fortunately, since the materials are already created for you on the included DVD, you don't have to actually shoot video or load pictures to understand the lessons.  You'll be able to follow exactly line-by-line along with the book and compare actual results.  The book is well laid out with real screen shots for every outcome, so don't be intimidated by its size.  At the end of each module is a quiz to test your knowledge of the subject.  Obviously this makes an excellent text book for instructor or group study.

Personally, I was new to iLife '09 but have used previous versions.  The book skipped over computing basics and focused primarily on new iLife features such as Face Recognition in iPhoto. The modules were extremely well paced and I had an excellent grasp of the subject material at the end. My only major complaint is that between iLife programs, the authors did not stay consistent and the lessons at times were confusing, as not all the authors had the same skill level or approach to teaching.  Nonetheless, the book was outstanding as is typical of the Apple Training Series.

Pros:  Training modules for the key features of the iLife Series along with pre-developed material
Cons:  Inconsistent style of lessons between modules.
1966
I've bought other instructional computing books, but I highly recommend the Visual line. Who wants to wade through a lot of text when learning to create formulas in Excel, or creating a query in Access? This book shows me step-by-step exactly how to do a task. Well worth the money!
4551200
Estelle Liebling, teacher of Beverly Sills and Rockwell Blake, obviously knows what she is talking about! The book is simple to use and very helpful. Tons of explanations, examples, warmups, etc. 5/5!
1802243
I was dreading learning the VI editor because it seemed to be a very nitpicky, detailed program. However, it seems Lamb/Robbins know what they're doing, because I'm effortlessly learning the material for a college class right now. They attack all sorts of scenarios, use helpful visuals amply, and give VERY HELPFUL charts to review at the end of each chapter. I wish I saw such helpful characteristics in other computer books. Great going!
1717230
Love this book so far. It's extremely easy to follow and get into and honestly makes me excited to study everyday. The integrated workbook is a really great way of making what you learn actually stick. Highly recommend this book series.
2473509
Roberts and Kellough's book, A Guide for Developing Interdisciplinary Thematic Units, provides the reader with an easy-to-follow approach to developing an integrated thematic unit.  The authors provide the reader with important vocabulary and concepts, and walk the reader through the thought processes that go into designing a thematic unit.  In addition, the book provides the reader with several examples of thematic units, including the individual lesson plans included in the unit.  Finally, the authors even provide the reader with reflective questions that guide him/her through the process of evaluating the effectiveness of content, design, and delivery of the unit of instruction.  This book will definitely remain a permanent fixture in my professional library.
1203850
I teach classes at a local community college and am always looking for new "hands-on" learning exercises I can use in class. This book packs a wallop! I quickly added 10 new learning exercises based on information in this well thought out book. I highly recommend it.
4441260
Great book - lucid presentation and current material. Students will get to learn the most recent tools and methods and all the cutting edge material has been packaged at a very affordable price by Dastidar. Wish the book all success!
4093152
This excellent teaching guide easily earns five stars from me for clarity of composition; reproducible, customizable, ready-to-use forms; ease of implementing ideas in classrooms; thoroughness of methodology; and reasons for doing certain things. What more could a teacher need?

I was pleased to see the VERY helpful quote from Ron Strahl, director of South Basin Writing Project, which pinpoints a foundational problem with students' inability to write. "The Strahl factors," as I call them, are alone worth the price of this book: Implementing his wise and practical input--along with Gallagher's methodology--all but guarantees a successful writing program.

Replacing the "one rubric fits all students" idea with customizable rubrics that the class and teacher create together for each writing project is a wonderful idea! Let's face it: Not all students have the same strengths and weaknesses in the world of composition; the customizable rubric addresses each student's issue(s). Gallagher thoroughly explains how to do this--including the grading aspect. Gotta love it!

The appendix contains the reproducible forms necessary to implement the ideas in this book: customizable rubric, independent correction form, customizable spelling "demon" form, etc.

So, if you're looking for something feasible to inject into your writing program that will actually help your students become better writers, this is it. I'm not saying all your students will become highly respected published authors; but I am saying that their writing will improve--regardless of their present level.

BOTTOM LINE: BUY THIS BOOK!
1392986
Excellent strategy book for both undergraduate and MBA. Rothaermel has done a great job integrating new research and current issues in a format that works well for class discussion. In essence, he has figured out how to present the right amount of content to foster dialogue in the classroom. I use the opening chapter case as a platform to begin discussion of chapter content--and the minicases are great bookends to discussion as well.  The organization of the chapters is terrific; great charts and exhibits--lots of fresh anecdotes with new companies like BYD featured alongside long-established auto manufacturers. I highly recommend this book. The book also works well if you want to integrate content with a competitive simulation game.
4680049
Ordered this book after participating in a seminar related to first principles. I was interested in learning more; this book certainly answers the mail. Book is organized in three sections, description of first principles and guidelines for evaluating instruction, second section provides some application for applying the principles to design instruction, third section covers research supporting principles. The book is not a quick read, as each component is covered in pretty good detail.  Thought the online component was good, and I liked the macro's for powerpoint and the way powerpoint was used to storyboard-preview instruction during development.  I'd recommend this book for those designing instruction, particularly if you are not very familiar with prescriptive principles for designing instruction...this book provides a solid introduction to the concept of selecting and applying research-based instructional strategies by content type.
4681850
This book was used in my intro to C# class and I love it! I have taken intro to Java, Visual Basic and SQL and this is the only book that actually liked to learn from. From my experience in the classroom students who did not actually read the book had the hardest time understanding the concepts and would ask questions that, had they read, were in the text. An example would be whether interfaces have to be a separate file or if they can be within the program.

With regard to the person who gave this one star, he is correct that this is a text book. However the quality alone, makes it worth more than one star and being disgruntle about purchasing a book for one price, knowing there are others you could have purchased for less...is really your own fault for not researching. If you have never done programming and you want do to C#, you should consider this textbook before some of the more difficult to follow books on the market, despite price tags. Not all C# intro books are the same...

The only thing that I sometimes found irritating about this book was that if you do the step-by-step of some of the chapters, the smaller programs do not always work, even though there is a screen shot of the program working. The program worked at the later stages of the chapter, but the text presents it like if you build this code block and press "play" it will work and that is not always true.

I loved the "You Do It" exercises at the end of each chapter. This provided a great way for me to connect the dots from what I had just read and create a working program with the newly learned concepts. I never ran into any problems getting these examples compile and execute either.

I would recommend this book to any beginner who wants to dive into programming. In some respects knowing a little bit of Java would be helpful because the author references Java and C++ several times. I would not think that is a requirement though; you will still be able to learn and apply this knowledge easily.
4968360
I recommend this book for any Instructional Designer, Corporate Trainer, or Teacher looking to increase engagement in their eLearning courses by taking advantage of multimedia tools. Not only does it teach you about many great tools freely available on the web but it also teaches you how to configure Moodle so that you can make the most out of those tools. Even a seasoned instructional design veteran can learn about a new multimedia tool or two from this book.

I wrote more about this book at the link below:
[...]
1484290
I am a professor of Industrial Design at Pratt Institute, and teach 3D Studio along side a CAD program for product development and visualization. It is impossible in this curriculum to teach 3D Studio in a comprehensive  manner. I have been using Harnessing 3d Studio Max to enhance my teaching  and allow the interested student to learn beyond the course work. I have  found this book to be an excellent self-teaching book, written in an easy  to follow language, with appropriate examples and step-by-step construction  techniques. A thorough contents page allows you to find previously read  sections, making this book a frequent reference. Michelle writes in a human  voice, anticipating the many questions of the new user. I have enjoyed the  book to further my own understanding of the program and to learn techniques  that have previously escaped me. I recommend this text to anyone learning  3D Studio Max on their own.