Creation Apps for Education

There are many different creation apps available for educators to use in their classrooms. Teachers can utilize these apps to enhance their lessons, and students can use these apps to reflect their learning. I have recently had the opportunity to learn about an app called Storybird. I spent a week exploring the app from the perspective of a student. I learned about the different features available for students and spent time creating products within the app.

Storybird is an app that focuses on the development of fundamental literacy skills. Students can compose written works such as storybooks, longform stories, comics, flash fiction, and chapter books. They can also read, comment, and like other written work from students across the world. Students can also complete daily challenges, and they receive badges or redeemable crowns when they finish these activities. They also have the opportunity to download PDF versions of their storybooks and longform stories, or they can pay to have them printed into a hard copy book through the app.

There are several advantages of using Storybird to create written works. Firstly, the app is easy to navigate. Students of all different ages should be able to use this app with ease. Providing designated text boxes and using the drag and drop method for illustrations simplifies the composition process. Secondly, Storybird has a massive artwork gallery to support student writing. It is easy for students can choose artwork suitable for their projects. They can look up artwork by browsing popular themes, using specific search terms, or flipping through pages of recent uploads! Lastly, this app offers a variety of how-to guides to help students with different elements of writing. These guides address topics such as hooks, dialogue, and depth of writing.

There are also several drawbacks of using Storybird for classroom writing projects. Firstly, it can be difficult to create a cohesive story when the templates only provide images from a single artist. This means that many of the pictures provided in each template are not interrelated to each other. Secondly, students are unable to upload their artwork as a basis for their writing unless they pay for the app. This can be detrimental to the writing process if the students are unable to find a pre-made template to suit their vision. Thirdly, it can be a lengthy wait for the moderators to review written work. This means that students will be unable to share their work with their peers until it completes the moderation process and is admitted into the public library. Lastly, the app limits which kinds of written works students can download onto their desktops. Currently, students are only able to download storybooks and longform stories. This means that flash fictions, comics, and poems have to remain in the app.

There are a variety of different ways that this app could be used in the classroom. In language arts, students could create products in this app that reflect different elements of a story. They could also use this app to create different types of poetry. Students could also make visual stories of historical events in social studies, or they could use it to explain different adaptations of wetland animals in science. This app could also be a great reading and writing alternative to support students with IEP's. The drag and drop composition features also make composition accessible for students with different physical abilities. The combination of illustrations and words makes this app ideal for English language learners too!

Attribution: This science poem was created using StoryBird. It is currently being reviewed by moderators, so it is unable to be viewed on the app at this time!