Tech Play 3: Creativity Tools

For this Tech Play assignment, I looked at three creativity apps on the iPad that focused on “digital storytelling.”

Book Creator:

The first app I looked at was “Book Creator” for iPad. With this app, students can create their own iBook. Students are also given the option to upload their finished books to Google Drive or Drop Box cloud computing services. From there all of their classmates can access the finished product. Some cool features of Book Creator include the ability to add video and audio straight from the iPad’s built in camera and microphone. Students can also choose from pre-made themes to add illustration to the “pages” of their book. A drawback of this app is that it does not have an online component, so it would only be useful to students in a school where Apple products are made available. 

SonicPics:

Next I looked at SonicPics, which is billed as a “digital storytelling app.” Students can use this app on the iPad to create narrated slideshows. They can use photos stored in the iPad’s camera roll, or upload new photos. I like that the app has the ability to automatically sync the user’s voice to the timing of the slideshow. It also has cross-platform capabilities, as there is a version for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. One drawback is that it is limited to just photos. I did not see that there was a way to incorporate video or animation in any way.

Comic Book:

Lastly, I looked at the Comic Book app for iPad. This one is my favorite and the app I have chosen to focus on. With the app, students create their own authentic-looking “comic book.” The content is entirely up to the user. Once the students finish their book, they have the option to print, Tweet, email or upload to another computer, which makes the app very versatile. I like this app specifically for the age group I teach (6th graders) because I have noticed over the years that they really enjoy graphic novels (which are like comic books.) I think this would make the app engaging and relevant for them. The only possible drawback that I see is that there seems to be a lot of in-app purchases that are needed for full functionality of all of the features. 

Comic Book for iPad and TPACK: 

From my understanding of the TPACK model, the main objective is to achieve the intersection of all of the “knowledges”: Pedagogical, Content and Technological knowledge. The purpose in doing this is to integrate technology that is relevant to the learning and not just there to be there. I think you could easily achieve this intersection using an app like Comic Book. For instance, in my social studies class, two of my yearly objectives are to teach my students about sequences of historical events and cause and effect in a historical context. My pedagogical knowledge tells me that they students learn these concepts best by creating examples and scenarios on their own. In terms of content, almost any historical time period or series of events (like the battles of the American Revolution) could lend themeselves to representation through Comic Book projects. Students could use Comic Book to demonstrate cause and effect through a graphical re-telling of historical events that actually happened. Re-telling the rise and fall of the Roman Empire in comic book form would be a really cool and engaging intersection of content, pedagogical and technological knowledge. 

Other Uses: 

Students could also use Comic Book to keep a running “story” of their studies throughout the year. They could use this as an engaging format for review for cumulitive exams at the end of the year. 

Important things to know about creativity tools: 

Creativity tools in the classroom deliver a whole new level of engagement in learning. They allow the students to develop true ownership of their own learning processes and make them responsible for demonstrating the learning effectively. I also feel like online and app-style creativity tools offer a level of relevance that other tools do not. They are constantly changing to keep up with what is appealing to the young learner’s interests.