Web Base Site #2 - Booked to Create
Booked to Create
This week I am going to discuss another app somewhat similar to Voki. With Voki you were able to create a presentation on information through an animated character. This week, your students and even you can present information in a new way! Book Creator is an app/site that allows your students to become authors and create well, their own book! You can try using the app for free, but it would be best to get a subscription. This allows you to track all your kids and all your classes, as you can make separate shelves for each class. An added bonus to this is that only students with the provided code can access the shelf.
Well, now that we have an idea of what Book Creator is, how does it work? Well let's start at the beginning. When starting a new book there are two different options you can choose from. The first being a blank book where you can pick a size and layout. There is a portrait, landscape, and even a comic option. If there is a certain type of project that your students are working on, there is a template option that has premade themes from colors to designs/genres to newspapers, yearbooks, magazine, cookbooks and more. For the purposes of this discussion, I am going to start with a blank template to help walk you through all the options provided. Once you click on the book you want, it will take you to a screen that starts with a cover (page one). On the top you will see a yellow plus button. This is where the possibilities become endless. When you click on the plus, you will see 3 options - tools, media, apps.
Tools
In tools you can insert images, use the computers camera, a pen that allows you to draw anything (or it can detect that you are trying to make), insert a textbox, or even record your voice. With the text box, you can highlight, bold, underline, italicize the text. In addition to that you can make bullet points, change the language, change the font, and even lock it so it doesn't move or make any changes. As for the recording feature, you can translate what you say or generate a transcript.
Media
Under media there are templates that range from graphic organizers, calendars, and even comic strips. You can insert shapes and icons that allow you to edit in them as well. Have a file or video you want to include? No problem! Simply click on the tab to insert them.
Apps
Under the apps tab, it allows for the insertion for emojis, a Bitmoji, Canva designs, Google files, stickers, and 3D Models.
Now that you know about the tools used in Book Creator, you are ready to begin! Insert as little or as much information as you wish. How and what you present in your book is an endless possibility. Book Creator can be compared to PowerPoint, but the idea of students creating their own book, is what makes this site better.
Does this site seem intriguing enough for you yet? Let's go over the benefits of the app. The first, being the most obvious, is that it helps students stay more engaged. Students are able to create their own book. This brings me to my next point in that not only are they reviewing the topic they are learning, but they are also learning about the fundamentals on what it takes for an author to create a book. For teachers, since all work is digital, it can be seen all in one place. It also allows students to see what their friends are working on and you as well. If your students have academic accommodations, it can help those students as well. There is speech to text option, so students do not have to type and after the book is all finish and published, there is a read to me button. Just as in Voki, the one downside to this app is that students might be more worried about picking the right fonts, colors, and pictures. This however gets outweighed by all the other benefits to this. All of the work that the students do will be saved all in one spot and the students can go back and look at their work at any time.
Let me know if this is something that you will use with your students! If you do use it, what did you like and not like? Have fun becoming an author in Book Creator!!
Below is the link to get to the site. You can make a project for free and have your students try it. If they really enjoy it, you can sign up for a trial and create a class group page to see all your students' progress on their work.
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