Watch on YouTube
Tool Snapshot
Ease of Use
The tool can be used by young students easily. There is a tutorial available for beginners. There are templates available as well, which students can use for convenience. They need very little guidance from the teacher to use storyjumper.
However, the feature of creating books on mobile devices is currently unavailable. The website will open on a mobile device, but it will not allow students to make stories.
Privacy
Storyjumper is COPPA, FERPA, and PPRA compliant. It requires some personal data when logging into it, such as birth date, user name, password, and parent’s or legal guardian’s email address. Student data is not shared with any third party except in some unique circumstances which are clearly stated in the privacy policy.
Accessibility
The website is partially accessible. Users can listen to the audio of stories, which may be helpful for students who are blind or visually impaired. However, children with limited fine motor skills may not be able to make a story on this website because making a story without the use of a mouse won’t be possible. There is no accessibility statement on the website.
ISTE Standards
Knowledge Constructor: This tool can be used by students to create their own storybooks. In the process, they may be locating relevant information from multiple sources and curating it in the form of a book.
Creative Communicator: Students can create their own storybooks through storyjumper. They can make their own characters, develop their own scenes, design illustrations, and craft dialogues in stories using the multiple features available in this tool. Hence, it can be used by students to express their imagination and their ideas creatively.
Global Collaborator: Students can work with their peers when they use this digital tool. Moreover, they can read storybooks created by other students and teachers around the world.
8 Reasons to Use Storyjumper in Your Classroom
Storyjumper and the SAMR model
Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR model offers a lens for examining how technology is adopted in a classroom. As you strive to incorporate online tools into your classroom, we encourage you to use this model as an analytic tool.
This is an example of how Storyjumper might fit into the SAMR Model:
- Substitution: The teacher uses the tool to read aloud digital stories in the classroom rather than reading aloud a book themselves.
- Augmentation: The students are able to not just read, but also listen to the stories using the audio.
- Modification: The students are able to collaborate and create their own digital storybooks.
- Redefinition: Children are able to publish in print and make their stories available to an audience across the world.
Possible Learning Activities
English Literature
Students create their own storybooks by writing an existing story from a different point of view. For example, writing Cindrella’s story from the perspective of the prince. They can create their own stories from imagination or based on a specific prompt.
Science
Students conduct research about a woman scientist or a scientist from an underrepresented race, culture, or ethnicity whose work influenced present-day society and create a digital story about that particular scientist. Students could also show different scientific processes such as the water cycle through a creative fiction or non-fiction story.
Mathematics
Students can create a math book to teach their peers, explain math concepts, or provide practice questions.
History
Students can write stories about people from the past, such as Nelson Mandela, after conducting basic research.
Language Subjects
Students can create stories with multiple scenes, dialogues, and characters.
Resources
- How teachers can use storyjumper (Youtube video)
- Lesson plans and writing projects
- Storyjumper Review by Common Sense Education
- Storyjumper on Linkedin
- Storyjumper on Twitter
- Student guide to storyjumper
- Sample book created by storyjumper tool
How to Use Storyjumper as a Teacher
- Go to www.storyjumper.com.
- Click ‘sign up’ and make your own account.
- For making your account, either use Facebook, Google, or an existing email address to create a new account. Note: If you log in via Facebook or Google, Storyjumper might take data about you from those platforms.
- To create a new account, provide details such as some basic personal information, school zip code, and school name.
- Add as many classes as you want. Each class should be given a name and a password. When a student wants to enter the class, they will be required to open the class link and provide the password.
- Start creating your own books or guiding your students to create their own by clicking on the ‘create book’ icon.
How Teachers use StoryJumper Video (by StoryJumper)
Watch on YouTube
Author
Ezeh, C. (2020). Multimodal Spaces for digital translanguaging: Using “storyjumper” to Engage Bi/Multilinguals in Interactive Storytelling.Teaching English with Technology, 20(2), 118-130.
Ezeh, C. (2020). A Comparison of Storyjumper with Book Creator, and Storybird for Multimodal Storytelling.TESL-EJ, 24(1), 1-9.
Authors
This page was created by Anam Shah.