Have you thought about creating ebooks on Chromebooks? Well I’m super excited to share the news you can now access Book Creator on the Chrome web browser! This means that one of my favorite iPad apps for students is now works on Chromebooks or any computer with a Chrome web browser.
Book Creator is a fantastic open-ended creation tool. It really aligns with a phrase I use all the time – tasks before apps. With this ebook creation tool students can design, publish and share their own ebook with the world. You can use this tool with kindergarteners who draw illustrations and record their voice to share stories from their summer vacation, or you can use Book Creator to have high school students create chapters for a collaborative, interactive guide on any topic as part of an informational writing project.
Since you can know create ebooks on Chromebooks with Book Creator, I wanted to share four reasons I am super excited about this new opportunity for students and teachers! Also, I’m hosting a bunch of webinars for the folks at Book Creator – click here to watch the recordings or sign up for live sessions.
4 Reasons I’m Excited for Book Creator on Chrome
BYOD-friendly
You can now use Book Creator in classrooms with a handful of different devices. Anytime I host a professional development session for schools more often than not, the teachers and students I work with have a variety of access. This might include a class set of one type of devices or the ability to borrow a mix of different devices for a class period or over the course of several days. Since Book Creator is now available on iPads and Chromebooks you can use this open-ended creation tool with a combination of devices in your classroom.
Google Image Search
If you’ve used Book Creator on iPads in the past you know how easy it is to snap a picture on the spot, import a picture from your Photos or add a screenshot from another app onto your page. Now Book Creator has added a Google Image Search feature so students can search for images using Google’s safe-search option and add pictures to their page. If you’d rather have students gather images from another place you have the option to disable this feature.
Increase Collaboration
Now that Book Creator is available for Chromebooks you take collaboration to the next level. Imagine your students are using Google Docs to draft a step-by-step guide for how to solve a math problem. Students might share their Google Doc with a peer. Then they can leave feedback on their draft or work within the same document to generate their step-by-step guide. In addition to this type of collaboration students can combine pages they create in Book Creator with other students to make a collaborative book as a whole class.
Elevate Student Voice
One of the reasons Book Creator is a go-to creation tool is because there are so many ways for students to tell the story of their learning. Kids can write in sentences or draw a picture. They can import a screenshot from another app, record their voice or even add a movie recording to their page. These options help level the playing filed for students who can demonstrate their understanding of a topic, persuade an audience, or tell a story in different ways.
Learn more about Book Creator and how to bring it to your classroom by visiting their website!
And don’t forget – you can sign up for live webinars and watch the recordings of past webinars by clicking here.
Download my list of favorite tech tools for readers by clicking here.
