Imagine transforming your classroom into a dynamic storytelling hub where students can visualize narratives, plan projects, and express their creativity -- all with ease. Canva's Storyboard Templates provide educators with a powerful and user-friendly tool to bring lessons to life. With a vast collection of free, customizable templates, teachers can guide students in mapping out stories, planning videos, or organizing ideas visually. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface, coupled with access to millions of images and design elements, makes it simple for students of all ages to create compelling storyboards. Whether it's illustrating a historical event, scripting a science experiment, or crafting a digital narrative, Canva's storyboard templates foster engagement, enhance comprehension, and encourage collaborative learning in the classroom.

tag(s): collaboration (105), digital storytelling (158), reading comprehension (144), writing (306)

Google Vids is an AI-powered video generation tool that works within the Google Workspace. Follow the prompt to begin a video from this site, or visit your Google Drive, select the plus sign to add a new item, and choose Google Vids. The prompts guide users to select a format and options for creating videos from slides, uploads, storyboards, templates, and more. The free version available to education accounts includes access to a robust library of royalty-free stock media, including video clips, images, and background music. Real-time collaboration allows multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously, making it ideal for group assignments. Share videos using the share link.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (256), creating media (16), digital storytelling (158), stories and storytelling (71)

Create flipbooks from your documents or artificial intelligence, or start from scratch with FlipHTML5. Free plans offer five daily uploads, six pre-designed layouts, and mobile-friendly options. Choose from several language options to include in the book's contents. Choose from several AI generators for creating storybooks, magazines, flashcards, and more. Utilizing the AI generator to create a book requires several minutes, so it's important to plan for this option ahead of time.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (256), digital storytelling (158)

Adobe Podcast offers a platform for recording podcasts with high-quality audio. This tool is ideal for teachers who want to incorporate multimedia projects into their classrooms due to its ease. The website provides tools for clear audio enhancement, automated transcription, and easy editing, making it simple even for beginners. Teachers can use Adobe Podcast to guide students in creating podcast episodes for assignments, sharing research, or building communication skills. The ease of use makes it an excellent resource for all learning levels. When the podcast is complete, it can be downloaded and shared. Sign up for a free account to begin.

tag(s): digital storytelling (158), multimedia (56), podcasts (150)

Transform over a thousand classic books into choose-your-own-adventure games using Playbrary and artificial intelligence (AI). Playbrary works with the free version of ChatGPT, reviewed here to generate interactive game choices using over one thousand books. Create games in one of two ways: use the "Play With Our Prompt Generator" link to select one of the books in the dropdown list, such as Jane Eyre and The Jungle Book, and choose "Generate." Follow the prompts in ChatGPT to play the interactive game. Use the "Play Now" link to select from a more extensive library of books on Playbrary and begin the choose-your-own-adventure game. After playing the game, players can borrow a digital version of their book. Always verify the accuracy of information shared when using AI tools.

tag(s): artificial intelligence (256), digital storytelling (158), game based learning (286), gamification (95), literacy (124), literature (213)

826 Digital provides materials and support that encourage students in the power of writing. By providing tools to educators that offer new approaches to writing, this foundation works toward giving all students access to quality writing instruction. Create your free account to find mini-lesson Sparks, topic and genre-focused lessons, and larger projects based on topics or themes. View the Writing Gallery to find a large selection of student writing examples. Save materials located on the site to your Google Drive, Pinterest, or download a PDF document to your computer. After creating an account, use the filters within each type of content to find activities sorted by grade level or type of writing.

tag(s): creative writing (126), descriptive writing (43), digital storytelling (158), expository writing (31), persuasive writing (52), process writing (35), writers workshop (31)

Google Slides is the presentation tool component of the Google document collection. Use Slides to create slide presentations that include images, animations, embedded videos, and much more. Create your Slides or choose from pre-made templates to fit your needs. Share Slides for others to view or adjust settings to allow collaborators to edit presentations in real-time. Slides automatically saves your work to your Google Drive using auto-save, making it easy to share and save all updates across any device. In addition, Slides works with PowerPoint, offering you the ease of uploading a PowerPoint file to Slides or importing any Slides presentation to PowerPoint.

tag(s): blended learning (28), multimedia (56), Online Learning (32), remote learning (32), slides (38)

If you don't have a Microsoft Office subscription, no need to worry, access and create PowerPoints online with the free version found at the Office Online site. Start from scratch with a blank presentation or choose from the many templates on the site. After selecting a template, add text, images, draw, and incorporate all of the features of PowerPoint. The default option includes the Simplified (single line) Ribbon, turn it off to view the enhanced Ribbon with additional customization options. PowerPoints created at the online site save automatically to your OneDrive account that is accessible from any device. Use the share link to copy the link and email your presentation.

tag(s): Microsoft (55), multimedia (56), slides (38)

Create and share professional-looking videos with Adobe Express Video Maker. Scroll down the page to read the easy step-by-step directions. Then click the Create button. Follow the prompts to begin your creation using a story template or start from scratch. Add videos, text, music, and more to your video. Easily rearrange, change themes, and add components until satisfied. When finished, publish your video to share or download it to your computer.

tag(s): blended learning (28), communication (119), digital storytelling (158), multimedia (56)

Collaborate with classrooms around the world through this story-telling project. Sign up to create your collaborative tale based on a book and told through five different activities (find these by clicking Resources). Work together with your assigned partner to define topics of study (each class chooses their own based on their own needs). Once started, participate in the five activities by completing each segment within 48 hours. The complete project takes place within a two-week time frame. Both classes use Adobe Creative Cloud Express, reviewed here, to share their final stories. To participate, complete the Google Form application on the Travelling Tales website.

tag(s): collaboration (105), cross cultural understanding (178), digital storytelling (158)

Notebook.ai is a story planning tool for writers. After registering, choose from different sections of the site to begin creating different portions of your fantasy world. Options include universe, character, world, creatures, governments, and much more. Free accounts allow you to build up to five universes with unlimited characters and items. Upload up to 50 mb of images to use within your stories. The default setting for all story tools in Notebook.ai is private, turn on the public setting to share a link with others to view.

tag(s): characterization (18), creative writing (126), descriptive writing (43), digital storytelling (158), stories and storytelling (71)

Create interactive digital stories with Elementari. Features include drag-and-drop text, illustrations, shapes, and integrating coding. Start by setting up your classroom to integrate storytelling with coding. Click Explore from the top right menu to find interactive literacy lessons that combine coding with your curriculum. On the left is a column for choosing your grade level and topic. Each lesson includes an Introduction, Objectives, Coding Concepts Covered, Student Directions, and a Project Example. There are plenty of lessons to choose from to help your students become familiar with Elementari's features. Once students know how to use Elementari, let them create their own stories. After creating your account, select the option to write your story. Follow the prompts to add Elementari's free images, backgrounds, audio, and more. When finished, preview your story, then publish. After publishing, share using social media links or the provided embed code. You can also create 1 class with 35 students. Students do not need email to use Elementari. Students with existing accounts can also connect to your classroom. Students can choose an avatar from the ones provided and cannot upload any pictures. Teachers must approve stories before they can be published. In the Help Center, be sure to search for Curriculum Guide!

tag(s): coding (97), creative writing (126), digital storytelling (158), writing (306)

Adobe Express for Education (was Adobe Spark for Education) offers this version of it's popular presentation tool, reviewed here, specifically for education. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education to create multimedia projects or presentations using the available templates and graphics tools. The Education version provides enhanced data privacy and the ability for students to log in with a code. This tool can be available through your school's Adobe Admin Counsel if your IT team already uses Adobe products. If not, follow directions on the site to set up and begin using this tool as an individual educator.

tag(s): communication (119), creative writing (126), multimedia (56), posters (43)

Imagine Forest offers free Writing Resources, tools, and ideas to create stories. Begin right away finding inspiration by scrolling to the bottom of the page and exploring the blog. Example ideas from the blog are How to a Create Comic Strip in 6 Steps, 70 Fantasy Writing Prompts, and several others.

tag(s): creative writing (126), digital storytelling (158), writing (306), writing prompts (57)

Create beautiful multimedia digital books with Book Creator. Scroll down the landing page to the bottom menu, and click the "Help" or "Getting Started" title. Note: This points out how you need to change to the "teacher sign in" (if the default is for students). This is a wonderful tool with many features. Reading the short Getting Started Overview first and watching the beginning videos would be best. Then, you can go to the Resources tab from the top menu (on the right), where each grade level has a video, and you'll find example books created by students. Under Resources, you can also search by subject to find suggested ideas and books designed for a specific subject. Next, click Resources from the top menu to find the "Teach your first lesson toolkit" with lesson plans, remixable student templates for different age ranges, and a teacher guide. You can also choose Remixable Books to get you and your class started. When finished, publish and share your book using the site's web-based reader for access on any device. Once you have mastered the basics, click on Features to see the magic of using the pen and discover all the features of the graphic organizers, comics, and more. By clicking the "more" you will can embed documents on your page(s). These documents can be narrated and interactive! The free plan offers one library with up to 40 books storage. Book Creator presents a variety of levels for technology use depending on teacher requirements for the project or even student ability; it allows for adding narration, videos, text, using your webcam, and adding links to help explain the artwork. When creating your book, click on the big + in the upper right corner to add text, audio, images, your camera, and the pen; you will also see The lowercase "i" (for inspector), which offers colors, comics, paper type, and more. There are other apps, but you must have a premium account. You can use Book Creator on iPads, Macs, Android devices, PCs, and on these browsers: Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Chrome. Teachers need to provide an email to create an account. However, students do not need emails to make their books. Once ready, follow the site's prompts to add video, text, images, audio, and more to your book.
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tag(s): collaboration (105), DAT device agnostic tool (125), digital storytelling (158), ebooks (48), literacy (124), preK (299), reading comprehension (144), writing (306)

Telegra.ph is a free, no-login web publishing tool that lets anyone create clean, ad-free pages in seconds. Just click to add a title, author name, and content. Use the "+" icon to upload images or embed media from YouTube, Vimeo, or X (formerly Twitter). When you're done, click "Publish" to generate a unique URL to share your work. Be sure to save the edit link that appears after publishing--it's the only way to revise your post later. Perfect for student blogs, quick updates, or storytelling projects.

tag(s): blogs (71), communication (119), digital storytelling (158), writing (306)