STORYBIRD: Digital Book

 

Impact On Student Learning

Storybird provides a productive platform for instructors, students, family members, young kids between ages 0-8, age 9-12, adolescent learners aged 13-18, and adults. Storybird prompts a creative way to integrate multiple functions of imagination production, personal genre output, and artwork printing. Without age constraint, space limitation, and formative teaching of English language arts, Storybird encourage either adult learners or younger users to create distinctive features for reading and writing context of one’s own. Above all, Storybird offers an opportune function for comments in relation to community members including authors, artists and ongoing participants involved, which not only helps everyone’s artwork implementation but also facilitates book publishing. For teachers, Storybird efficiently enhances reading empowerment and writing proficiency through observation, interaction, emulation, and production based on the language development of oracy, literacy, comprehension, and fluency. That is, technology with online tools draw an impact on student learning in a way English language learners develop their English language proficiency academically.

Cost

Storybird has four options for payment: Individual $8.99/month, Individual $59.88/year, School Plan, or District Plan. Printing, publishing, books and artwork purchase involve payment.

Privacy 

1. What data is collected? 

Personal information users provide at registration includes name and email address. Meanwhile, according to Storybird, users’ behaviour on the site and certain information will automatically be tracked. “We also automatically track certain information about you based upon your behaviour on our Site. We use this information to do internal research on our users’ demographics, interests, and behaviour to better understand, protect and serve you and our community.”

2. How is data used? 

Data related to personal information in Storybird will be used for maintaining or updating service, troubleshooting problems and resolving disputes. Storybird also uses “personal information to deliver promotion news, administrative notices, product offerings and timely communications.”     

3. What do the terms of service/ privacy policy say?

https://storybird.com/terms-of-service

Power and Bias

1. How’s the tool biased?

Admittedly, Storybird initiates the cutting-edge technology for teaching and learning and supports family involvement for younger learners at home or in varied venues, education in English language arts is suggested to be placed emphasis on core teaching and learning instead implicitly business practice online. For example, Storybird is deemed as a well-rounded mechanism for young or younger learners, but the ultimate output of personal product requires economic support to help reach. Thus, the values of the business and the money-based implication are constructed in Storybird, especially for our kids who have little monetary resources to afford printing artworks without their parents’ help.

“Books are written in a language other than English”

Currently, books that are written in a language other than English can not be accepted into our PUBLIC library. While we celebrate all cultures and languages, we can not at this stage moderate and thus approve books for the public library that are written in languages other than English. When we expand internationally we’ll add specific language support. In the meantime, please remember that your book in its current state can still be published in your PRIVATE library and shared with your friends and family. OR, if you’re an educator, you can set up a private class and work in any language that you please (30% of Storybird’s classes are non-English).”  http://help.storybird.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1158893-books-written-in-a-language-other-than-englis

2. What type of power structure does the tool encourage?

Education and the Internet make up two distinctive power structures in Storybird, which encourages English language development generally and empowers both the reading and writing sections specifically.

3. How’s diversity portrayed?

Storybird is characteristic of diverse participants including family members, teachers, students, friends, authors, artists, amateurs and professionals generally, but age diversity specifically. For instance, younger learners are under specified into age 0-8, age 9-12, adolescents and adults. Namely, Storybird crisscrosses multi-diversity within ages, professions, goals of learning, multicultural backgrounds, sexual orientation, ethnographic context, and globalization. Like the vivid colourful design of the cover page, Storybird presents multiple layers of portrayed diversity.

4. What type of language is used?

The English language is dominantly used in Storybird to date.

Ease of Use

Storybird is handy for every user even younger learners or elder adults. Help Guidance is clarified in written formats and provides the most convenient way to engage, and users become adept in Storybird through practices. Each segment of Storybird is clear for helping orientation in a couple of minutes, which elucidates the ease of use for participants.

Access  

Mobile phones, desktop computers and especially iPad/iPhone/tablet are great access for Storybird. iPad is one of the recommended ways for Storybird owing to smooth interaction for readers and writers.

    

Accessibility 

Storybird is unable to be used with a screen reader, and acoustic function, as well as a sound effects, are not employed in completed artworks. Although without the assistance of video tutorials,  participants find clues steadily and get involved in Storybird.

Workflow 

Undoubtedly, Storybird is a wonderful online tool for teaching and learning. In addition to the abovementioned characteristics it possesses, Storybird immensely enables users to export embedded files of personal artwork including Picture books, Longform stories, and Poetry in the wake of implementation. On the flip side, files input is not function for on-demand purposes because  built-in visuals which artists create are solely permitted in
Storybird.