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 (42), digital storytelling (151), expository writing (31), persuasive writing (54), process writing (35), writers workshop (32)

Create and share professional-looking videos with Adobe Express Video Maker. Scroll down the page to read the step-by -step easy 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 (27), communication (113), digital storytelling (151), multimedia (55)

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 (79), cross cultural understanding (176), digital storytelling (151)

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 (19), creative writing (126), descriptive writing (42), digital storytelling (151), stories and storytelling (65)

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 (90), creative writing (126), digital storytelling (151), writing (311)

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 (113), creative writing (126), multimedia (55), posters (42)

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. Though Imagine Forest is not accepting new accounts, you can still access the free resources found on the site and the ideas in their blog.

tag(s): creative writing (126), digital storytelling (151), writing (311), writing prompts (59)

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 (79), DAT device agnostic tool (124), digital storytelling (151), ebooks (46), literacy (120), preK (289), reading comprehension (143), writing (311)

Create multimedia and interactive ebooks that work on tablets and computers for free with ePubEditor. Create your account to begin, then follow prompts to upload images and text with optional image, video, or audio. Other options allow you to create quizzes with different responses such as multiple choice, matching, or drag and drop response. Allow others to edit and add to your book using the share editing option. When complete, publish and share your book using the created URL or download in different formatting options including epub and PDF.
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tag(s): assessment (134), digital storytelling (151), ebooks (46)

Publish ebooks in any language with Ourboox. Keep track of how many readers you have and read their comments. Sign up with email to get a free account, and get started right away. Click Create, add a title, choose the style of your book (Square Book - a picture book with up to 15 lines of text, or a text-oriented book, more like a long story or novel). Choosing a Square Book enables the ability to have an image (JPEG, PNG). You can also upload animated GIFs or embed a YouTube Video. Ourboox will step you through the process of getting your book online and publishing it. The pages of the book will flip, and the tool has an accommodation for languages that read from right to left. It can take up to 24 hours for new books to process. Before starting on your own book, you may want to look at others' books to get ideas about the format.

tag(s): digital storytelling (151), ebooks (46), writing (311)

Create simple and easy stories using ABCya's Story Maker. Without registering, draw a picture using the drawing and erase tools provided. Type the story, and add pages for a longer story. Once finished, save to your computor or print. This tool is so easy Pre-K students can use it. Since all pictures are hand drawn your older artists will love it, too.
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tag(s): digital storytelling (151), drawing (60), writing (311)

Focus on the key elements of writing a story with Story Map. Fill out and print graphic organizers for characters, setting, conflict, and resolution. Each organizer has prompts for what to write. Returning to an organizer to edit is possible. Print your Story Map, since it is not saved.

tag(s): digital storytelling (151), graphic organizers (51), writing (311)

Find fresh ideas for writing prompts and exercises to explore and use. Use links to find story starters, characters, titles, and more. Use the random generators to create titles, dialogues, town names, and much more. Over twenty pages include word exercises, games, plot generators, and scenarios to assist writers with story content. These are a must see for those writing blogs, needing new ideas, or having writer's block. This site was created in the UK. American English speakers may notice some slight spelling differences.
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tag(s): creative writing (126), digital storytelling (151), poetry (196), writers workshop (32), writing (311)

Microsoft Sway is an online tool from Microsoft that lets users design interactive presentations, newsletters, and digital stories that display smoothly on any device. It allows you to easily drag and drop text, photos, videos, and links from your computer, social media, or the web directly into your project. After signing in with a Microsoft account or creating one with your email, you can build your story using a simple, scroll-based layout. The Design tab provides options to personalize colors, fonts, and layouts, while the Share feature makes it simple to publish through a link, post to social media, or embed on a website. Sway works in all modern browsers, and while its iOS app is no longer updated, the web version remains fully functional. Instructional videos and tutorials are hosted on YouTube, though schools that block YouTube may not be able to access them. Microsoft has confirmed that Sway will continue to operate, though it has been removed from the Microsoft 365 Copilot "Create" tab due to low usage. Some tools, such as in-app audio and video recording, have been retired, but users can still embed multimedia files. The core features remain supported through sway.office.com and the Microsoft 365 Apps section, though no major updates are planned.

tag(s): communication (113), digital storytelling (151), Microsoft (54), multimedia (55), slides (41), visualizations (10)

Alice will have your students in wonderland as they use this innovative 3D programming environment targeted to middle and high school students. Be the director of a movie or the creator of a video game. 3D objects appear in an on-screen virtual world imagined by the creator and move around according to the directions you give by dragging and dropping tiles. The drag and drop technique provides a more engaging programming experience for first-time programmers. Alice provides exposure to object-oriented programming. Alice has practical value for students to learn how computers think. The instructions correspond to standard statements in a production oriented programming language, such as Java, C++, and C#. While using Alice, programmers can immediately see how their animation program runs and the behavior of the objects in their animation. Manipulate camera angles and lighting to make further enhancements. Alice is a revolutionary method to teach programming, especially to first-time learners. It allows students to understand programming concepts, a 21st-century skill.

tag(s): animation (62), coding (90), digital storytelling (151), problem solving (245)