Student Authoring App

Book Creator: Student Authoring App With Versatile Sharing Capabilities

Book Creator: Seller Red Jumper Limited 

Book Creator is an app for iPad, which is easy for students to use and is versatile for sharing. The team behind Book Creator, @BookCreatorApp, have pinned a tweet announcing their upcoming webinar: Favorite Apps to use with Book Creator. This caught my eye because during my first trial using Book Creator with an entire class, I found it immediately practical to use with iMovie. Right out of the box I believe Book Creator is useful as a fast and easy way to develop instructional materials in any subject and to use in tandem with other tools, like iMovie.

Developing Instructional Materials Using Book Creator

Book Creator is a handy way to put together a fast and simple tutorial, combining photos, text, video and voice (if desired), creating a type of handbook in any subject. I put together a Book Creator handbook for Second Graders, walking through the steps of using the App, so that they could then create their own nonfiction books as a culminating project.

Book Creator books may be exported as PDFs, a handy option for projection in whole class discussions.

Book Creator can also be used to seize teachable moments. During a class discussion about Aurora Borealis, the below video was put together over a lunch break assembling discussion points into a finished shareable video book.

Other options for sharing are possible using a variety of modes including email, print, iTunes, and other Apps, like iBooks.  

Book Creator Used in Tandem With Other Tools

Screenshot from class video, a compilation of students' nonfiction books

Students' finished products, such as books saved as .mov files, can easily become part of a whole class collaborative piece by adding each file into iMovie. By combining the students' books together,  and contextualizing the material with some explanation of the instructional content, the video becomes a seamless collage of student work, a representative artifact for sharing with families on a class page or newsletter.