You'll Never be Bored if You Storyboard That

In February I attended a webinar, hosted by Richard Byrne, on the terrific features of Storyboard That.  I was immediately impressed by the variety and versatility of this tool.  I couldn't wait to try it out.

The picture at the left is a storyboard I created with Storyboard That.  I started with a template and customized the headings and colors of almost everything I added.  The characters are posable and customizable too.  Many (many!) backgrounds are available.  Filters are available (black and white or sepia and so on) and many features in the background can be customized.  I like the idea of creating storyboards like this one for the families of the periodic table.  It was a lot of fun to create this board and it looks like a high quality visual.

I enjoyed Storyboard That so much that I designed an extra credit project for my students to see how they liked it too.  Over spring break, students could choose one of my templates or start from scratch and make boards that show chemistry concepts.  There were many excellent and hilarious submissions.  Here is one of my favorites, by Taylor H:

  
Here is a quick list of features that I think set Storyboard That apart from other tools:

• It's so easy to use.  As my children - ages 9 and 11 - watched me make the first one, they were begging for their own accounts.  Many new tools have a steep learning curve, but this one was very simple.
• Everything is so customizable - change the hair color, shirt color, background color, poses.  With a few clicks you can get exactly what you want. 
• There is a great variety of characters, backgrounds, images, and photos.  The possibilities really are endless.
•  There are a great variety of templates to start with, but you can customize all of those too.  If you want a standard three cell starter, that's available.  Add more cells, a title or description?  That's easy.  Frayer model, web, timeline - all these and many more.
• Excellent teacher guides - you can see the example work of many other teachers with descriptions of how they use the boards in class and background information too.  

 And speaking of teacher guides, I put together 5 boards about atomic structure and a teacher guide.  These were added to the Storyboard That collection last week.  Here is an image from one of my boards about atomic number and mass number:

Storyboard That is loads of fun and a great web tool.  I almost wish there was more time left this school year so I could use it again.  Almost.  Definitely at the top of the list for next year!