Epic!

App: Epic!

Company: Epic! Creations Inc.

Cost: Free for educators. Parents/guardians can pay to download the app to access at home.

Device: Apple or Android tablets or phones, website on a Internet capable device

SAMR Model: Modification

App Map Score: Here

Participatory Literacies Score: Here

Description

Epic! is an e-book app that students can access to read multiple genres, levels, and texts. There are some e-book and audio options, along with some educational videos. This app allows students to browse the library, read an assigned book or collection, or read a teacher-created collection. Some texts have comprehension quizzes for the student to complete, allowing for teachers to track a student's progress.

Teachers can create collections for students to access. These collections can contain any of the resources available in the Epic! collection. Some collections that I created, for example, include Minnesota books, books about autumn, and beginning readers. Teachers can also create quizzes to assign based on a text for students to complete.

Differentiation

Epic! is a great program for differentiation. There are many different levels of readers available in this program. There are read along books, audio books, and books for students to read independently.

There are many different genres, including fiction, nonfiction, sports, fantasy, science, or mystery. There are also texts available in Spanish and Chinese. There is a book for every reader. These texts could be used for students to read independently, in guided reading groups, or literature circles.

Comprehension

Epic! would be a great way for students to build comprehension when reading independently. Some texts have quizzes built in, but teachers can also create their own. Teachers can track student progress to drive instruction. Students can also build comprehension through the read to me texts or audio books by listening to fluent reading.

Possible Downfalls

One downfall of Epic! is that the words do not highlight as they are read. Studies have shown that this feature helps students build reading and comprehension skills.

Something that is great but also could be a downfall is the fact that the program tracks how long a student is on a text. They are not able to click "Finish" if they have not spent enough time on a text. On one hand, this is great because it could encourage students to read and not just click through. On the other hand, if they are fast readers, it could result in wasting some time waiting for the "Finish" button to become available. This also pops up when reading a short narrated book. Even though the text is short and the program reads it and turns the pages, the user is still unable to click the "Finish" button.

Epic! Creations Inc. (2013a) Epic! photographs. Licensed on https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/epic-unlimited-books-for-kids/id719219382?mt=8

Epic! Creations Inc. (2013b). Epic! - Unlimited books for kids (3.04) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/epic-unlimited-books-for-kids/id719219382?mt=8

Epic! Creations Inc. (n.d.) Epic! [website] Retrieved from https://www.getepic.com/