StoryboardThat

StoryboardThat is an online user-friendly tool that makes it easy to create animated digital storyboards and comics. Its free version includes plenty of features such as backgrounds, characters, gestures and speech bubbles. It can be used both by teachers and students. 

Some benefits of storyboard learning include:

• Fostering students’ creativity and critical thinking skills.

• Keeping students engaged in the task while learning faster.

• Promoting collaborative work and understanding other people’s viewpoints.

• Helping students plan and organize ideas clearly.

“I really like this tool. It is a great tool to have students apply what they have learned in a creative way. No matter what level you are at you will be able to use this application to synthesize your learning and produce a product. The students are very engaged when they are working on this program because of how easy it is to operate and how much fun they are having designing their comic.” (Melissa Z., 2017, Commonsense.org)

“Created my first comic using @StoryboardThat Super user friendly and a great tool to bring out creativity in the library and the classroom.” (Priscilla G., n.d., StoryboardThat.com)

After having read these reviews, it can be concluded that StoryboardThat has been useful for many teachers and students since it is easy to use, it fosters creativity and it helps keep students engaged in the learning process. 

1. First, click on the link to access the website: https://www.storyboardthat.com/ 

2. To start working, click on the REGISTER button and choose the account you want to sign in with. To save and share our creations, we need to have an account. You don't need an account to create storyborads but it will be useful to save them and to share them with the community.

3. Let’s start creating! Give your storyboard a name and choose the scene you want for each of the slides. You can change the colours, weather and time of the day. To set your scene, you have to click and move to the slide.

4. Choose a character: adult, child, teen, baby, characters in history, monsters, among others. By clicking on the blue button "EDIT POSE" you can change your characters' pose, facial expressions, characteristics and clothes. 

5. Choose a Speech Bubble and write what you characters are saying/thinking. You can change the font, the bubble color, and the size of it. Add any extra objects you need: food, clothes, plants, symbols, shapes, and charts. They can be customized by changing their color and size.

6. When you finish creating your storyboard, you should save it so you don't lose all the work. Storyboard That only allows us to create up to two storyboards per week for free.

If you'd like to see how I've used StoryboardThat with my 11/12 year-old students, click here.

• Clever Prototypes, LLC. (2019). Storyboard That. Storyboard That; Storyboard That. https://www.storyboardthat.com/  

• StoryboardThat Review for Teachers. (2013, May 7). Common Sense Education. https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/storyboard-that