Adobe Spark - Now for All Students!

Adobe Spark has always been one of my favorite tools, but up until now, it could only be used by students older than 13 years old.  But now, all that has change!  Adobe has opened all of the premium features up for free for schools. and made the site COPPA compliant for all students.  However, because of the recent change, it is VERY important that District 21 students use the link and directions provided on this document. 

What can I do with Adobe Spark 

There are basically three different components to Adobe Spark.  Posts, Pages, and Videos. Spark is not the only way that students can create these types of products, but in my opinion it has the perfect combination of ease of use and beautiful products.  They also provide a lot of built in features that keeps students working efficiently and productively

What is a Post, Page, and Video? 

Post: 

A post is a way to make a graphic that can be shared with others.  You can either start with their templates, or start from scratch. Students can add images, text, and filters to make the post more creative. These posts can be printed or shared electronically. 

For more examples, you can take a look at their inspiration page and take a look at this video to get started!

Page

A Page is Adobe's platform form making multi-media pages.  The students can put together words, images, and videos together to create visual stories. There are a variety of layouts that students can use in order to design a creative product that tells a story in an innovative way

You can see more examples on their inspiration page, and use this video to find out more about how to create the page.

Video 

Adobe also provides a tool to easily create digital stories in the form of video or narrated video.  It is basically drag and drop, and the students can either start from scratch of follow prompts to create a variety of video projects.  Adobe also has built in music and videos that help bring the story to life and create a beautiful story in just a few steps! 

Like the others, Adobe provides an inspiration page and a video to get you started!

What can I do with it? 

Adobe Spark is a very versatile tool that can be used in practically every subject area.  Some examples I've seen already created are: 

• A persuasive project done in Spark Pages.
• Exemplar
• Example
• A biome brochure done in Post
• Examplar
• Example

• A video about the Pythagorean Theorum 

And there are many more examples and resources on the Spark Education Exchange

Reminder for D21 Students 

Because Adobe has just changed its policy so that all students can use the service, it is essential that they log using these directions so they don't have issues with the age requirement.  If they do not use the link posted in the directions and follow the directions, they will not be able to access the site. 

Slideshows, Been there, Done that, Now what??

One of the requests I hear often is for ideas for tools students can use that are new and different.  When asked to create something to show what they've learned or investigated, students often choose-- A Slideshow.  Why? Because it's quick and easy....and, they've probably been doing them since 3rd grade! So, now it's time to move on to something new!  Here are a few ideas for your students to try-- to move past the slideshow.

Book Creator 

Book Creator is exactly what it sounds like, a way for students to create multimedia books in order to share their learning or creations.  The students can either share a narrative story of their own, or find a creative way to share what they've learned about a topic they investigated.  I found it relatively easy to use, and students will have no problem intuitively adding text, pictures, colors, and even their own recordings. 

Here are some resources that will help you and your students

• How to Create Book Creator in Chrome (Made in Book Creator!)
• Book Creator Support 
• Book Creator YouTube Support Playlist

PowToon

I often refer to PowToon as a"slideshow on steroids".  It is a great way for the students to unleash their creativity while informing their audience of what they want to share.  Students can easily create animated slideshows with a variety of characters and backgrounds.  

PowToon has a free and a paid version, with the paid version offering more "bells and whistles" but the free version being more than enough for students to have fun and get their message delivered. 

Here are some resources to help you get started with PowToon

• Some PowToon Examples
• PowToon Tutorials
• PowToon video overview

Adobe Spark 

Possibly one of the most exciting new tools that I've seen recently is Adobe Spark.  Spark has three major components, Post, Page and Video.

Adobe has made the incredible move  (beginning April, 2018) of making all of it's premium services free for  students and educators, (and making the service COPPA compliant even for students under 13 ), using Adobe Spark is a no-brainer.  It's the trifecta of being a quality product that is intuitive AND free!

There are a million ways students can use this tool. Everything from digital storytelling, to creating a meme that summarizes or persuades, or even a dynamic webpage.  I have just begun to use Spark, and it's already one of my favorite tools.

Even though the program is relatively intuitive, here is are a brief video that shows how to make a page, video, and post. It's fun!

Podcasting 

Podcasts have been very popular for a while now, and even having students listen to some commercially produced ones can be a useful way to have them understand different concepts.

In addition to that, students can create their own podcasts. They can "interview: characters in books or historical figures, reenact scenes, or record narrative stories or poems.  

There are many tools you can use to have the students podcast.  Probably the most simple is Garage Band, if you have Apple computers. Otherwise, some of the apps that seem to work best for Chromebooks are Twisted Wave, and Beautiful Audio Editor. 

Digital Storytelling

In its simplest form, digital storytelling is using a combination of pictures, sounds, and words (written and spoken) to tell a story. Most people think of digital storytelling as a way for student to tell their own narrative story in a in a video form.  And in reality, that's probably the most powerful form of digital storytelling. However, digital storytelling can also be used to tell explain, or to share an opinion about any topic a student is learning in school, and the projects can be incredibly powerful.

Digital Storytelling can be used to tell a personal story, to cause action, or to inform others about a topic.  If you'd like to know more about digital storytelling, I went into more detail in my  previous Digital Storytelling post.

Other Options

There are many other ideas for students to use to show their learning, so if you're looking for other options for creating, take a look at these posts:

• The Student as Content Creator
• Best Tech Creation Tools
• 82 Hottest Ed-Tech Tools of 2017

One caveat for any of the tools you might be interested in using- it is important to check the terms of service/COPPA compliance before using a new tool.  Once you've found one that you like, it's a good idea to double check with your tech department of your school! (The ones listed on this post, are all approved for K-8 students)