I was asked which apps were best for an iPad multimedia presentation – primarily to assess speaking, but the ability to add text and photos was also desired. The simpler the better. The list got cut down to 3: Book Creator, Story Creator and Educreation, all of which can do the job well.
Book Creator
In this app you can include photos, videos, text, freehand drawing and sound in one slide. The sound can be imported from iTunes or you can just record from within the app. When you start a new slide you also have to add a new recording – a useful feature as you don’t want to have to start the recording all over again when you are on the 8th slide, for example! The free version only allows you to make one book. However, once you have created one and exported it, you can then go back and edit everything on the original book and so create a brand new one 🙂
Story Creator
You can add photos, videos, record sound, highlight objects and add text. Photos are restricted to the box provided. The text is restricted to the area at the bottom of the slide. One interesting feature of the text is that you are able to edit it so that the words are synchronized with the highlighting in orange. This can be turned off if not wanted. When you start a new slide, you start a new recording – a plus for students I feel. And when you play it, the story transitions from slide to slide without missing a beat in the recordings.
Educreation
You can add photos (but not video), text, freehand drawing and record sound. The main distinguishing feature of this app is that it is dynamic. In the other apps you create the view with photos, text and freehand drawing, then you record. With Educreations you add to the slide as you record. In the above example the line around Budapest, and then from there to Romania, appeared as I was recording. This can be a lot more powerful than a static display. The recording can be paused to add more content, but it cannot be edited later and if a mistake is made the whole recording needs to be started from scratch. So not one to recommend to students who plan a presentation over several slides.
Here is a summary of the three apps:
I give Book Creator the top marks as it has the most flexibility in importing files, it allows students to record a new sound file for each slide, and it doesn’t need a student to create an online account. Students can share it with their friends and teacher via third party cloud storage options such as Dropbox and Box.com. A final plus is that it is viewable on a Windows or Linux PC using Chrome.
Of course, just using the video and recording a voice with that would be quicker and easier for a student.
P.S. BContext would also be on this list if it worked well on my iPad – it looked really worthwhile on my collegaue’s iPad.
