Best practice guide for collaborative projects with Book Creator

As a former classroom teacher, I know the importance of collaborative learning. It facilitates higher-level thinking skills in students while boosting their confidence and self-esteem. My students were always able to work together while learning and growing from each other. That was a “win-win” for me!

Great news! Teachers and students are able to work in Book Creator at the same time with real-time collaboration! Wondering how to get started? Simply turn on collaboration for a book if you are on a paid plan and if you're on a free plan right now, you can still test out the feature by activating a 14-day free trial.

When you hit the collaborate button, anyone in the library can then work on this book. Alternatively, you can select specific students to collaborate together on a book allowing them to divide the work, brainstorm and improve each others' work.

Collaborative projects with Book Creator

I work with teachers all around the world and have seen many collaborative books!  Here are a few collaborative project ideas you can use with your students no matter the grade level:

• Showcase learning: Each student has their own page to showcase their understanding of a concept learned in class. For example, check out Mrs. Gramentine’s Class Alliterations Book here. Her students each wrote an alliteration on their own page to show what they learned. Did you notice they even recorded their voice reading it? What a great way to practice fluency!
• Collaborating with multiple grade levels: Students always love learning from their peers so I promise you they will love working in Book Creator with them too!  Check out this collaborative book below written by Pre-K and High School students. Not only did they work together, they were able to learn together about a science concept! I recommend keeping a copy of this in your school library to read for years to come. Such a fun idea!

• Collection of poems: Pick a topic and each student writes their own poem. Combine all of the poems in the end and you have a collaborative book to share with students and families! Here’s a great example -- “Our Changing World 2020.”
• Group projects: Book Creator is the perfect presentation tool for group projects. It’s simple and students are able to use numerous multi-media tools! You can combine all of the group presentations in the end to compile them into a collaborative book. This is a great way to share work with students and families!  Check out this example.
• Digital portfolios: Ever think about keeping a digital portfolio for your whole class? Take a look at what this teacher did by capturing each student’s favorite journal entries from the entire year!

• Assessment: Book Creator is a great way to review for an upcoming assessment! Each student can write their own question on a page to compile into a collaborative review book! Check out what Mrs. Samuelson’s Fourth Grade Students made during their math class here. 
• Collection of stories: And last but not least, Book Creator of course is perfect for creating a collection of stories! Each student has a page to write their own story on. Then, you have a collaborative book to share with students and families! Here is an example of “A Collection of 6th Grade’s 100 Word Stories.”

There are so many more ideas of how to use Book Creator for collaborative projects but those are just a few! Want to explore more? Here is a whole library of examples to read 👇

Best practices

Now that you have your collaborative project idea, you are probably wondering what the best way to complete it is. Here are a few quick best practice tips:

Tip #1: All students collaborate together on the same book 

📍 Side note -- give each student a page ahead of time by writing their name at the top of the page. Then, when they access the book, they already know which page to go to. This seems to work well for younger grades!

How to collaborate in real-time

Tip #2: Students work on their own book and combine books after 

📍 Have students work on their own book first instead of turning on collaboration. This works great if you do not have access to collaboration, one of our premium features.

📍 Once all the students are finished, you can combine all books into one final book.

How to combine books in Book Creator

I can’t wait to hear what your students create! Leave a reply below with some of your ideas to share. Happy Bookmaking!

To discover even more strategies on how Book Creator can foster collaboration in your classroom, check out this webinar recording below hosted by EdTech consultant Monica Burns (@ClassTechTips) ⬇️