Peer Review

Storehouse - Visual Storytelling App for iPad

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Reviewed:: Nov 8, 2024 by Teacher Education

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This app was shut down in 2016. A Google search provides many storytelling apps you might try instead. The ideas behing this type of app are still useful:

'Share your world through Storehouse. It’s the easiest way to create and discover beautiful stories. Combine photos, videos, and text to meaningfully document your experiences. Publish your stories for friends and followers, or share them by email, Facebook, or Twitter. Explore stories created by your friends and our community of storytellers from all around the world. BUILT FOR MOBILE Storehouse was designed for mobile, from the intuitive touch-based interface to the way we allow you to create and share on-the-go. UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVITY We’ve made laying out photos, videos, and text so easy that anybody can create beautiful stories. Easily add photos and videos from your iPad Camera Roll, Dropbox, Flickr, and Instagram. You don’t need to be a designer to put together something stunning. SHARE YOUR STORIES ANYWHERE Stories look great on all screen sizes so you can rest easy knowing that you can share them with anyone. DISCOVER STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD Get inspired by exploring stories created by our global community. Instantly travel the world, learn a new skill, or discover interesting places and people, all from your iPad.' This is a free app

Type of Material:

Development Tool. This is a mobile phone app used by English language learners to develop English receptive and productive skills.

Recommended Uses:

This tool has the capacity for use as an individual, peer groups, and in-class engagement. English language teachers/ instructors are advised to use this app in conversation classes, since it assists in augmenting the linguistic level of learners rapidly. They can suggest at-home assignments using it in addition to in-class activities, so that learners can grab intensive a great deal of language exposure in a short period of time.

Technical Requirements:

This app needs a high speed of internet.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

This app is designed to construct storytelling abilities in English language learners.

The app will help English language learners become storytellers exploring stories created by their friends and communities storytellers from all around the world. Using it unleashes learners’ creativity, as it is equipped with a layout where photos, videos, and texts can easily be added from users’ iPad Camera Roll, Dropbox, Flickr, and Instagram.On the other hand, users do not have to be electronics savvy to handle operating it.

Target Student Population:

Middle School, High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Familiarity with video, audio, and texting features on a mobile device. English language learners or teachers /instructors are expected to know how to use mobile phones smoothly. In addition, learners can deal with English language at least at a high elementary level.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

This resource supports oral literacy for English Language Learners, while also a tool for native speakers who need to refine their reading and writing skills as learners will ameliorate their reading and writing skills, as they can enrich their vocabulary. Furthermore, they will develop their speaking skills, since they have opportunities to communicate with native speakers of English in various English-speaking countries.

Concerns:

The content should be vetted by the school district or educator to ensure it is appropriate for the intended age-group. Some content would definitely be inappropriate for middle and high schoolers. For example, some content might bear some kind violence instigation or sexual connotations.

The access during school hours can be restricted due to parental control features. Parental consent would be necessary in some instances, making it a "use at your own risk" or extract from the app and apply in a different medium/platform.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

This app is a means of communication that involves multi-tasking. Its users make efforts to express their ideas in diverse fashions.

It has the potential to boost confidence in English Language (EL) learners through storytelling and general forms of communication; thereby eliminating learning barriers in other ways. The educator can establish measures to support language growth amongst all students.

Understandably, it is more difficult to handle this in a second or foreign language, because learners will want to work harder to produce significant assignments.

Concerns:

If the English language learners using this app are introvert by nature, they may not benefit so much from it because the app mainly relies on making learners communicate with others around the world.

EL learners may revert back to communicating with students that speak their native language; thereby prolonging the storytelling initiatives intended for this app.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: Generally speaking, this app can be operated on any mobile phone. But at the same time, it might not work as it should be if users use old models of mobile phones.
Concerns:: They would need to be a defined implementation and monitoring plan considering the content and the parental restrictions.

Other Issues and Comments:

This resource is no longer available in the United States app store but may be available in other countries. The app was shut down in 2016.

The app users must pay attention to the question of privacy when they share their personal materials on their mobile phones. Some hackers may misuse these materials.

Creative Commons: