While You Were Sleeping, the Adults of Facebook Found Digital Storytelling via Bitstrips

Looks like the adults of facebook are joining the “creativity” party as well! Bitstrips, an app within facebook, has literally flooded my entire social timeline. As a social comic creation tool, users can build their own comic conversations by including their facebook friends in their story. As my 20th year reunion approached this past weekend, it became quite apparent that many of my classmates were excited as they were “bitstripping” throughout the day.

Daily, users can log in to their facebook account and create a “comic status update” using a pre-selected group of scenes. Each scene can then be customized with characters and dialogue prior to sharing via facebook wall.

My sister even joined the “bitstrip” party!

Bistrips does have a web based classroom version at a cost. As for the free facebook app, with most schools blocking facebook,the app may not be an option. Comics, both web and device, are not new. Personally, I LOVE Pixton. There are plenty of ipad apps for comic creation as well, like Comic Life and Story Me.

Here are a few more resources from around the web

Free Technology for Teachers http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/01/26-ways-to-use-comics-in-classroom-and.html

MakeBeliefsComix.com (Can be customized for any comic type) http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Educators/

Edutopia http://www.edutopia.org/blog/graphic-novels-comics-andrew-miller

Now take comics and Thinglink them or augment them for even more depth of knowledge!

With social parents on board with comic creation, let’s just hope that this happy medium doesn’t scare the kids away!

Looks like a great opportunity to involve parents even more in creativity!