Creating Digital Storybooks with Student Cell Phones and Yoddio

A while ago I bookmarked a site called Yodio. Just recently Jimbo Lamb tweeted (and wrote a great blog post) about Yodio and it reminded me that I never reviewed the site. Yodio allows anyone to call in to the 1-877 phone number and record an audio file. The audio file will automatically be posted in the callers account. Then the caller can log in to Yodio, use the MP3 audio files to create a digital storybook. Yodio allows you to upload pictures into an editor and you can use the audio files to assign to individual pictures. When you are done, you hit publish and BAM, you have a professional looking digital storybook. The digital storybooks can be public or private.


Classroom Learning Applications
Foreign Language Classes
While on Yodio, I came across a storybook that integrated foreign language. The speaker had to describe what they were viewing in the image. The Yodio storybook is below.




Field Trips
Students can record their observations or interviews via their cell phone on a field trip. They can take pictures to document their learning via their cell phone. When they return to class they can open up Yodio and edit their digital storybook about what they learned on their field trip.


Creative Literature
Students can record a new ending to a famous novel for homework via their cell phone. For example in the book Animal Farm. Teachers could ask the students to create a new ending, but using visual imagery. Students could take pictures (via cell) of different everyday activities that somehow inspire a new ending to the book. Students can record the audio description that relates the images to the characters in the book and the new ending that the student has conjured up. Back in class, they can log in to Yodio and put together the digital storybook. Below is an example of someone using Yodio for a book report.