Designing storymaps for learning

Storymaps are generally used from one of three sources:

1. Teachers use pre-built storymaps - often from authoritative sources
2. Teachers build custom storymaps in a variety of forms (below)
3. Students build maps as a product/performance/assessment

Teachers typically build storymaps for one or more:

1. teaching pure, rich content (maps, text, pictures, video, audio) [ example ]
2. teaching processes (project sequence, including data collection) [ example ;  GeoProjects ]
3. assessment (formative or summative) [ example ]

Today, we'll focus on teacher-created storymaps containing pure content.

for Day 1 instructional storymaps

Keep it simple. Storymaps can combine dozens of data types and thousands of pieces of data. Fancy themes and widgets are initially distraction.

Identify your goal/need. Why make the storymap? Is there a better solution?

Identify your audience, including required time to view storymap.

Outline your "story" or instructional narrative. Use a storyboard for best results.

Self-check: How will you know if learners met your instructional goals?

Does the storymap already exist ( search for it >>>  )

Collect or create resources (maps, pictures, text blocks, etc). Storymap builder tools are best for bringing everything together. For example, build all but your simplest maps using the Map Viewer. Write your narrative in Word or Google Docs - using the full power of the word processor.

Open up the storymap builder at  https://storymaps.arcgis.com 

Stick to text, photo, and map widgets - initially.

Add your collected content.

Save your storymap

Share your storymap and components (like maps). Options include: everyone, my organization, or private. Every component (storymap, maps, data layers) must be shared at the same level (or more broadly) for everything to work. For example, make sure the storymap and each included map is shared with "My Organization".

What does sharing mean?

1. Everyone (Public) - Anyone in the world can find and see your content (w/o specific knowledge of ArcGIS or a login).
2. My Organization - To see the content, a perspective user must login to YOUR ArcGIS Online organization. My login in the ArcGIS K12 organization would not allow me to see your storymap.
3. Private - The content is not shared. ArcGIS Online administrators in YOUR organization can see/edit your content.

Test your storymap in a private/Incognito browser

Check the reading level ( Tom's offsite tool )

Ask other educators to review, especially if shared publicly

You may also build storymap collections to organize your storymaps, others' storymaps, or any related resources. Collections are available at the storymap builder:  https://storymaps.arcgis.com . Examples:

S ingle-sign on for school districts 

 Storymaps for young learners 

 Youth mapping competitions