Board+Builder

toc **Discovery Education's** ** Overview **
 * Discovery Education's Board Builder is available schools who subscribe to Discovery Education's digital content (Ex: Discovery Education STREAMING). With a DE subscription, teachers have the ability to create individual accounts for all of their students. Through these accounts, students can access a variety of digital media, receive targeted instructional support from their teacher(s) who can assign them with media assets to meet their needs, and complete assessments assigned by the teacher. ** Last but not least, students can create content using the Board Builder tool. **

=**Features**=
 * If you are familiar with GlogsterEDU, Board Builder seeks to accomplish a similar goal. If your school already subscribes to Discovery Education, it's a built-in feature available at no additional cost.
 * Students can choose backgrounds, text formats, templates and color schemes.
 * Students can //tell their story// using a variety of multimedia resources. Any Discovery Education resource can be added to the board **and** students can further personalize their work by linking web-based resources and uploading their own images, videos, audio and documents (//lots and lots of file types are supported//).
 * When students share their work, it isn't visible to the class until it is approved by the teacher. One of the best parts of this feature is that there is a built-in feedback tool. This enables the teacher to leave personalized feedback for the student/student group, and it is a great way to challenge students to dig deeper before finalizing their work.
 * Boards are versatile and user friendly.
 * Boards are viewable on ANY device!

=**Integration Ideas**=
 * Since Board Builder is also available on Teacher accounts, it would be a terrific tool to use when creating interactive learning centers for students.
 * For student-centered ideas, check out this amazing list of integration ideas (//DE login required//). Each idea is linked to a sample board.

=** Step by Step Tutorial **= // The images shared below will walk you through the creation process from a student perspective, and then from a teacher perspective. //

**STEP 1**: Students should go to www.discoveryeducation.com and login with their student login credentials.


 * STEP 2**: Upon logging in, students will be re-directed to the Student Center Landing Page. From there, there are a variety of tools and resources students have access to. In this instance, students would click on the Board Builder icon to begin building a board.


 * STEP 3:** Students can choose a theme for their board. //Once they begin, they can also customize the background and colors even further.//


 * STEP 4:** Students should name their board. Depending on how you choose to share the boards once finalized, they would populate in keyword searches for the DE Community. So, you may want to create a standardized naming convention to make them easier to locate.

> > // As you will see in the image below, it's incredibly easy for students to search the digital content library and add content to their board. Students click on the orange +ADD button, and the multimedia will embed into their board. // > >
 * STEP 5:** Students can always access their boards from the Board Builder landing page, but they will be prompted to set a destination. I would suggest having students create folders. As they plan the content of their board, they can save any DE multimedia assets to the folder so everything is packaged together nicely.
 * STEP 6:** Students can begin building their board. The user interface is incredibly user friendly and very customizable. In addition to using the EDITOR TOOLS on the left to personalize the board and add new items, students can also customize each individual item once it's on the board.
 * When using Board Builder, students can add photos, videos and/or audio. As shown in the image below, students can search the DE resource library to add content (click on the Search button to begin). They can also attach resources that have already been "bookmarked" in their My Content (click on the My Content button to access bookmarked resources). Lastly, students can upload THEIR OWN content to the board! The image below shows all of the permitted multimedia file types.
 * When using Board Builder, students can also upload/attach up to five of their own files. The image on the right below shows all of the permitted file types. Again, this personalization feature really makes Board Builder a powerful content curation tool for students.


 * STEP 7:** Students can use the toolbar on the top right to perform various tasks while working on their board. Specifically, when students are finished, they click on the blue Share button. As shown in the picture below, one of the features of Board Builder is that student work cannot be published until it is approved by the teacher. When students hit Share, the work is submitted to the teacher who can approve it and/or provide Feedback. Once approved, the board will be public (to the school or DE community, depending on how the teacher approved it). **If the student makes additional changes, it has to go through the approval process again.** //This is such a terrific feature!//

> >
 * STEP 8:** Once students begin sharing their work, the teacher must access his/her Board Builder dashboard to approve the content.
 * To do this, login to your Discovery Education account (www.discoveryeducation.com).
 * In the navigation bar across the top of the screen, click on the Classroom Manager drop-down menu and select Student Boards. [[image:ctreichler/Teacher Perspective.png width="639" height="216"]]
 * You will see a list of Boards and the creator(s). Click on Review Board to begin the review/approval process.
 * After viewing the board, you can leave feedback for the student(s), determine whether or not it's ready to be shared, and then select the viewing audience.
 * //In a nutshell, that is the process for creating and approving boards. Remember, teachers can also create boards from their accounts, and they have all of the same features that students have. So, before assigning a task to your students, try it out on your own!// **

= = //Page last updated 1/9/2016//