My Take
I provide the lessons and Storybird provides inspiration. Most students loved writing in Storybird. Many students would use Storybird at home to write on their free time - that's engagement! I understand the aestheticsof having all art in a book be from the same artist portfolio. Students would like to have access to multiple portfolios in order to have more options for pictures.
How I Use It
I use Storybird as one of multiple choices of format for students to write and publish. Students would write individually and in collaborative partnerships. I found that the collaborative writing of books supported EL students and below grade level readers in powerful ways. After using the free version for several years, I purchased the premium version last year. I was glad I did. The managment of student assignments was so worth the investment, As much as students love reading each other's writing on line, the downloaded and printed minibooks that came with the paid version were treasured by students. Students enjoyed selecting high quallity art and this often served as prompts to inspire student writing. The limitation is sometimes a student is inspired to write and cannot find pictures to support the story that he/she has in mind.