By Xiaokai (Katie) Jia
CELT Instructional Consultant/Designer
As teachers in the information age, we have access to
abundant teaching resources, including online videos, articles, images, and
files in various formats. At the same time, we may struggle putting all those
wonderful resources together easily. How great would it be if we could have an
infinite canvas to display these resources in one place and use them to explain
things in different ways? Oh wait! There is an app for that. It’s called Explain Everything.
Explain Everything
is an easy-to-use and interactive whiteboard that allows users to draw, type,
annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything. Today, I would
like to share with you some ideas for getting started with this amazing app.
Visual Presentation
With the pen tool, shape tool, and text tool, users can present,
highlight, and illustrate new knowledge. Objects can be easily moved, resized,
rotated, grouped, and even animated with auto rotation. Teachers can manipulate
various objects to explain new concepts, relationships, and procedures. Objects
can be texts, drawings, shapes, images, videos, documents, and even web
browsers. For instance, teachers and/or their students can record math problem
solving procedures on screen with voiceover, also known as a “screencast.”
Personalized Learning
Many teachers value personalized learning and individualized
feedback. However, it is often hard to do. With Explain Everything, teachers
can create learning materials and easily share them with students before the
class. Providing feedback to student projects can be simplified by importing
files directly into Explain Everything,
recording a screencast, exporting the video, and sharing with students.
Collaboration
Explain Everything
projects can be shared with and edited
synchronously by multiple users. This means
students can view on their own screens what their teacher is doing in real
time, and collaborate efficiently on one project with their peers. In addition
to student collaboration and engagement, this feature enables students with
visual impairment to zoom in to a specific
part of the project on their own devices.
For more ideas for integrating Explain Everything into your
classroom, check 17
things to do on Explain Everything. If you are interested in learning more
about Explain Everything with a CELT consultant, please
use the request
for services link on the CELT web site.
