Explain Everything A Connected Creativity App

As I dig deeper into the reality of the one iPad Classroom I am most intrigued by apps that allow students and teachers to create. On a computer I have learned to weave together digital tools to make them do exactly what I want them to do, but I must admit I am not there yet on the iPad. One app that appeals to me for teaching and learning on an  iPad is Explain Everything.

Explain Everything is a creativity app that offers many options and some exciting integrated features to make it work well. This app allows users to create slides that can include a variety of multimedia. Use photos, video, web links, shapes, files, text, and audio recordings to Explain Everything. Here are some features that make this app appealing.

Connected and Integrated 

One of the best feature of Explain Everything is that it is connected.  Users can seamlessly navigate between many integrated cloud apps, including Evernote, Google Drive and Dropbox. It’s also easy to connect to other areas of the iPad to access stored items such as videos, pictures and music.

Explain Everything supports a variety of versatile publishing options. Finished projects can be saved to a number of locations on the iPad, since Explain Everything supports a variety of export formats includingMP4/Mov, PDF and more. Upload completed projects to YouTube or publish the files as iBooks.

Explain Everything

Built in Screencasting

Push button recording features allow users to capture content on the screen, narrate, record, and publish. The ability to make multimedia content available to students 24/7 makes Explain Everything a nice tool for providing students with opportunities for review or previewing content prior to class.

Explain Everything can be used as a screencasting tool to create tech tip tutorials to support tech integration. Use the tool for professional development to maximize valuable staff time by providing teachers with easy access to resources and a pause button.

Portability

The portability of the iPad makes it a great tool for passing around the classroom, providing small groups of students with the opportunity to tap into their higher order thinking skills as they create and Explain Everything. Ease of use makes it an efficient tool. Access to specific apps can be restricted in the  iPad “Settings” under “Privacy”,  allowing teachers to control access to personal items stored in cloud apps. The use of guided access also allows a teacher’s device to be shared without intrusion of personal items.

Design Tools

Explain Everything allows users to create slides that can include a variety of multimedia. Uses include photos, video, web links, shapes, files ,text, and audio recordings to explain. Here are some appealing features at a glance;

  • Inspector Tool  – Layer, group, duplicate, resize and lock objects.
  • Delete Tool  – Tap the tool then easily select an object on the stage to delete it.
  • Opacity
  • Text  – Choose from a variety of fonts and access limitless colors
  • Zoom and Pan Tool
  • Undo

Presenter Tools

Explain Everything is a convenient tool for quick student work, but the app also includes features for creating professional quality presentations. Hide the toolbars, set a slide to automatically open to a preset webpage upon access and use the Timeline Scrubber to jump to specific parts of a recording. Use the Laser Pointer tool to highlight areas of the screen while recording and direct the attention of the audience to a specific place on the screen.

Versatile Publishing Options

Finished projects can be saved to a number of locations on the iPad, since Explain Everything supports a variety of export formats includingMP4/Mov, PDF and more. Upload completed projects to YouTube or publish the files as iBooks.

Uses in the Classroom

Explain Everything’s integrated design make it a flexible instructional tool for teaching and learning.  Teachers can use it to create and publish interactive multimedia lessons and assessments for students.  Use Explain Everything  as a tool to maximize instructional time by providing students with differentiated, self-paced lessons that feature a pause button. Lessons can be published , shared, and made available  to students in the 24/7 classroom to front load the learning or provide students with opportunities for enrichment and review.
Students can use Explain Everything to demonstrate and apply higher order thinking skills and extend the learning. Explain Everything can be used as  a note-taking tool that can be annotated and illustrated, helping students construct knowledge as they  dig deeper into concepts and ideas presented..
Be sure to check out the Explain Everything website to access resources and get more ideas for using this tool in your classroom.

Final Thoughts

Explain Everything is an inexpensive paid app, but for me the integrated and flexible features make it worth the purchase.  If you decide to try Explain Everything, be sure to download the dynamic content iBook.

 

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