Tool Reviews
32
Overview
Explain Everything Introduction (1:42)
Description
Explain Everything is a mobile and online interactive whiteboard that allows users to create presentations and videos that can be uploaded to youtube or shared on Google Drive. There are a variety of features including a pen and highlighting tool, the ability to add documents, images, and videos, and the ability to add voice annotations. These features promote the creation of multimodal presentations or videos. Explain Everything also allows multiple users to collaborate on a project on the same devices or several devices.
Justification for Using this Tool
Explain Everything is often used as a presentation tool, as its features promote the use of many instructional design principles, including the modality principle and contiguity principle. The modality principle states that audio better supports learning outcomes in comparison to written text (Clark & Mayer, 2011). Explain Everything includes a built-in recording feature, that allows users to narrate a presentation or explain their thinking process. The contiguity principle states that audio and visuals should be presented in an integrated fashion (Clark & Mayer, 2011). The recordings can be paired with live drawings or writing to allow information to be shared through auditory and visual channels simultaneously.
The invite feature in Explain Everything enables computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). CSCL promotes social interactions which allow for deeper mental processing of content (Stahl, Koschman, & Suthers, 2014). A shareable code allows for multiple users to access a project simultaneously, which enables users to share questions, participate in inquiry learning, and share thoughts and opinions.
Strategies for Use
Strategy 1 – Collaborative Whiteboard
Collaborative Whiteboard (2:15)
Explain Everything can support student collaboration through the upload of a file feature. Students can utilize the highlight and text feature to improve understanding of course materials, while working simultaneously with their peers.
Strategy 2 – Explain Everything E-Book
Explain Everything E-Book (2:51)
Explain Everything can be used to create an E-Book with voice narration. Students can add multiple pages, which incorporate pictures and text.
Helpful Resources
Resource 1 – Explain Everything Webinar
The video discusses a hope to connect Explain Everything with the Google platform to allow educators to post content on Google Classroom, and provide a place for students to share their projects on Google Drive. The video also presents a variety of different ways to incorporate the WBLT into the classroom to enhance student learning.
Resource 2 – Creative Uses of Explain Everything
The blog post includes 11 creative and practical uses of Explain Everything in the classroom setting. Explain Everything can be used by teachers to support instruction or by students to promote collaboration.
References
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-Learning and the science of instruction (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Phieffer.
Stahl, G., Koschmann, T., & Suthers, D. (2014). Computer-supported collaborative learning: An historical perspective. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences, revised version. (ch. 24, pp. 479-500). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Author
| Submitted by: | Sarah Baillie |
| Email: | sarah.baillie@ontariotechu.net |
| Twitter: | @MsBaillie_ |
| Bio: | I am an elementary Occasional Teacher with York Region District School Board and Durham Catholic District School Board. I am currently enrolled in the Master of Education program at Ontario Tech University, with an interest in integrating technologies into the classroom. |