Explain Everything says it all

Explain Everything ($2.99) is a very powerful whiteboard app, that does much more that ScreenChomp. But that doesn't mean that ScreenChomp is out of a job, but that teachers (and students) have to make crucial decisions about which tool for which task. ScreenChomp's great attribute is simplicity. Explain Everything's great attribute is power, but that power comes at the expense of learning time. *

Explain Everything is a very powerful and flexible app. It has a good array of tools, and as the video shows, the capacity to make multiple slides each with their own audio track. Everything is integrated very well, getting images from the Camera Roll, exporting to all the regular online services. It has value as a presentation tool as well as an explanation tools as I suggest in the video, for students to demonstrate learning. Having mentioned presentations, obviously there is the danger that it becomes just another format for tedious PowerPoint type presentations. It seems to me the new and powerful aspect of these whiteboard apps is that they create a new and very satisfying medium for students and teachers to present their thinking in a better way. The test is whether the video output from this app is significantly better in communicating than a traditional student project. I think the test of this is the reaction of other students to this form. If done half well, I suspect that these short videos will engage other students much more than traditional forms.

Returning to the comparison of this app to ScreenChomp. I think students and teachers should select the one that suits their task. If you want a very quick, short explanation, or you are learning the skills of this type of app, then ScreenChomp is fine. If you want to prepare a more complex and polished product, then Explain Everything is better.

* I'm using Blogsy to write this, and just inserted the image to the right... smooth as silk!