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!

The Amazing Typewriter

This is a seriously silly app, that has no obvious value in education, and I recommend it. For iPad and iPhone.

But actually, The Amazing Type-writer ($A1.99) has sparked a multitude of very funny/smart cards in their public gallery.

It is the capacity to share things so readily that makes an idea like this work, and amuse, (and inform a new generation of kids what typewriters are).

Learning by explaining with ScreenChomp

I went looking for an on-screen whiteboard app after seeing the amazing Kahn Academy instructional videos. ScreenChomp by TechSmith (Camtasia etc) is an elegant minimalist free app for all ages. It takes just a few minutes to learn what it does, and an instructor or student can get to work drawing on the screen and recording a voice message to explain.

It is so easy to use that teachers and students can use it to explain and explore on-the-go, sending quick help videos to others. This is surely a very good way to demonstrate learning, and explain concepts.
One can quickly do a screen capture, then insert this image into ScreenChomp and use the pen and voice to create an explanation, pose questions or complete an exercise.

There is no registration for the online space, and presumably there is a limit on storage. I suspect that there will be a fee in a while for extra storage and other features.

At last, a decent iPad blog app: Blogsy!

At last, a respectable and good value ($A5.49) app for blogging. Blogging has been a real pain for iPad users, but it seems that the the solution is at hand. Just link Blogsy to your blogging site - Blogger, Wordpress, etc, and then some easy text editing, drag and drop images and video, utilising the polished touch controls of the iPad.

There is a twin view - the edit view (Write side) and formatting (Rich side) and the user swipes between them. Very cool. The edit page has complex looking HTML code on it but there is no need to apply these, just use this page to input text, then swipe over to the Rich site. There you select paragraphs, words etc and click a range of format buttons to achieve the layout you want.

Inserting an image is the test for me. From the 'Rich side', you click on the image icon and locate an image that has been saved, and drag and drop it onto the page, and simultaneously choose its format and size. Very simple. In writing the Isle of Tunes post using Blogsy, I did have some trouble getting the images to sit properly, but just loaded them again and they worked fine.

There are excellent How to Videos here and from the Settings on Blogsy. 

At last, the iPad is not embarrassed by its file management. Creating and inserting an image is now dead simple.

1. saved screen shot - press button and on/off together
2. Open image in camera roll and go to Edit to crop as required
3. return to Blogsy and in the rich side, click the images icon, find the camera roll and drag the image into an envelope and upload it.
4. back on the rich side, drag the image to where you want it left or right aligned. 

The image insertion is easier and more intuitive that most blog software, but the formatting of text is a little more complex. In summary, I think students would have no trouble using Blogsy for comprehensive blogging.

This 'Write side' view is where text input is done.

The media buttons link to whatever services you are signed up for for easy importing of images, video and so on.

A major update is expected soon.

[This annotated image is produced by Skitch, Mac App Store and Android]

An island of fun on the Isle of Tune

I am not sure exactly which curriculum objectives The Isle on Tune addresses, but I am sure it is fun finding out.

Isle of Tune is a musical sequencing and composition app that is a delight to use ($A2.99). I have seen a 5 year old compose with it and it will challenge the skill of a musical adult. As the screen shot shows, there is a graphic layout that presents the musical score as a road. The music comes from roadside objects, triggered by the cars passing by. It is programming, really, requiring lots of logic and concentration. And there is immediate delightful feedback.
Best to see what the process looks like in this frenetic video.


I would love to see what a teacher with musical knowledge could do with this app with students anywhere from Year 3 to 12. While a 5 year old can create on this, the video shows that in order to get a satisfying piece of music, you have to know about rhythm, complementary notes and all sorts of music knowledge that I don't have. But of course you could work out a lot of this by trial and error on the Isle of Tunes.

The fun aspect of apps like this is a non-trivial problem. Obviously students of all ages (and grown ups) would first of all want to just play around and see what funny sequences can be composed. There is a real danger that some students at least would have difficulty getting beyond a 'fooling around' use of the app. One wouldn't want to remove this element, but the teacher would want students to move on to learning how to manage rhythm and repetition and so on to produce truly engaging music. Obviously an anti-fun teacher would be challenged by this sort of software.