Explain Everything

Explain Everything has users engage an interactive whiteboard to create flexible single- or multiple-page presentations about any topic. After choosing from one of four templates, users are able to design a presentation by inserting text (both handwritten and typed), importing pictures, videos, and web pages, and by adding shapes and objects. Users can also include annotation tools, as well as provide their own narration. After a presentation has been created, it can be saved and reopened for editing. The saved project can then be exported and shared easily using various Web 2.0 tools or through email.

Instructional Ideas

1. Teachers can use Explain Everything to build a presentation to model their expectations of a specific assignment. The presentation can then be uploaded to the class webpage or emailed for students to access it as needed.
2. Students can use Explain Everything to support teacher-assigned research in any subject. For example, if students were instructed to research a 19th-century inventor, they could use Explain Everything to compose a presentation to showcase their understanding of the inventor and inventions by including the inventor’s photo, a picture and description of each invention, and a video demonstration of how the invention is used today. Moreover, students could narrate their presentations and upon completion, post them to the class website for sharing or email them to their teacher for grading.
3. Explain Everything is a great tool for conducting close reads. To do so, teachers would first select the text for the close read and make it available to students for download by posting to a classroom website or in a class Dropbox. Next, students download the text into the workspace within the Explain Everything app. Teachers can then read the text aloud for students and follow up by asking foundational questions about the text (e.g., what is this text about, what does the author wants us to learn by reading the text, what do we like or dislike about this text, etc.). Students can respond to these questions verbally or by typing their response onto the workspace in the app. Students would then re-read the text and annotate specific features of it, like the author’s main idea, facts, opinions, topic statements, or supporting details. At this point, teachers can have students discuss their annotations, or move onto composing a constructed response to the text by projecting the prompt for students to respond to on the board, and then have students reread the text a third time. When ready, students can type their constructed response onto their workspace in the app and then email their finished work to their teacher. This way, teachers will receive students’ responses to the foundational questions and a copy of their annotated text, as well as the constructed response.
4. Teachers can have students use Explain Everything to take notes during a lecture. Following the lecture, the teacher can instruct students to search the Internet for an image that represents the topic of the lecture and import it into their notes. Finally, teachers could require students to submit their notes via email for grading. This way, students will retain a copy of their notes, and teachers will have a document to hold students accountable for taking notes. Additionally, teachers will be able to assess the effectiveness of their lecture by determining if students are successfully able to identify the important points of the lecture within their notes.

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