App of the Week: Explain Everything
On 8th February I attended an event in Sheffield which was hosted by the Media Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group (MELSIG). The aim of the event was to disseminate good practice using a range of mobile devices – mainly tablets and not surprisingly, mainly iPads. One session I attended which was facilitated by Chrissi Nerantzi & Olaojo Aiyegbayo, was called Killer Apps. It was here I heard about Explain Everything.
What is it?
It’s a presentation app which allows you to create a deck of presentation slides. It records audio, annotation and animation. Not impressed so far? Read on…
What does it do?
Using its built in annotation features, it allows you to create a page, record an audio narration, add visual annotations and animations, then save the recording as a video for others to consume. Don’t worry if your presentation already exists in powerpoint, you can import it and use Explain Everything to add your audio and annotations on top.
How can I use it in my teaching?
The options are endless. Use it to explain a maths concept to ITE students. Use it to highlight anatomical features for physio students or access issues for OT students. Get students to use it to provide collaborative feedback on each other’s work. Create a revision resource for your students or create a multimedia lecture.
How much does it cost?
£1.99 from the app store.
Interesting stuff – am I right in thinking users could export their content as video and then upload it to the Media Library (http://hml.yorksj.ac.uk/)?
Yes, that’s right, Phil. See Ian’s comment; he seemed to find it quite an easy process.
I had a go at using this app to create, as Mark suggested, addition written methods for ITE students. Initially I tried to create a voice over for a PowerPoint presentation that I had already created for the session, although I found that some of the graphics lost their positioning when downloaded into Explain Everything so I recorded the movie just by adding new pages and then writing directly onto the iPad. The finished movie uploaded easily to the Helix library. (http://hml.yorksj.ac.uk/Play.aspx?VideoId=46). Just some additional information -the app on the iMac costs £10.49 although there is a free viewer available.