Explain Everything and Explain EDU are digital interactive whiteboard applications. Explain EDU is an educational version specifically for the iPad. Explain Everything is a subscription based app and the original Explain EDU (2011) is a one time purchase iOS app with some limitations (more on that later).
Explain Everything can be used to create slides and add voice annotations as well as used to record the audio and video of a series of slides or visual annotations to be shared as a videos. A subscription to Explain Everything allows you to share these videos using their cloud platform. You can also save the vide to your own hard drive or cloud storage and share it from there. A subscription to Explain Everything allows multiple users to collaborate in real time on the same project. Explain Everything and Explain EDU are excellent tools for Blended Learning.
Explain EDU is an iOS app only. It has whiteboard features, file-based sharing abilities, and on-device video compression.
Explain Everything and Explain EDU are excellent tools for creating video lessons that can be used for blended learning, to flip your classroom, for introductory lessons, review lessons, or student project collaboration. The interactive whiteboard is especially easy to use in Explain EDU with an iPad, as you can draw on it with the Apple Pencil or your finger. Of course, you can add typed text boxes and import images as well.
Another useful feature is the ability to import PowerPoint slide shows. If you already have a PowerPoint slide show you use for live presentations, simply import it into Explain EDU (or Explain Everything). You can now record your voice and a video of the slides, and what you do on the slides, like mark them up, use a (digital) laser pointer, zoom in, etc. to create a video of your presentation. No need to reinvent the wheel!
The videos you create in Explain Everything/Explain EDU can be used to flip you classroom. If your students watch the video you created before attending class, you have more time in class for a deeper class discussion, additional practice, or for something like a science experiment. You could also use an Explain Everything/Explain EDU video as an introduction to a new concept, so that every student has at least some basic background information before you begin teaching your lesson in class. Explain Everything/Explain EDU videos could also be used as a review for students to watch after your class review for a summative assignment.
And yes, for those of you who have considered Edpuzzle, you can upload the videos you create in Explain Everything/Explain EDU to Edpuzzle to create Edpuzzle lessons. In fact, that is exactly how I get the videos for all of the Edpuzzle lessons I use in the classes I teach.
You can start from scratch, creating everything for your lesson in Explain Everything/Explain EDU, or you can import a PowerPoint slide deck you have already created. Obviously, if you already have a product (a PowerPoint slide deck), it is easier to begin your lesson, but it is not necessary. Also, check all your imported slides before you begin recording, as some images on the slides do not import correctly, and you may need to delete them before importing the slides and add the object back after reimporting the slides. If you are using a subscription version of Explain Everything, you can also collaborate with others as you create your whiteboard.
Once you have created or imported the things you want to record, you can begin recording. Explain Everything /Explain EDU will record your voice and what happens on the screen. If you realize you made an error, you can stop, slide the progress bar back to a point before your error, and record over your mistake. You can also lay down multiple sound tracks if you choose, so you could lay down background music and then record your narration, or vice versa.
You can write on the screen while you record and narrate, or you can stop recording, add or draw something, and start recording again. If you do it the second way, the object(s) will seem to instantly appear when the viewer watches the video. You can use a (digital) laser pointer to point out items on the slide/whiteboard to the viewer. There are also several cursors from which to choose for this same purpose. You can use a fade away line to circle something of note, and then the line will quickly fade away after drawing your viewers' attention to it.
When you are satisfied with your creation, if you are using Explain EDU, can save your creation as a video to your iPad camera roll. From the camera roll, you can share or upload the video as you would any other video. If you are using a subscription version of Explain Everything, you can share the video you created to the Explain Everything cloud service and share it from there, or save it as a video file to your computer to share using your own cloud service or other means.
Some helpful videos to get you started implementing Explain Everything/Explain EDU in your lessons.
Some helpful links to get you started implementing Explain Everything/Explain EDU in your lessons.
Created By: C. Cox