Educreations is an interactive whiteboard and screening tool that can be downloaded as an app. The app can only be downloaded free on an iPad or iPhone for the use of creating your own lessons but an iPad or iPhone isn't required to view other lessons others created. The app is free but there are other options with more resources that require payments. Educreations is currently being used by 50,000 schools, 5 million people, and 140 countries. On the app you can annotate, animate, and narrate nearly any type of content as you explain any concept. Teachers can create short instructional videos and share them instantly with students, or ask students to show what they know and help friends learn something new. The app allows you to create your ideas, share instantly, and replay anytime. How Does it Work?
First, you will need to download it onto a device with iOS, I downloaded the app on my iPad. Once it's downloaded, you're ready to get started with your lesson creation. You will see a white screen (your whiteboard) that you can start drawing, adding narration, and whatever else you'd like to do. At the top there are a few color options that you can choose from to write or draw with, as well as an eraser to fix any problems. At the very top right hand corner, there is tab that looks like lined paper. This allows you change the white board background (lined paper, graph paper, or coordinate grid). To the right of the color options is a plus button. This button allows you to add text that can also be changed in size and color. You can move the text anywhere on the screen just by using your finger. Also within the plus button is the option to add pictures. You can upload pictures from your photo library, drop box, google drive, and you can search for an image. You can move the picture as well as make is smaller or bigger by also using your finger. You can add as many pages as you'd like to your lesson, just by clicking the small arrow on the bottom right of the screen. The red microphone to the left of the colors, is where you can record voice and screen recordings as well as play it back to make sure you like the way it sounded. When you preview the video, you have the option to trim and make any edits to the video.
Once you have finished your lesson creation, you can export your lesson by clicked the box with the arrow on the top left side of the screen. When you save the video, you will need to give it a title and address the subject and grade. This is also where you can make the lesson public or private. Once you select save, if you don't already have an account, this when you will sign up to make an account. At first thought it was strange that the app didn't ask me from the beginning to sign up, but then I thought that I actually liked that I was allowed to test out the app before having to create an account. When creating an account, you can select either as a teacher or student. From there, you just add the normal information like name, email, and password. After your account is created, your new lesson will be on the home screen. On the left side of the screen, there's the option to create a class, so that way student's can assess all lessons created for your class. Also on the left side is a star image. Clicking on the star will bring you to featured lessons that you can use as well.
Using Educreations in the Classroom.
Educreations is also best known for teachers using it for a flipped classroom. In a flipped classroom, the students typically learn the content on their own outside of the classroom and then the teacher uses the classroom time to help the students further understand and practice the content they just learned. This app allows you to create interactive lessons that students can watch and follow along easily outside of the classroom. The students also have the ability to replay and watch the instruction as many times as the need to. By using educreations for outside engagement, the parents of the students also get to be involved in what their student is learning and get to know your teaching style. Along with using this app for a flipped classroom, teachers can also use their creations for differentiated instruction in the classroom. Instead of teaching new content with simple lecture or writing on their own whiteboard, educreations allows for the content to still be taught but in a more engaging way. Adam Renfro stated "Let students learn from your own video as you navigate through the room acting as the facilitator to your own instruction, keeping students on task and providing live support where needed. They way teachers move about the classroom has been describe as a well choreographed dance, and that dance has changed with the introduction of technology into the classroom that allows students to work at their own pace and rate" (Getting Smart).On the website All about apps in YOUR classroom!, Karen Foerch discusses the different ways Educreations can be used in the classroom that are specific to students. Educreations allows for students to get creative, assemble construct, design, develop, formulate, and write. With this app students can creative their own movie poster, make an advertisement, or even write and construct their own story or elaborate on a familiar one. The app can also be used for understanding information." Using Educreation in the science class, when given a picture of the solar system, students can identify the planets. When given a picture of a plant, they can identify the parts of a plant. Students can explain the steps to the scientific process. Using pictures, students can explain the life cycle of an animal, the rock cycle or the water cycle".
Why Use Educreations?
Teachers have the opportunity to capture their ideas. You can record your voice and iPad screen to create dynamic video that students and colleges can access anytime needed. Teachers also are able to use their own content by importing documents and pictures from your photo library, dropbox and google drive. You can also display a custom map, insert any webpage, snap a photo, or search the web for the perfect image, right within the app. The app also allows for you to share instantly not only within the app for other users to see but you can also share it to youtube, save to your google drive or camera roll, or even embed it into a website. Educreations allows for teachers to share video lessons to students in a safe and private classroom environment.
Resources
Renfro, A. (2013, April 11). Educreations: Adding Value to the Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2013/03/educreations-adding-value-to-the-classroom/
Educreations. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.appsinclass.com/educreations.html
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