Explain Everything - Detailed Review
Education Tools
Explain Everything - Product Overview
Explain Everything is a versatile and interactive whiteboard app that has become a staple in both educational and professional settings. Here’s a brief overview of its primary function, target audience, and key features:
Primary Function
Explain Everything serves as a digital whiteboard platform where users can create, present, and share interactive content. It is ideal for explaining complex concepts, creating dynamic presentations, and facilitating real-time collaboration. Whether you are a teacher, tutor, or business professional, this app helps you make your content more engaging and accessible.
Target Audience
The target audience for Explain Everything is diverse and includes various groups such as:
- Tutors and consultants
- Trainers and teachers in K-12 institutions and universities
- Graphic and visual facilitators
- Storytellers and music teachers
- Continuous and visual learners
- Sales professionals
- Product developers and user-experience designers
Key Features
Here are some of the key features that make Explain Everything a valuable tool:
- Interactive Whiteboard: Users can create notes, draw, and annotate documents on an infinite canvas. This includes using sticky notes, importing documents, and annotating PDFs.
- Real-Time Collaboration: Explain Everything allows for real-time collaboration with voice chat, enabling users to work together on the same project from any device, anywhere.
- Recording and Video Editing: Users can record whiteboard sessions, edit videos, and share them via Web Video Links. This feature is particularly useful for creating video tutorials and lessons.
- Presentation Tools: The app supports creating interactive presentations by incorporating narration, animations, and dynamic visuals. Users can upload existing resources like PowerPoint presentations and PDFs to work on them interactively.
- Engagement Tools: Features such as Polling, Timer, and Spinner apps help promote student participation and focus during lessons.
- Cloud Storage: Explain Everything offers cloud storage through Explain Everything Drive, allowing users to access and share their materials from any device.
- Integration with Conferencing Tools: The app can be integrated with popular conferencing tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams for seamless broadcasting and collaboration.
Overall, Explain Everything is a comprehensive tool that enhances teaching, learning, and professional communication by making content creation and collaboration more interactive and efficient.
Explain Everything - User Interface and Experience
User Interface Overview
The user interface of Explain Everything, a popular digital whiteboard tool in the education sector, is crafted with a focus on ease of use and intuitive interaction.Hand Tool and Object Management
One of the key features is the enhanced Hand Tool, which simplifies the process of arranging and editing content on the whiteboard. With this tool, users can select multiple objects at once and move them as a temporary group, making it easier to manage and organize the canvas. The Hand Tool also allows for adding or detaching objects from a group, all within a few taps.Unified Interactions and Multimedia Controls
Text, Browsers, and 3D Models now include a button for interaction or editing, reducing accidental edits and making the interface more familiar. Video and Audio objects have accessible Play/Pause buttons and timestamps, with full player controls available upon selection with the Hand Tool. Double-tapping an object quickly edits it or displays full player controls, streamlining the workflow.Drawing and Annotation
The Draw Tool and Highlighter maintain consistent line widths even when zooming in or out, ensuring annotations remain clear and consistent. This feature is supported by a Pen Size Indicator that shows when the line width will adjust based on the zoom level.Expandable Whiteboard Space
Explain Everything offers an expandable and endless whiteboard space within each slide, allowing users to zoom in and out to showcase detailed content. This feature is particularly useful for creating detailed annotations and presentations.Recording and Playback
Users can record their interactions on the whiteboard, including drawings, annotations, and audio narration. This allows for the creation of dynamic instructional videos that can be exported and shared with students.Ease of Use
The interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Explain Everything is designed to make content manipulation simple, with features like grabbing and moving multiple objects with your fingers, and annotations that stick to content. The app also supports personalization, making it adaptable to various teaching styles.Additional Features
Other notable features include the ability to add web links to objects, which can be opened directly on the canvas or in a web browser. The Context Menu replaces the Inspector and Delete Tools, making it quicker to arrange, edit, lock, and delete objects.Conclusion
Overall, the user experience of Explain Everything is characterized by its simplicity, consistency, and the ability to create interactive and engaging learning experiences. The tool is well-suited for both teachers and students, facilitating real-time collaboration and the creation of interactive lessons and presentations. Explain Everything - Key Features and Functionality
Explain Everything Overview
Explain Everything is a versatile and interactive whiteboard app that offers a range of features tailored for educational purposes. Here are the main features and how they benefit educators and students:
Interactive Whiteboard
Explain Everything allows users to create notes, draw, and explain concepts on an infinite canvas. This feature is particularly useful for creating dynamic lessons, as users can import documents, annotate PDFs, and use various tools like sticky notes, shapes, and clipart.
Video Recording and Editing
Teachers can record and edit whiteboard video lessons, which can then be shared with students and families. This feature supports flipped learning models and allows students to review material at their own pace, enhancing accessibility and accommodating different learning styles.
Collaboration Tools
The app enables real-time collaboration, allowing teachers and students to work together on the same project. This can be done synchronously or asynchronously, and the platform supports up to 8 people collaborating simultaneously, with no time limits within educational settings.
Engagement Apps
Explain Everything includes engagement apps such as Polling, Timer, and Spinner. These tools help promote student participation and focus. For example, the Polling app allows teachers to ask questions and receive instant responses from students, while the Timer and Spinner apps can be used to manage time and randomly select items from lists.
LMS Integrations
The app has expanded integrations with popular Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Canvas, Google Classroom, Moodle, Blackboard, and Microsoft Teams. This integration allows teachers to create and share Explain Everything assignments directly through their LMS, streamlining the process of assigning and checking tasks.
Customizable Interface and Guided Scenarios
Explain Everything offers a customizable interface and guided scenarios with an interactive learning helper. These features help new users get started quickly and provide shortcuts for specific use cases, such as annotations or recording, making the app more user-friendly.
Translation and Accessibility
The web version of Explain Everything supports translations, and the app is designed to increase accessibility by providing a video recording and editing studio. This allows teachers to share recorded lessons with students who may need to access the material at different times or speeds.
Cloud Storage and Sharing
Projects can be stored and shared in the Explain Everything cloud, making it easy to access and share materials from any device. This feature also includes file-based project sharing and the ability to broadcast the whiteboard screen in video meeting apps like Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
Real-Time Broadcasting
Teachers can broadcast their whiteboard screen in real-time, either in-class or through video meeting apps. This feature is particularly useful for remote or hybrid lessons, ensuring that all students can participate regardless of their location.
While the current information does not specify the integration of AI directly into Explain Everything, the app’s features are designed to enhance teaching and learning experiences through interactive, collaborative, and accessible tools.
Explain Everything - Performance and Accuracy
When Evaluating Performance and Accuracy
When evaluating the performance and accuracy of Explain Everything in the education tools category, several key aspects stand out, along with some areas for improvement.Engagement and Interactive Learning
Explain Everything excels in engaging students through interactive learning experiences. It allows teachers to create real-time group projects, media-packed explainer videos, and interactive presentations, which are particularly beneficial in hybrid and distance education settings. Teachers can use the platform to observe students’ thought processes in real-time, whether it’s for math problems or other subjects. This feature is invaluable for identifying the exact moments where students may misunderstand a concept, enabling immediate feedback and correction.Real-Time Feedback and Assessment
The tool facilitates formative assessment by allowing teachers to record and analyze student performances. For example, in P.E. lessons, teachers can record students’ movements, draw over the videos, and provide concrete feedback on technique improvement. This approach has been shown to significantly enhance student performance over a series of lessons.Collaboration and Student Leadership
Explain Everything promotes collaboration and leadership skills by enabling students to create and share their own tutorials, animated stories, and presentations. This feature strengthens students’ leadership and collaboration abilities, as they work together on projects and present their work to the class.Integration and Accessibility
The platform is fully integrated with various Learning Management Systems (LMS) and tools like Showbie, making it easy for teachers to organize and share materials. This integration ensures that teachers can manage their resources efficiently and keep student data secure and private.Areas for Improvement
Technical Skills and Support
While Explain Everything is highly effective, there might be a need for ongoing support and training for teachers to fully utilize its features. Ensuring that teachers are comfortable with the technology and can troubleshoot any issues quickly is crucial for seamless integration into the classroom.User Interface and Ease of Use
Some users might find the initial setup or certain features slightly complex. Improving the user interface to make it even more intuitive could enhance the overall user experience, especially for those who are less tech-savvy.Customization and Personalization
While the platform offers a range of features, there could be more options for customization to cater to different learning styles and disabilities. Additional tools or settings that allow for greater personalization could further enhance its effectiveness.Conclusion
Explain Everything is a powerful tool for engaging students and enhancing learning outcomes through interactive and real-time feedback mechanisms. Its ability to foster collaboration, leadership, and digital literacy skills makes it a valuable asset in the education sector. However, ongoing support, user interface improvements, and increased customization options could further enhance its performance and accuracy. Explain Everything - Pricing and Plans
Explain Everything Pricing Plans
Explain Everything offers a range of pricing plans tailored for educational use, each with distinct features and limitations. Here’s a breakdown of the available plans:
Free Plan
The Free plan is a great starting point for those who want to try out the service or use it occasionally. Here are the key features:
- Projects: Up to 3 projects, with 1 slide per project.
- Video Recording: Videos can be recorded and exported up to 3 minutes long.
- Collaboration: Collaborate with 1 person for up to 15 minutes per session.
- Storage: 500 MB of cloud storage on Explain Drive.
- Creative Tools: Access to all creative whiteboarding tools, including drawing, annotating PDFs, and using sticky notes.
Advanced Promethean Bundle
This plan is more comprehensive and suitable for regular users:
- Projects: Unlimited projects with unlimited slides.
- Video Recording: No restrictions on video length.
- Collaboration: Collaborate with 1 person for up to 30 minutes per session.
- Storage: 7.5 GB of cloud storage on Explain Drive.
- Engagement Apps: Includes tools like Polling, Timer, and Spinner to enhance student engagement and participation.
- Additional Features: Access to Promethean engagement applications and other advanced tools.
Custom Pricing for Schools
For larger educational institutions, Explain Everything offers custom pricing and features:
- Licenses: Custom number of licenses, allowing multiple accounts to create and use Explain Everything independently.
- Storage: 10 GB pooled cloud storage per teacher.
- LMS Integrations: Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMS).
- License Deployment: Flexibility in deploying licenses through Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions.
- Expanded Collaboration: Additional collaboration options.
- Professional Development: Support for professional development for educators.
Each plan is designed to meet different needs, from casual use to more extensive educational requirements. The free plan provides a good introduction to the platform’s capabilities, while the Advanced Promethean Bundle and Custom Plans for Schools offer more advanced features and larger storage capacities.
Explain Everything - Integration and Compatibility
Explain Everything Overview
Explain Everything is a versatile and integrated lesson creation and delivery platform that seamlessly connects with various tools and platforms, making it a valuable asset for educational institutions.
Integrations with Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Explain Everything integrates smoothly with several popular Learning Management Systems, including Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, Moodle, and Blackboard. This integration allows teachers to create and assign Explain Everything projects directly through their LMS, streamlining the assignment and feedback process. For example, with Google Classroom, teachers can instantly share assignments using a “magic button,” saving time and effort.
Video and Collaboration Tools
The platform is also compatible with video conferencing tools like Zoom. Teachers can broadcast their Explain Everything whiteboard directly to Zoom, enabling real-time sharing of their screen, including toolbars and menus. This feature is particularly useful for remote teaching and collaborative sessions.
Cloud Storage
Explain Everything integrates with cloud storage solutions such as Dropbox and Google Drive. This allows teachers to store and share their teaching materials effortlessly across different devices. Users can create and share projects directly to their cloud storage, ensuring easy access and organization of their resources.
Cross-Platform Compatibility
Explain Everything is available on a wide range of devices, including iPads, iPhones, Chromebooks, Android devices, and even Macs. This cross-platform compatibility ensures that teachers and students can access and use the platform regardless of the device they are using. The app requires iOS 15.0 or later for iPhones and iPads, and macOS 11.0 or later for Macs.
Online Collaboration
The platform supports both synchronous and asynchronous online collaboration. Teachers can work with up to eight people simultaneously in a project, depending on the subscription plan. This feature is particularly useful for group projects and collaborative learning activities.
Additional Integrations
Explain Everything also integrates with other educational tools and resources, such as the Sketchfab 3D models library, allowing teachers to incorporate high-quality 3D models into their lessons. Additionally, it supports Promethean interactive panels, enhancing the teaching workflow with features like gamification through Promethean Engagement Apps.
Conclusion
In summary, Explain Everything’s extensive integrations and cross-platform compatibility make it a highly versatile and user-friendly tool for educators, facilitating seamless lesson creation, delivery, and collaboration across various platforms and devices.
Explain Everything - Customer Support and Resources
Customer Support
Email Support
Users can get help from the support team via email, which is available for all subscription plans.
Online Help Center
Explain Everything provides an easy-to-follow instructions section on their help center (help.explaineverything.com), which includes guides and FAQs to address common queries.
Custom Onboarding
For institutions with more than 50 users, the support team offers custom onboarding to guide the company through the setup process.
Priority Support
Depending on the subscription plan, users can receive priority support, ensuring quicker responses to their queries.
Additional Resources
Live Professional Development Sessions
Explain Everything offers live professional development sessions delivered remotely, aimed at helping educators transition efficiently from physical to digital whiteboards. These sessions are particularly beneficial for schools and districts adopting the platform.
Customized Curriculum Planning Consultations
Experts from Explain Everything can analyze the district’s curriculum practices and digital commitments, helping to develop templates and navigate the transformation to digital teaching tools.
On-demand Usage Reports
Institutions can access advanced reports with analytics and usage data, providing insights into how the tool is being utilized.
Data Residency Choice
Users have the option to choose the region where their group data will be stored, ensuring compliance with local data regulations.
Educational Resources
Interactive Learning Experiences
Explain Everything allows teachers to create collaborative learning experiences where students and teachers can share thoughts and ideas in real-time. This includes tools for formative assessments, real-time instruction, and student-led presentations.
Tutorial Database and Tips
The platform offers a curated selection of staff picks, tips, and tricks, as well as a tutorial database to help users get the most out of the tool.
Success Stories
Users can see how other educators are using Explain Everything to create engaging learning experiences through success stories and case studies.
Special Offers for Education
EDU Discounts
Explain Everything provides special discounts for students and teachers in primary and secondary schools, making the tool more accessible for educational institutions.
These resources and support options are designed to ensure that educators can effectively integrate Explain Everything into their teaching practices, enhancing the learning experience for their students.
Explain Everything - Pros and Cons
Advantages of Explain Everything
Explain Everything offers several significant advantages that make it a valuable tool in the education sector:
Interactive Lessons
You can create highly interactive presentations, incorporating video, notation, and audio recording to make your instruction more engaging and dynamic.
Real-Time Collaboration
The platform allows for real-time collaboration between teachers and students. You can share projects, work together on lessons, and even conduct live sessions with up to 8 participants, depending on the plan.
Multi-Platform Compatibility
Unlike some other tools, Explain Everything can be used on both PCs and mobile apps, providing flexibility for educators and students.
Extensive Media Integration
You can easily add pictures, videos, PDFs, and other files to your projects, enhancing the learning experience with diverse media types.
Recording and Sharing
Paid plans offer unlimited video recording, allowing you to create full video lessons that can be shared instantly via Explain Drive or published as MP4 files.
Templates and Clipart
The platform provides various templates and clipart to help you create visually appealing and structured lessons.
Enhanced Cloud Storage
Paid plans come with increased cloud storage, ranging from 1 to 20 GB, ensuring you have ample space to store and share your projects and videos.
Email Support
Subscribers to paid plans benefit from email support, which can be invaluable for resolving issues or learning more about the tool’s features.
Disadvantages of Explain Everything
While Explain Everything is a powerful tool, it also has some limitations and drawbacks:
Free Plan Limitations
The free version has significant restrictions, including limits on the number of projects (3 projects with 1 slide each), recording time (3 minutes), and collaboration time (15 minutes with only 1 participant).
Editing Challenges
Some users have reported that it is not simple to stop, go back, or edit content within the tool, which can be frustrating.
Limited Access on Free Version
On the free plan, you cannot access other educators’ lessons, and there are limitations on creating and sharing content.
Quality Issues
There have been reports of video quality issues, particularly in the free version, which might affect the overall presentation quality.
Overall, Explain Everything is a versatile and engaging tool for educators, but it is important to consider the limitations of the free plan and the potential need for a paid subscription to fully leverage its features.
Explain Everything - Comparison with Competitors
When Comparing Explain Everything with Other Education Tools
When comparing Explain Everything with other education tools in the digital whiteboard and AI-driven education categories, several key features and alternatives stand out.
Unique Features of Explain Everything
- Explain Everything is renowned for its interactive whiteboard capabilities, allowing teachers to create engaging lessons, record video tutorials, and collaborate in real-time with students.
- It supports the upload of various file types such as PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, and documents, which can be worked on paperlessly using the interactive whiteboard.
- The platform enables students to create and share their own tutorials, animated stories, and presentations, fostering leadership and collaboration skills.
- It offers a user-friendly interface for recording whiteboard videos and sharing them instantly with students.
Alternatives and Competitors
BitPaper
- BitPaper is another web-based collaborative online whiteboard that specializes in real-time tutor-student collaboration. It offers features like slick writing, image importing, PDF outputting, note saving, and audio chat. This platform is particularly useful for tutors and students working together remotely.
Virtual Board
- Virtual Board provides digital whiteboard solutions for online education, enabling real-time collaboration across various devices. It caters to the needs of teachers and students in virtual learning environments, similar to Explain Everything.
LiveBoard
- LiveBoard is more focused on tutoring management, offering tools for scheduling, payroll management, and branded virtual classrooms. While it has some whiteboard features, it is more comprehensive in its tutoring management capabilities compared to Explain Everything.
Whiteboard.fi
- Acquired by Kahoot!, Whiteboard.fi is another online whiteboard tool that allows teachers and students to collaborate in real-time. However, its features and integration might differ since the acquisition.
AI-Driven Tools for Comparison
While Explain Everything is not primarily an AI-driven tool, there are other platforms that integrate AI to enhance educational experiences:
Smart Sparrow
- This adaptive e-learning platform uses AI to personalize learning and provide real-time feedback. It is more focused on adaptive learning rather than whiteboard interactions.
Coursera
- Coursera uses AI to personalize learning experiences, recommend courses, and provide real-time feedback. However, it is more of an online learning platform rather than a digital whiteboard tool.
Magic School
- This AI-powered educational platform helps teachers with lesson planning, grading, and generating educational content. It automates tasks and provides detailed lesson plans with homework ideas and exercises, but it does not offer the same level of interactive whiteboard functionality as Explain Everything.
Conclusion
In summary, Explain Everything stands out for its interactive whiteboard features and real-time collaboration capabilities, making it a strong choice for educators looking to engage students interactively. However, if you are looking for more AI-driven tools for lesson planning or adaptive learning, alternatives like Smart Sparrow, Coursera, or Magic School might be more suitable. For those needing similar whiteboard functionalities, BitPaper and Virtual Board are worthy alternatives to consider.
Explain Everything - Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about Explain Everything, along with detailed responses:
What is Explain Everything?
Explain Everything is an interactive, collaborative whiteboard app that can be used on iPad, Android, Chromebook, and web browsers. It is designed for both educational and business purposes, allowing users to create dynamic presentations, collaborate in real-time, and integrate various multimedia elements like video, audio, and notation.
What are the key features of Explain Everything for education?
Explain Everything offers several key features for education, including the ability to create presentations with video, notation, and audio recording. It allows for real-time collaboration and instruction, enabling students and teachers to share thoughts and ideas in real-time. The app also supports formative assessments using an interactive whiteboard and allows students to create and share their own tutorials, animated stories, and presentations.
How does Explain Everything support remote and blended learning?
Explain Everything is particularly useful for remote and blended learning. It allows teachers to create and share digital lessons, record video instructions, and mark up documents in real-time. This makes it an excellent tool for flipped classrooms, eLearning days, and virtual teaching sessions. It also integrates with Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Canvas, Moodle, and Schoology, making it easy to share content with students.
What are the pricing plans for Explain Everything?
Explain Everything offers several pricing plans. For education, the plans include:
- Class: $0.90 per user per month (minimum of 10 users)
- Teachers: $2.00 per user per month
- School and District: Custom pricing for larger institutions
There are also plans for individuals and teams outside of education, including a free plan with limited features.
Does Explain Everything offer a free trial or a free plan?
Yes, Explain Everything offers a free plan with limited features. However, there is no free trial for the paid plans; instead, you can start with the free plan to test the basic features.
How does Explain Everything integrate with other tools and platforms?
Explain Everything integrates with various tools and platforms, including cloud storage services like Dropbox, Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Canvas and Moodle, and other platforms like Clever and Slack. This integration allows for seamless sharing and management of projects and videos.
What kind of support and resources are available for Explain Everything?
Explain Everything provides several resources, including a tutorial database, staff picks, tips and tricks, and success stories from other users. This helps users get the most out of the app and create engaging learning experiences.
Can students use Explain Everything to create their own content?
Yes, Explain Everything empowers students to take on leadership roles by creating and sharing their own tutorials, animated stories, and presentations. This helps strengthen their leadership and collaboration skills.
How secure is Explain Everything?
Explain Everything prioritizes security and compliance, ensuring that the app meets the necessary standards for educational institutions. You can explore more about their security measures on their website.
Is Explain Everything user-friendly for teachers and students?
Explain Everything is known for being easy to use. It allows teachers to create, digitize, and organize teaching materials efficiently, and students can easily engage with the interactive content. The app is designed to be intuitive, making it accessible for a wide range of users.
Explain Everything - Conclusion and Recommendation
Final Assessment of Explain Everything
Explain Everything is a versatile and user-friendly online whiteboard platform that has garnered significant traction in the education sector, with over 24 million users worldwide. Here’s a comprehensive look at its benefits, who would benefit most from it, and an overall recommendation.
Key Features and Benefits
- Interactive Lessons and Presentations: Explain Everything allows teachers to create engaging, interactive lessons and presentations that can be enhanced with video, notation, and audio recording. This feature makes instruction more dynamic and engaging for students.
- Video Tutorials and Recordings: Teachers can record video tutorials and presentations, which can be easily shared with students. This is particularly useful for students who need to review material multiple times or for those who miss a class.
- Real-Time Collaboration: The platform enables real-time collaboration between teachers and students. This feature is invaluable for group projects, formative assessments, and immediate feedback.
- Formative Assessment Tools: Explain Everything offers a range of tools for formative assessment, including the ability for students to record themselves working through problems, creating video summaries, and receiving media-rich feedback from teachers.
- Cloud Storage and Accessibility: With Explain Drive, users have a cloud storage space where they can upload files, videos, and projects, making it easy to work across different devices and ensuring that projects are saved automatically.
Who Would Benefit Most
Explain Everything is highly beneficial for several groups:
- Teachers: It simplifies lesson preparation, allows for interactive and engaging teaching methods, and facilitates real-time collaboration with students. The platform also provides tools for formative assessment, making it easier to evaluate student progress.
- Students: Students can create their own tutorials, animated stories, and presentations, which helps in developing leadership and collaboration skills. The interactive nature of the platform makes learning more engaging and fun.
- Educational Institutions: Schools and districts can adopt Explain Everything to enhance their teaching methodologies, improve student engagement, and streamline the assessment process. The platform is scalable and can be used in various teaching scenarios, including classroom and hybrid models.
Overall Recommendation
Explain Everything is an excellent tool for educators looking to enhance their teaching practices with interactive and engaging methods. Here are some key reasons why it is highly recommended:
- Ease of Use: The platform is user-friendly and requires minimal training, making it accessible to both teachers and younger students.
- Versatility: It offers a wide range of features that cater to different teaching needs, from creating interactive presentations to conducting formative assessments.
- Collaboration and Feedback: The real-time collaboration and media-rich feedback features make it an invaluable tool for improving student-teacher interaction and enhancing the learning experience.
In summary, Explain Everything is a powerful and flexible tool that can significantly enhance the educational experience by making lessons more engaging, collaborative, and effective. Its ease of use, comprehensive features, and scalability make it a highly recommended choice for educators and educational institutions.