Review by Shaun Langevin, Common Sense Education | Updated May 2018
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Explain EDU

Get it now
  • Download from App Store

Education version of the original presentation tool still excites

Subjects & skills
Subjects
N/A
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Creativity
  • Critical Thinking
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
3–12
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (72 Reviews)
Privacy (See details)
Use with Caution Full evaluation
Price:  Paid There's a one-time $9.99 purchase to use the app. If you want to use the features of the new Explain Everything app, users can upgrade with an Education Plan subscription: $4.99 per user, per year (minimum of 5 users). Individual subscriptions are $24.99 per year.
Platforms:  iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Take a look inside

6 images
Explain EDU provides many great opportunities for assessment.
A variety of tools are available to create engaging presentations.
The ability to split and edit audio recordings can be a huge time-saver.
Explain EDU has some new tools not found in the previous version (Explain Everything Classic).
Short and easy-to-understand tutorials explain all of the app's features.
Math teachers will appreciate the ability to add equations.

Pros: Students can import content from multiple sources to use in their presentations.

Cons: Fewer features than the subscription-based Explain Everything Whiteboard app.

Bottom Line: While this app lacks the options of the full-featured Explain Everything Whiteboard app, teachers and students can still make powerful presentations.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers can use Explain EDU to create visually engaging presentations. Upload these presentations to your preferred cloud-based storage and share them with your students so they can watch them when needed. This app is a fantastic option for teachers who use a flipped classroom model. Of course, having students create presentations can be a powerful learning experience as well. Students can record themselves talking about a favorite passage using video or audio.

Explain EDU can be a powerful assessment tool. Give a math assessment where students solve a problem and narrate their thinking. Easily import open source pictures of animals and have students circle and describe the different adaptations they see. Students could import one of their written pieces and annotate it, explaining their writing technique. While any student could watch a presentation with the app, creating is probably more readily done in third grade and up. Even then, older students will need time to learn how and when to use all of the features.

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Put this tool into practice:
Standards:

Explain EDU (formerly Explain Everything Classic) is a presentation app for iOS. It integrates content from many sources that teachers and students can use to create lessons, tutorials, and more for class or personal use. This formidable tool is like a superhero version of PowerPoint. Users can import photos, PDF files, movies, and more from iTunes, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, WebDAV, and so forth to use in a presentation. Naturally, you can also add photos or videos right within the app. Explain EDU was designed for schools with iOS-only deployments and those who may need to purchase it via Apple's Volume Purchase Program (VPP).

The app can also be used as a whiteboard with the iPad video display. Tap on New Project and choose a blank project screen or import from one of many sources (you must enter your username and password information for that source on the linking screen). A white screen with tool options stacked on the left side appears, and users can begin to import content, write, and record audio for the presentation. Finally, save (it also autosaves) and play back the presentation. Users can edit specific sections of a recording without having to redo large portions of the presentation. There's also an option to subscribe to real-time collaboration and cloud storage capabilities found in the full-featured Explain Everything Whiteboard app. 

Your students can learn crucial 21st-century skills with Explain EDU. They can learn how to present information using multiple forms of expression (images, text, video, and audio) through digital technology. They can also learn how to convey messages effectively as they choose which social media accounts to link with and how to use that content responsibly. Explain EDU can help students (and teachers!) take presentations to a new level.

The differences between Explain Everything Whiteboard and Explain EDU can be confusing. While both are appropriate for classroom use, Explain Everything Whiteboard has some incredibly useful features that Explain EDU lacks. Most notable among these is that Explain Everything Whiteboard is available on Windows, iOS, Android, and Chrome OS. This flexibility allows students and teachers to work on presentations from multiple machines. Explain EDU also lacks the ability to collaborate by connecting to a partner's presentation and working on it in real time. Also missing is Explain Drive, which provides cloud storage space for each user. 

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Using social media and other content that can be imported from a variety of sources or created right in the app, Explain EDU helps students learn by making presentation creation fun.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Teachers and students can learn how to present information via multiple forms of expression: images, text, video, and audio. They'll learn about digital creation by explaining their writing, narrating their thinking, and more. 

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Students will learn to use the many features on this app via a clear, detailed tutorial/help section and in-app prompts.

Common Sense Reviewer
Shaun Langevin Technology coordinator
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Speaking & Listening

  • SL.7.5

    Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points.

  • SL.8.5

    Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

  • SL.9-10.5

    Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

  • SL.11-12.5

    Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Writing

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.9-10.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

  • W.11-12.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 72 reviews) (72 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Elizabeth L. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
Lewis And Clark Middle School
Bellevue, United States
Everything is Easy With Explain Everything: Using Explain Everything to Demonstrate Mastery in All Content Areas
This tool takes student creativity to a whole new level! Not only can students explain and demonstrate content mastery, but they also can add a flair of color and creativity to their knowledge. Teachers can see what students truly know by hearing them explain a concept right on their project slides. The ability to create slides with ease and add in pictures and text are just a few of my favorite features that this app has to offer. Students can use this app in more ways than just explaining math ...
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