Explain Everything
Last updated
Last updated
Name of Tool | Website URL | Cost | Download or Web-based | 1 sentence description of the tool |
Explain Everything TM | $25.00/ Year for Individual account. | Both | A presentation tool that an educator can add to, create, collaborate with, and record. |
The “Explain Everything TM” website describes its program as, “An interactive whiteboard platform were people collaborate, share, and learn about features (tools) without boundaries.” https://explaineverything.com/ That is a mouth full and a mild description of the boundless ideas that can be generated by using this tool. After learning how to use this tool I could only think that when used to its full potential, that Trainers and Teachers could work like CG animators for a large production. With the tools in the program a teacher can animate objects in a lesson. Trainers can move through a lesson with the slide presentation style of PowerPoint. Educators can record and edit with tools that are a combination of a screen recorder with an audio editor. They all can collaborate with tools simultaneously and independently.
Explain Everything TM (EE) program has many design tools that you would find in word processing or a presentation program. EE is designed to be used on an iPad or tablet with a touch screen, but I could use my 2 in 1 PC to use most of the tools with a mouse, then swap to a tablet when I had to. I didn’t find any recommendations from the website to use a 2 in 1, but it worked out for me. Since I have large hands and big fingers, I found using that my mouse was more precise than using my finger to draw objects. When I had to zoom and pan, I would change to a tablet to activate these tools. I also had to change my web browser from Microsoft Edge to Google Chrome or Firefox to support the program.
The EE Draw tool can put anything you can draw or insert on to the slide. It has three preset thicknesses and you can also set a custom thickness if you prefer. In the simple version you are limited to three colors to draw with that an instructor can customize with a color wheel. If an educator finds their own art to insert, then they don’t have to worry about colors or drawing their own object. Your object can be edited in Word or PowerPoint with the image and capturing tools then inserted onto a slide like a picture. With the Insert tool, EE accepts multiple file types from Cloud sources like PDF, pictures, MP3, clipart, and different types of video files. Using the Object tool and the Hand tool you can move your object around and scale it to fit how you want. Interaction with the object can be recorded to a timeline to be edited for action later. Zoom and Pan not only help to scale the objects, but also the main canvas on the slide. These actions can be recorded and played back. For example, a lesson on the Solar System, you could create the whole system and zoom in on each planet as you introduce them throughout the lecture.
A Shapes and Lines tool inserts just that and works a lot like any Microsoft program with most of the same basic choices. Just the same with the text box. You can have your choice of several different fonts and sizes. The free individual account looked very basic, but a trainer could insert a document from an acceptable file that is already to go in their choice of font and size.
EE has the standard Delete button, but it also has an Easer tool with three different modes to clear up whatever size of mistake you have made. The first Easer mode is for lines, it only does a line and leaves background or larger objects alone. The second is for annotations, it removes these before they become part of any object. The third is for large objects and pictures with a large broad stroke. As usual if a teacher feels the whole idea wrong, EE still has the Undo and Redo tools.
As mentioned earlier, the Insert tool can accept many different files with that tool and can also place a live web browser on the slide. With the recording tool an instructor can explain where a website is and what it should look like when a student navigates to it. Videos can be inserted into a slide in EE and replayed on a loop. Videos can be existing or created with the built-in camera of the iPad or tablet. Combined with the Draw tool, videos can be annotated with notes as it is being played. The notes can be played back in a presentation as if you were adding the notes during the lecture. Just like objects, the videos can be scaled and moved with the Draw tool to fit the slide.
What kind of presentation program would not be complete without, of course, the Laser Pointer tool. If your presentation is very detailed or has specific objectives that need to be pointed out, a trainer can use the Laser Pointer tool with an adjustable size that is comfortable for them. Interaction with the Laser Pointer tool can be recorded to a timeline to be edited for movements later. These movements with the Laser Pointer tool, once recorded, can be played back as a teacher walks through the lesson. For example, back to our lesson on the Solar System, as you zoom in on each planet you can use the Laser Pointer tool to point out key characteristics of each planet as you fly across the milky way. Here is a link to YouTube to show a sample that I have created. https://youtu.be/PDV8f__Nyso
EE has an Inspector tool that works with the same shapes you can insert in a Word document, but with one added feature. The Inspector tool can take inserted shapes and flip, arrange, and duplicate them. It can also move shapes and group them together to be moved around or copied. After being grouped, a teacher can move the group forward for arrangement of the slide or back to be used in the background. The added feature is like animations in PowerPoint. Auto Rotate is an animation that the Inspector tool can add to your groups or objects.
Capturing is a recording tool in EE. It can be used to animate objects as described in the Hand tool and with our example, we can record movements of the Laser Pointer tool and Zoom and Pan. Don’t forget, adding annotations and playing them back as well. Capturing can record the whole presentation with audio recordings. Capturing uses the Timeline to thumbnail both audio and video tracks. Pinch gestures can be used on the Timeline to squeeze or drag out the Timeline to fit the slide more accurately. Capturing has the editing capability to remove a mistake in the middle of the Timeline. An instructor can scroll to the mistake, hold a red place holder around the mistake, then choose to delete and compact over the deleted section. If the instructor takes too much or isn’t satisfied, all it takes to retrieve the deleted section is to hit the undo tool. In an opposite condition where you would like to add a section to a Timeline, you can change the mode of the Timeline from Override to Mix by tapping and holding the record button. This will record other elements over the Timeline. Here is a link to YouTube for a EE tutorial showing the some of the tools. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lupVle5m-iY&list=PLopJygC06_h8IRy8L43bpZEcRXEEkS7ce
One of the beneficial tools of EE are the Collaboration tools. The Collaboration tool is well represented by a lightbulb icon. As the lightbulb is a symbol that represents ideas, it is a link to sharing and collaborating on many levels. In the EE tool you create a session for a project. Within the session you can give editing rights to participants of your collaborating group. The size of the group is determined by the package that you purchase. There are three different levels for an individual user; EDU groups for many groups and large classes; and a complete license agreement for businesses.
Participants are notified by E-mail and are given a certain generated code to edit in the EE cloud. The host of the project can set the participants editing and viewing privileges. These privileges can be changed on the fly to support workflow of a project. Saving a local copy by a participant is a privilege that the host can enable or disable. At any time, the host can revoke privileges as needed.
The Collaboration tool has a Broadcasting feature that can be enabled to allow collaboration in real time. Broadcasting is recommended to be done through a common Wi-Fi network. Participants can work on different parts or share the same slide of the project. Working from the same slide, participants can revise simultaneously.
Presenting with EE is easy and has some wireless options. For iPads, a wireless option is to use Airplay with an Apple TV device. For a PC, there are apps you can purchase through Microsoft to connect to an Apple TV device. As technology grows, there has been aftermarket devices that you can buy that do the same thing through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and some Smart TVs. Depending on the device you choose, there is still the option to connect with a hard wire; I would suggest an HDMI cable. With the HDMI cable it is just like connecting to a projector or multiple monitors. In EE you can duplicate or mirror the screens or extend them. When teachers use the extend option, EE has a presentation mode so that the Tool bar and Control bar will not appear on the second monitor/ Projector.
If an instructor has a preference of how they want the tools displayed, EE is very versatile with its Display options. The Tool bar used for building the objects on the slide can be placed on any edge of the screen top, bottom, left, or right. The same goes for the Control Bar that is used for moving through each slide, audio, and video editing. The Control Bar just can’t be placed on the same edge that the Tool bar is placed. The Display options have a tool to adjust the aspect ratio so that you can fit the display to the external device that you will be presenting on. Working with this option helps the instructor judge how the Zoom and Pan tools effect the external screen.
Sharing and storing projects with EE is very adaptable. The Export tool can convert projects to a EE file or many older larger formats, as well as newer smaller formats. I would suggest a video file to save a project locally. Once a user Exports to the different files they can’t revert to the EE file for editing. The user must keep the EE file if they want to do any edits later.
EE also has its own website where you can post projects that is very much like YouTube. You can post in three modes: Private, Public, or Unlisted. Private is only for your sign in, and the mode can be changed when you are ready to share. Public is where only subscribers can view your projects to get ideas, likes, and leave comments. Public is also where other instructors can search for projects by project names, descriptions, tags, categories, and sub categories. This gives educators a wealth for ideas for creating lessons or finding one already made to present. Unlisted is where you can post and only those whom you share a generated code can view the project.
Learning EE does take time to learn and practice, but with a subscription you can use the EE learning website. The website if full of tutorials that can get you started and covers how to use a certain tool. Some tutorials and shared projects give instructors new ideas of how to use the different tools in new, creative ways for different subjects. Instructors can search the learning website just like how they post them by project names, descriptions, tags, categories, and sub categories.
I can envision educators using this in their classrooms. It would be helpful for educators to be confident in programs like Word, PowerPoint, screen recorder, and audio editor, to have the building blocks needed to use and understand the tools in the EE program. An educator could use many of the shared, pre-made presentations and adjust to meet the lesson objectives. An educator could have presentations saved in a lesson plan for substitute to present. They could send presentations to students that could not be present that day and needed to catch up. Educators that are in secondary education and higher could use this tool for project-based learning.
Depending on how creative the educator was they could make some dazzling animated lessons that retained the attention of the students. Students retain more material if, the material being presenting catches their attention and retains it for the rest of the lesson. With EE, educators have a tool that could not only teach but, entertain students as they learn the material. A teacher with students that have developed 21 century skills would find this tool useful to build and practice them skills by building presentations in the EE tool. The teacher could use the tool during presentations and exhibit all the possibilities of building projects. The Collaboration tool in EE with a EDU account, would give the educator a way to manage groups and monitor each project that was being built in the class. Using the EE cloud the class could view each project, like and comment.
Younger students would require individual help but, could learn about creativity and communication skills. Elementary students could draw an object that could be animated and record their voice telling a story about the object. They would be able to share and save a video file of their story. Students that are in secondary education and higher could use this tool in project-based learning. These students would be skilled enough to build presentations for many different subjects. In Speech, EE presentations this would help a student learn the organization and structure of a speech. In Science class, students could use EE to present findings of research projects and how it proves their tested theory. Students learning the concepts of argumentation could introduce a position on a subject at the beginning of a debate. Students in Business could have an animated report on the different aspects of a quarterly report.
After practicing with the EE program and watching some tutorials, I could use the tool well enough to make a presentation. Knowing how to use Word and PowerPoint gave me the building blocks to be able to use a program as complex as EE. I was only able to write about the Collaboration tools because I was the only one working on my paper, and I didn’t have a EDU account to work with many users. I especially would like to be able to test that tool simultaneously with other participants. Overall, I like this tool with all its features. I think I could use several tools, apps, and programs and put them together and get close to what this tool does but, I would not be able make editing as easy and smooth. Then it would be harder to build presentations rather than just paying the cost of a subscription.
