Create beautiful tutorials with the tap of your finger.
The ShowMe application is a dynamic presentation and creation application available on both iPad and Android tablets. ShowMe provides an iPad app and a web-based interface for accessing the ShowMe database as well as your own presentations.
It is a free download from Android and App Store.
This application can be seen at the ‘Applying’ level on Bloom’s Taxonomy for iPads but really due to the versatile nature of this app it really can apply at all levels. This teaching tool allows teachers an opportunity to create lessons, accessible references for student review and consolidation of topics covered in class throughout the school year.
There are many alternatives to ShowMe. These include Explain Everything, Educreations and Screen Chomp – all of which have their merits. The
main attraction for teachers with ShowMe is that teachers can create courses of work and upload them online to a ShowMe Learning Community. Educreations also allows users to view videos from other users in their learning community.
ShowMe is a fantastic app for assessment both during (formative) and after learning (summative). As a class teacher we are constantly juggling so many tasks at one time and so it is only natural that we miss little observations on how our students are getting on with a particular topic. A student can record their thinking about a particular math concept. They can listen to their recording and redo their lesson again. It is remarkable the improvement the comes with each recording. The same goes for teachers adopting this teaching tool in their classrooms.
The lesson can then be uploaded onto the ShowMe learning community and uses JW Player with sharing options through social media. The videos can also be embedded online using html.
When showing this app to teachers the main comments are that it is just so easy to use. They also like the versatility of this app from mainstream classes, to SEN teaching right up to Second and Third Level Education. This is the technology we need to get our students using in the classroom. To solve the challenges of the 21st Century we need an education system that doesn’t focus on memorization, but rather on promoting metacognitive skills that enable us to monitor our own learning and make changes to our approach following self assessment or review by our peers.