ScooReviews
SEESAW APP: The Learning Journal
SEESAW App lets kids document everything that they learn in classrooms, which is visible to their parents and teachers.
In past few years, technology in schools has evolved from being banned to being embraced, and this gradual shift has allowed for the success of apps like Seesaw, a platform that “empowers students of any age to independently document what they are learning at school.”
The app is compatible across a number of devices, including iOS, Android, Kindle, Chromebooks, and computers with Chrome or Firefox, Seesaw is just one of the many educational apps slowly changing the face of education in the 21st century. The app has gained its popularity due to its implicitly collaborative nature. According to Seesaw's site, “Seesaw gives students a real audience for their work and offers parents a personalized window into their child’s learning.”
Students are allowed to create a sort of digital portfolio simply by snapping a photo or taking a video of their assignments, or working directly within the app itself, which can be accessed by other students, teachers, and parents. It has improved the education routine as Seesaw documents the entire process by which a student arrives at the finished product, thus, teachers no longer have to implore, “Show your work!” Seesaw makes sure that the work is visible to one and all.
Being beneficial to all its users and viewers — the app exposes students to technology at a young age, while parents can see first-hand what their children are up to during the school day. And of course, teachers can observe their pupils’ thought process and the logic behind their work, keeping a check on progress and identifying areas that need improvement.
The basic version being free, it is also surprisingly easy to use. Rather than having kids complete the laborious sign-in process, they can simply hold a device with the app installed up to a QR code poster, which allows them to select their name from a pre-filled roster. Seesaw founder Carl Sjogreen told “20 percent of lesson time is spent just getting kids signed in to education apps; That’s why teachers are reluctant to adopt tech in the classroom.” But not so with this new app.
Seesaw is a huge success, already, in the U.S. with one out of every four schools using the app. According to the company, 92% of teachers report they have an increase in parent involvement and engagement since using Seesaw, and another 95% report that Seesaw helps teach their students develop 21st-century skills and use technology more effectively.
Seesaw has come up with a premium package available for $120 a month, which provides teachers a few additional educational tools, like tagging student posts with skills and standards, a rating scale, and more. “Teachers are already using Seesaw for assessment because it’s an easy way to let students show what they know and collect it all in one place,” told Sjogreen. “These new tools — bundled in a new product we’re calling Seesaw Plus — add the ability to organize assessments in powerful new ways.” With the growing demands and a need to inculcate technological skills in children as well as teachers, parents, Seesaw app is just the thing to introduce to the classroom.
Image courtesy: seesaw.me