Different apps and online systems are often being touted as the way to level up our profession. We have all been in that staff meeting where someone has spoken about advanced AI, machine learning, the cloud... you half expect the terminator to make an appearance. While these system claim to turn your teaching into a Martini on the beach slice of paradise, most of the time the end product doesn't quite live up to the hype. This isn't meant to be a downer but a lot of these apps and services often try and reach for the stars when, in fact, all we want is Timmy to send us his work the right way round.
In a lot of ways
this is where Seesaw gets it right when so many get it wrong. It understands what's important for hybrid learning.
Seesaw (for those who are new to it) is an online learning journal that shares a lot of similarities with Facebook, minus the dystopian agenda. The children upload their own work for other children to like and comment. Seesaw allows the children to become little content creators because instead of worrying about what their teacher might want to see, it is designed with the idea of what the child might want to do. Seesaw is basic but it gets the basics so right.
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Getting the children engaged is the first hurdle when introducing any new system. For almost 2 years, my classes have shown an eagerness to post stuff to their journal because they know that not only will their parents but the other children in the class can see and comment on it (if the right setting is turned on). Just last week a child sent me a make-up tutorial to add to our fun folder and blog space. This may not be an educational activity, but Seesaw has given that child the tools to develop their own content like their Youtuber, Tiktoker...heroes.
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Seesaw has started to turn some heads at my school as it fixed a fundamental problem we had with our current system: how to promote what you're doing without spending extra time promoting what you are doing. Seesaw does the heavy lifting by getting the children to upload their own work. Other systems like Canvas, Firefly, Google Classroom, Teams, 2simple offer a similar end goal. But the one thing Seesaw does best is it’s simplicity. They login to my class through 1 QR code, press the big green ‘I must share that moment’ plus button. There is even an activity tab for your ‘oh look at me being all organised’ moments. That is pretty much it for submitting work and despite how hard my class may try, it can never go horrendously wrong. Compare that to other offerings of endless tabs, different channels, option diarrhoea that the children must navigate through to engage with an assignment.
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Simplicity doesn’t mean shallow and limiting. Its own creative tools allow a variety of different types of work to be submitted. My class have made little educational movies for their parents, mind maps, virtual storybooks... There is a lot of flexibility in this little package. Those same tools are available for feedback which gives a continuity between the experience of the teacher and the pupil. But where I use Seesaw most is linking my activities to other apps and services. It isn’t complicated, nor does a link get lost in the ether. During the school closure, I linked my interactive lesson videos, extension choice board, YouTube videos, printable worksheets all within the interactive activity. It so easy to follow that parents didn’t need much training (because of its Facebook vibes) and more importantly nor did the children.
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For me Seesaw’s appeal is less about what businesses it does and more about how it goes about it. It isn’t labour intensive nor is it complicated. It understands that, for a primary school, fancy data exports, company level team management options or tabs coming out the wazoo is next to useless without a core understanding of a simplistic interface. More systems should take note of this.
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By The Prep School Teacher Published 22nd April 2021 |