The Update That Makes Seesaw A Game Changer!



I have been a massive fan of using Seesaw and discuss it a lot on my training and inset. I have flirted with Showbie, which is a similar app, and seen some wonderful ways it has been used in schools. In my experience, one thing most primary teachers are looking for is simplicity! Seesaw stands out to me because it is so simple and easy to use.

I am not going to go through the ins and outs of the app, this video covers the basics - 


The main reason I recommend this app is because it can help collect evidence of learning that can't be measured in a book. The confusing message some schools are getting is that when Ofsted come into your school, they will look at your books and so they have to be top notch. The problem is that so many objectives in the new curriculum cannot be assessed in a pupil's book. Therefore, Seesaw provides the perfect way to keep a updated record of a child's progress. It links brilliantly with other apps so is a fantastic way to collect and share work with pupils on their iPads. 

A lot has been added since it was first released and the latest addition is one of my favourites. Now you can create a class blog directly from Seesaw. Most people will know how much I value blogging as a way to purposefully teach children about online safety but also inspire their writing by sharing it with a real worldwide audience. With Seesaw it couldn't be any easier to blog!

Seesaw now has the option to create a class blog and everything that is uploaded to Seesaw can then be published on the blog. All you need to do is tap the globe icon! If the children add something to the blog it won't be published without the teacher approving it. This is the same with comments. This makes it safe.  I feel this update will encourage so many more teachers to use the internet as a way to proudly showcase children's work to the world. 

There are a couple of tools that are not available yet. I love the ability to add a RevolverMap to not only show how many people have visited the blog but where they have visited from. As far as I am aware, there is a visit counter but it doesn't show where they have come from... yet. Also the ability to create a feed to your social media pages like facebook and twitter through dlvr.it can save a lot of time. At present, the blog address isn't recognised as a feed...yet. 

I am nitpicking, I think this update will make Seesaw an absolute must when teachers are using mobile technology. I go into more details about other ways Seesaw can be used in class on my training but I hope this post may inspire others to start blogging through Seesaw!

More information about the blogging feature can be found here -http://web.seesaw.me/blogs/

Comments

  1. Sarah13 January 2016 at 15:16

    OMG I love Seesaw and have been so stuck with what to use to Blog! This solves all the problems I have had, if your classes need any blogging buddies it would be great to join up, as we are very new to blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown15 August 2016 at 19:13

    Over the last term my class have been using the SeeSaw blog feature and it is so easy to use! I would recommend it to anyone, also on the SeeSaw facebook page they have tutorials.
    I am very new to blogging and have found it both intuitive and not time consuming at all. Try it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sarah3 September 2016 at 17:40

    Just been looking privacy and security settings for seesaw as I would like to use with my class. Is it ok to use if the information is stored out of the U.K? Does anyone know if EU law covers them? Any help/advice on setting up and informing parents please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr P ICT3 September 2016 at 18:24

      Yes, if you contact @Seesaw on Twitter, they will send through all the relevant documentation

      Delete

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