Seesaw – the paperless wonder tool!

Many schools have had iPads for a while and enjoy the creativity and the engagement they bring to the primary classroom. Tracking and managing work, however, can be a challenge. Seesaw really provides answers to many of these challenges and is free to use. One of the reasons it has been so successful is that all teachers can set up their class and manage it without the need for complex technical support.

Seesaw enables teachers and children to post digital content, images, text, videos and PDF documents, etc into a safe and private space. This can be organised easily with folders that relate to subjects and topics. A calendar view enables teachers to find work across a school year quickly.

Seesaw also offers quick QR code creation to access each piece of work uploaded. This means that teachers can link activities in exercise books to digital work. For example, some planning on an exercise book could be linked with a QR code to a video outcome in Seesaw.

All of the posted items in Seesaw can be peer assessed/commented on/liked by the teacher and other students, so there is strong social media feel about the experience. The power of this is that safe and sensible social media skills and habits can be coached, and the school has evidence of this practice in terms of safeguarding for OFSTED.

We can see the camera roll for quick access to projects that we have saved there from other apps, for example Pic Collage and Adobe Spark, etc. Students can share from Pages and Keynote as a PDF and include links to web sites and YouTube.

Many schools now use Seesaw alongside the class exercise books for book scrutinies. Teachers love it because it’s easy and they can access their Seesaw accounts from a Windows PC, Mac, Chromebook and smart phone, as well as an iPad. Younger students love it because it feels grown up.

All of this can be completed within the free app. The only caveat is that work cannot be edited once it has been uploaded. For iterative activities, teachers are better looking at Showbie.

If you are not using Seesaw with your iPads then you are really missing a trick!

If you’d like some help introducing Seesaw at your school, contact Toucan and book a bespoke Apple Professional Learning (CPD) session to get up to speed. These sessions are tailored around Apple technology and related apps to help you get the most from your investment.

Contact the Toucan team on 020 8351 5111 or email ku.oc.gnitupmocnacuot@selas