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Free software helps fuel digital instruction
Posted By Dennis Pierce On February 28, 2014 @ 2:30 pm In Business News,eClassroom News,Featured on eSchool News,News,Reinventing the Classroom,Technologies,Top News | Comments Disabled
While technology is having an impact in the classroom, teaching with technology is often a fragmented process, especially in “bring your own device” classrooms or other environments where not everyone is using the same device or platform.
Now, a new software program from Promethean aims to simplify teaching with technology—regardless of what devices teachers or their students are using.
Called ClassFlow , the software was introduced in a beta version earlier this year. It’s a cloud-based platform that helps teachers create and deliver lessons in a digital environment.
An updated version will be released later this year and will include tools for assessing, monitoring, and analyzing student performance with the help of easy-to-use analytics, Promethean says.
(Next page: How the software works—and how it can streamline digital instruction)
The ClassFlow software is meant to simplify teaching in technology-rich classrooms. Teachers can sign up for a free account, and from their account, they can create, save, and deliver lessons digitally.
From within ClassFlow, teachers can search the web for images, videos, and web pages to share with their students, and they can embed these elements into any lesson or save them into a personal library, regardless of the file type.
As teachers are looking at a lesson, they can see its various elements along the top of their screen—and they can rearrange these elements easily by dragging or dropping them into place.
Because the software is cloud-based, teachers can create lessons from a home computer or device, then launch these lessons from a school-based device—eliminating the need for clumsy file transfers.
What’s more, the ClassFlow software is designed to help teaching in any scenario: whole class, small group, or individual instruction. The software allows teachers to switch back and forth between these methods of instruction seamlessly.
For whole-class instruction, teachers can take their students through a lesson together on an interactive whiteboard or through a projector or Apple TV device.
Switching to individual instruction, teachers can “push” a webpage, video, poll, or other digital asset to students’ devices. Students can read through this webpage, watch the video, or respond to the poll at their own pace; their responses appear in the teacher’s view of the software.
Teachers also can control students’ screens, and they can see a “carousel” of student screens at the bottom of their own. If a teacher wants to share a student’s work with the rest of the class, he or she can display that student’s screen to the class as a whole.
The ClassFlow software is engineered to work with Promethean devices, or any other device that students or teachers are using.
When the software detects a new device logged onto the network, it sends a code to that device, which—when activated—allows the student to “join” the lesson.
“ClassFlow is a dynamic program that will help teachers work with their students, collaboratively [or] individually, and really get them engaged in lessons,” said New York City teacher Jerry Blumengarten in a video testimonial  on the software’s website.
ClassFlow is free for individual teachers, but Promethean will be selling an enterprise version for schools and districts that connects with a student information or learning management system and includes data analytics.
Follow eSchool News Editorial Director Dennis Pierce at @eSN_Dennis .
Article printed from eSchool News: http://www.eschoolnews.com
URL to article: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/02/28/software-digital-instruction-654/
URLs in this post:
 Image: http://www.eschoolnews.com/files/2014/02/students_with_tablet.jpg
 ClassFlow: https://classflow.com/
 video testimonial: https://classflow.com/what-they-say
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