The Explain Everything app allows users to create interactive lessons using screencasting, audio narration, and annotation. It was created in 2009 by Dr. Reshan Richards to provide an affordable alternative to interactive whiteboards. The app allows teachers to create engaging content for students and evaluate academic performance. While adoption has increased, reaching critical mass has been challenging and will require incentives and champion teachers to further diffusion in education.

1. EXPLAIN EVERYTHING
APP
EDUC 8841 Diffusion & Integration of Technology
Summer 2014
Tracy Nielson
Walden University

2. WHAT IS EXPLAIN EVERYTHING APP?FEATURES:
 Screencasting
 Interactive whiteboard screen
 Record audio and video
 Write, narrate, and move objects
while recording
 Create pictures, videos, lesson
plans
 Upload content to Dropbox,
Google Drive, and YouTube
Demo of Explain Everything App:
http://edtechteacher.org/explain-
everything-demonstrating-understanding-
with-screen-casting-with-reshan-richards-
from-jennifer-carey/

3. WHAT DOES EXPLAIN EVERYTHING
APP PROVIDE TO EDUCATORS?
 Economic feasibility and sustainability
 Upkeep, maintenance and initial purchase
 Easy-to-use on iPad
 Used in any grade level
 Tutorials
http://www.morriscooke.com/?p=1045

4. EXAMPLES OF
WHAT YOU CAN
DO WITH EXPLAIN
EVERYTHING APP
Activities students created
with the app:
http://www.mrswideen.com/2
013/03/using-explain-
everything-in-primary.html

5. NEED
WHY EXPLAIN EVERYTHING APP?
 Cost effective solution
 Replacement for interactive
whiteboards
 iPad can be used as a
projector
Expensive – over
$1,500
$2.99

6. RESEARCH
DEVELOPMENT OF APP:
 MorrisCooke
FINDINGS:
 Assessment tool
 Evaluate students academic performance
 Collaborating with other students'

7. RESEARCH
LEAD THINKER:
 Dr. Reshan Richards
 Created app
 Worked with MorrisCooke to develop app
Dr. Reshan Richards

8. DEVELOPMENT
PROBLEMS:
 Finding a company that would create the app
AUDIENCE:
 Teachers
 Students
 Parents
 Afterschool programs
 Community Learning

9. COMMERCIALIZATION
 Production began in 2011
 MorrisCooke help with the creation of manufacturing the app
 Packaging is in form of a basic app icon
 App is marketed on Facebook, Twitter, iTunes, and News Media
 Apple Corporation disturbed the app on their iPad

10. ADVANTAGES OF EXPLAIN
EVERYTHING APP
• Multiple “slides” for ordering content
prior to recording.
• Record and re-record voice over
slides individually without starting
over for the entire presentation.
• Import projects from Evernote,
Dropbox or camera roll.
• Export options: directly to iPad, to
DropBox, Evernote, YouTube or
email.
• Slide sorter for re-organizing
presentation.
• Re-order objects front-to-back
within a stack.
• Control pen thickness, tip,
transparency and color.
• Draw shapes and lines with
separate control for borders and fill.
• Type text as an object.
• Undo button steps backwards
through changes.

11. DISADVANTAGES OF EXPLAIN
EVERYTHING APP
• Steeper learning curve than free options.
• No “punch-in” – to re-record over a portion of the presentation requires user
to erase a slide’s previous audio track in its entirety and start over.
• No ability to duplicate slides, although the developer has this feature
planned for a future release.

12. TIMELINE
2009
Dr. Reshansawa
needtocreatean
app that wouldbe
an alternatefor
usingthe
smartboard
Thecompany
MorrisCookewas
contactedto
createand
developtheapp
2010
ExplainEverthing
was publishedon
theAppleApp
Storeby
MorrisCooke
2011
Adoptionand
implementation
beganwith
teacherswhoused
theapp for
instruction
2012
ExplainEverything
has been
downloadedover1
milliontimesonthe
AppleAppstoreand
continuestogrow
2014
ExplainEverythingTimeline
Dr. Reshanconducted
researchto determine
ifeducatorsand
studentswoulduse
thistypeofapp in the
classroomandat home
2009-
2010

13. S-CURVE
2009 2011 2012 2014
Growth
Year
ExplainEverythingAppS-Curve
Innovation
Published on the
Apple App Store
App adopted by
teachers in the
classroom
Over 1 million
downloads

14. KEY INNOVATORS AND EARLY
ADOPTERS
KEY INNOVATORS:
 Teachers
EARLY ADOPTERS:
 Teachers
 Administrators
 Students

15. LAGGARDS
WHO ARE THEY?
 Teachers, administrators currently
rejecting technology
 Typically 15 years of experience or
more
HOW DO WE ENCOURAGE THEM?
 Direct assistance
 Demonstrations/Modeling
 Training
 Support
 Peer Pairing with Innovators & Early
Adopters

16. ATTRIBUTES TO ENCOURAGE
CRITICAL MASS
WHAT IS CRITICAL MASS?
 “Critical mass occurs at the point at which enough individuals in a system
have adopted an innovation so that the innovation’s further rate of
adoption becomes self-sustaining” (p. 363).
ATTRIBUTES
 “Relative advantage is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as
better than the idea it supersedes” (p. 265).
 “Observability is the degree to which the results of an innovation are visible
to other” (p. 266).

17. EXPLAIN EVERYTHING APP:
DECENTRALIZED APPROACH
The use of technology with emphasis on
the use of the Explain Everything App in
education is best diffused through a
decentralized diffusion system. This will
happen when, “innovations originate
from numerous local sources and then
evolve as they diffuse through a
horizontal network” (Rogers, 2003, p.
395).
LOCAL SOURCES AND NETWORKS
 Sharing of power and control among the
members of the diffusion system
 Client control by local systems, diffusion is
spontaneous and unplanned
 Peer diffusion of innovations through
horizontal networks
 Innovations come from experimentation
by non-experts, who often are users
 Created by locally perceived needs and
problems
 A high degree of local adaptation as
they diffuse among adopters
 Local units decide which innovations
should diffuse based on informal
evaluations of the innovations

18. KEY CHANGE AGENTS
WHAT IS A CHANGE AGENT?
“It is an individual who influences
clients’ innovation-decisions in a
direction deemed desirable by a
change agency” (Rogers, 2003, p.
400).
WHO ARE CHANGE AGENTS?
 Administrators, Teachers, & Students
ROLES OF A CHANGE AGENT:
 Develop a need for change
 Establish an information exchange
relationship
 Diagnose problems
 Create an intent to change
 Translate an intent into action
 Stabilize adoption and prevent
discontinuance
 Achieve a terminal relationship

19. TEACHERS AS CHANGE AGENTS
Studies have indicated that when
teachers believe technology uses
are valuable, they are more likely
to incorporate those uses into their
practices.

20. TEACHERS AS CHANGE AGENTS
Research has shown that access to
technology, a supportive school
culture, and adequate time for
teachers to explore educational use
of technology are essential for
successful technology integration.
These strategies, especially time,
should help to involve those older
teachers who may not be
comfortable integrating technology
through the quickly changing trends
in educational technology.

21. CRITICAL MASS FOR EDUCATION
HAS CRITICAL MASS BEEN ACIEVED?
 Not reached yet
“A self-sustaining critical mass will
occur when enough individuals
adopt the innovation” (Rogers, 2003,
p. 313).
HOW TO ACIEVE CRITICAL MASS?
 Incentives

22. ROLE OF THE CHAMPIONS
A champion is a charismatic
individual who throws his or her
weight behind an innovation, thus
overcoming indifference or resistance
that the new idea may provoke in an
organization (Rogers, 2003, p. 414).
Champions of Explain
Everything App
 Board of Directors
 Administrators
 Teachers
 Students

23. CONCLUSION
Explain Everything is an inexpensive
alternative to expense whiteboard
that some schools cannot afford;
however, it is more than just that. It is
a way for students to collaborate with
their peers while learning how to use
technology. Students can download,
record, display, and present their
ideas on the Explain Everything App.
It is a new way for students to learn
and interact with one another and I
believe this app will change the way
students learning while having fun in
the process.

24. VIDEO AND LINKS
• http://mattbgomez.com/explain-
everything-app-101-quick-video-
intro/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=Cr9sZycBYLM

25. REFERENCE
Bhaskar K, S. (2013, August 11). Explain everything – Great app for teachers to
annotate, animate, narrate, import and export lessons. Retrieved from
http://edtechreview.in/news/500-explain-everything-app-for-teachers
Chen, R. (2010). Investigating models for pre-service teachers' use of technology
to support student- centered learning. Computers & Education , 55 (1),
32-42. Retrieved from ERIC database.

26. REFERENCE
Haan, Jac. (2011, September 12). Screencasting apps for the ipad. Retrieved from
http://www.techwithintent.com/2011/09/screencasting-apps-for-
theipad/#explaineverything
Hacker, Prof. (2012, February 20). Ipad screencasting: Educreations and explain
everything. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/ipad-
screencasting-educreations-and-explain-everything/38662

27. REFERENCE
Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A., Glazewski, K., Newby, T., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Teacher
value beliefs associated with using technology: Addressing professional
and student needs. Computers & Education , 55 (3), 1321-1335.
Retrieved from ERIC database.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press.