Showbie

What is Showbie?

Showbie is a great application for digitising any K-12 classroom.

It can be described as a 'light weight' learning management system (LMS) and allows teachers to create paperless classrooms for students and allows customisable access for parents as well.

Main Features

The beauty of Showbie is its simple, intuitive, clean/crisp user interface and its' general ease of use for all stakeholders: Teachers; Students and Parents.

This platform is not intended to be a fully fledged LMS, however it does contain a wide variety of powerful tools/features which can easily satisfy the needs of most classrooms.

One of the unique strengths of this application is the fact that is can be used in all grade levels.

Most applications currently available within the EdTech marketplace only really focus on either the lower or higher grade levels.

Showbie can be used as a 'through school' solution and can add value from Kindergarten right up to Grade 12 and even beyond!

Please feel free to hover over each of the following tabs to learn more about Showbies powerful features...

Classes in Showbie are structured around the use of assignments. These areas can be focussed around individual pieces of work or set up as free flowing portfolio style sections for continuous teaching and learning activities. Within the assignment areas, numerous pieces of work can easily be distributed to individuals, specific groups or the entire class with ease.

A wide variety of powerful annotation tools can be used by students and teachers within Showbie: pen; highlighter; text notes; voice notes and general text boxes.

This is a very powerful feature that is embedded throughout the platform and can be used by all stakeholders within the following sections: class discussions; groups feed and also within the assignments area.

By default, teachers can identify individual pieces of student work to showcase within a special 'Portfolio' section which is available for each student. Teachers can also allow students to add their own work to this area when setting up their classes. Parents who have been issued an invite code to view their child's' work within Showbie will also be able to view their child's portfolio section by default and also their assigned classes (dependant on teachers allowing this access per class).

Sounds great! How do I get started?

Own an iPhone or iPad?

Click on the image to the right to visit the Apple App Store and download the FREE app

Otherwise... Visit the main SHOWBIE WEBSITE and create a free teacher account via the web version of the application.

All Teachers can get started using Showbie for FREE using their basic edition.

The following screenshot was taken from the Showbie Plans Webpage (13.04.20) and outlines the 3x plans that are currently on offer:

I would recommend fellow teachers start with the FREE version, have a play with the platform, then move to acquire either an individual licence or speak to their school / district to contact Showbie to buy licences in bulk.

It can be a very scary decision to adopt a new platform for teaching, learning and assessment across a whole school / district.

Showbie also offers a PILOT PROGRAMME so that a full scale trial can be undertaken to see first hand the value this solution can bring to a school/district.

Visit the PILOT PROGRAMME Webpage

Summary

Showbie is a very simple and powerful platform that can be deployed with ease, be it in a single classroom or across multiple schools!

The support from the company is exceptional and I would highly recommend this solution, especially within 1-to-1 iPad environments.

Useful Resources

Showbie Website

Main website for Showbie

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Showbie Support Site

Support and answers regarding the Showbie platform

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Showbies Youtube Channel

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