SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 26, 2015) - Every day, millions of school children come home and tell their parents that they did "nothing" in school today. Of course this isn't ever true, but it's often difficult for young children to share what they've learned at school, or for parents to know a more specific question to ask.
Available today for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, Seesaw™ is a learning journal that empowers students as young as five to independently capture what they are learning at school with photos, videos, and their voice. Parents are notified (via text message, email, or the Seesaw Parent app) when new items are added, and can immediately see and hear what their child did at school that day.
Seesaw was developed in collaboration with teachers around the country that have been piloting the app in their classrooms. In just a few short months, teachers have already seen their students taking more ownership of what they are learning at school as well as a closer collaboration with parents. "We use Seesaw daily in my classroom. We are loving it and I am amazed at how much my kindergartners have started to reflect on what they are learning. Getting a kindergartner to reflect for one second is a big task, so the fact that they are able to do that and document their learning INDEPENDENTLY is amazing," said Angela Gadtke, a kindergarten teacher from Minnesota who participated in the Seesaw pilot program.
Seesaw was developed by Shadow Puppet, the creators of the Common Sense Media "Best of 2014" award-winning classroom video app, Shadow Puppet Edu. "Our experience with Shadow Puppet made us realize that with a well-designed app, students are capable of creating amazing things using iPads. We really wanted to empower students with Seesaw to take ownership of what they are learning and create a safe place for them to share," said Adrian Graham, co-founder of Seesaw.
In addition to letting students capture photos and videos of their physical creations, Seesaw integrates with over 20 other popular classroom content creation tools such as Shadow Puppet, Pic Collage, and Explain Everything, making it an easy way to collect and organize digital creations of all forms. Students can add any kind of multimedia content to their journal, and teachers have the opportunity to approve all items before they are shared with parents. "We really wanted to build something that students could use independently -- so this wasn't just "one more thing" that took time away from teaching in the classroom -- but still kept teachers totally in control," said Carl Sjogreen, co-founder of Seesaw.
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About Seesaw
Seesaw is the latest product from Shadow Puppet. Founded in 2012 by Adrian Graham, Charles Lin, and Carl Sjogreen, Shadow Puppet makes an award-winning video creation app that's been featured on the Today Show and named by both Common Sense Media and the American Library Association a "Best App for 2014." Shadow Puppet has an experienced team that has created products like Google Calendar and Picasa that are used daily by millions of people. Shadow Puppet has received funding from Greylock and other prominent angel investors.