Recently a new web app was released called Sway that allows users to share a story, present information, or share an experience. Of course, as a classroom teacher you might think, well there is a lot of apps already out there that already do a great job at these things. I would say you are right, so why Sway? Why should anyone bother learning a new app, figure out a new user interface and above all that spend time teaching it to their students? Well, this is where Sway has a lot of power and I think this is exactly why we teachers should be using Sway. There really isn’t a need to “teach” the software to students.
Like most teachers, I understand the value of the minutes I have with my students. I don’t think I have ever talked to a teacher that complained of having just too much time with each class. I know time is precious, and I know this is one of the major reasons a lot of teachers are reluctant to integrate technology into their classroom. They feel like so much time is spent teaching how-to’s on the technology, they never really get to the content they wanted to teach. This is a valid concern and I think Sway presents a great solution.
So what is so special about Sway? Simplicity. Sway is simple and easy to use. Sway only tasks the user with fetching content and organizing it into some order. After that, Sway takes off and styles up the content and makes it look great. If you aren’t happy, just click one button and Sway remixes the whole thing again with a new style. Then it is done and ready to present. It really is that simple, and students can figure out the user interface on their own. Sway provides an intuitive layout that provides the tools you need, when you need them. For example, when the user wants to add an image Sway has a fly-out from the left that has options to fetch an image. Then the student can do a quick search from Bing, Facebook, Twitter, and more options.
Sway has many possibilities for use in the classroom. I know at first, teachers will probably think class presentations, but since Sway lives in the cloud this student generated content can function more asynchronously. I imagine one scenario where students create a Sway about a topic, a president for example, then the assignment extends outside of the classroom where students are to review four other Sways their classmates created. Sway enables the student generated content to accessible whenever the student desires and he or she has more options to learn about content that matches their own interests.
If you haven’t looked into Sway yet, you should. It is free and open to anyone, and it continues to grow and get better! The best way to see what Sway is all about is to create your own.
Technology in Education 