Students typically learn more by doing projects. Unfortunately, assessing them can also demand more from teachers. Welearned.it squarely tackles that problem by giving teachers a tool to assign projects, collect the materials, provide nuanced feedback for students--and keep track of student progress in clear ways.
Welearned.it is the next step in the evolution of educator and technology specialist, Adam Bellow, who debuted startup, eduClipper, two years ago. Bellow acts from the heart and from experience. He spent a couple of years gathering edtech resources on a site that evolved into a startup, EduClipper. And with eduClipper, Bellow took that initial instinct and grew it into a Pinterest-like resource where tens of thousands of educators have gathered and shared resources.
Now with Welearned.it Bellow takes his passion for learning a big jump forward. "Educators and students need and deserve tools that support teaching and learning and respect the user," Bellow said in a statement. And WeLearned.It does that with style.
Teachers can use the iPad-based app to assign projects to individual students. Both teachers and students can browse eduClipper for resources and context. Later, when students have finished their projects, they can upload a variety of materials to WeLearned.It. Teachers can then give students feedback in a variety of ways --from classic grades, to badges to annotations on the work itself. Parents can keep an eye on students' work by signing up for an account. Reports help teachers track progress. And over time, student work can be assembled into learning portfolios, organized according to class or interests.
The tool is currently only available for the iPad. Teachers can download a free copy from here at the Apps Store. To get the analytics, teachers or their schools need a license-- $10/month for a single class or $995/year for a school. True to his mission, Bellow is promising to make a class license available freely for every district that signs up.
A webinar that Bellow scheduled for Thursday got so many RSVPs that they closed the list. Sounds like something that teachers are eager to try out!
