If we’ve learned anything over the last few months of distance learning, it may be that it’s nearly impossible to replicate what it’s like for teachers and students in the actual classroom. We can try and we can certainly fill in some of the gaps, but finding a way to replace face-to-face interactions and social experiences is essentially impossible. Video conferencing tools, however, have been used in an attempt to make learning feel as close to normal as possible and, while we definitely hope that the days of distance learning are behind us, there definitely remains a possibility that it could come back into play this fall. So, this week’s Rising Resources post is on CrossBraining—an online video assessment tool educators can use to understand what students know!
CrossBraining is a system that’s designed to make tracking student progress easier on educators and help make students more accountable in the process. The metrics help educators measure proficiencies in a variety of ways, allowing them to gain a better understanding of how each student learns best. The company itself was founded by educators and the platform includes support features that help classroom instructors create greater equity and achievement through experiential activities.
In terms of access, CrossBraining is cloud-based and can be accessed right from your computer. It allows teachers to help manage class projects, assess both group and individual success, and access a library of shared learning resources. For students, CrossBraining can help them gain deeper understanding of the most important topics and demonstrate what they know through storytelling. It’s a hands-on tool that can be used to support many different types of learners thanks to its compatibility with just about any lesson.
The way in which CrossBraining works is actually pretty simplistic and effective. It presents users with two views—one for the teacher and one for each student. It takes only a few minutes for teachers to create the lesson they want, set goals for each step, and assign it to everyone in the class. They can also create student groups at the same time for any lessons that should include collaboration and take things one step further by assigning specific tasks to each member of a group.
The lessons within the CrossBraining platform are always broken down into more manageable steps so that students can attain mastery frequently. Each step contains a detailed description and reflection questions for them to think about at the end. Once they complete viewing a lesson, they then have the chance to get really creative and use CrossBraining’s camera, screen recording, and editing tools to show what they know!
Students can use CrossBrianing to shoot and edit custom, 45-second videos to show what they know on whatever topic they’re learning about. The time limit helps them keep things concise and helps ensure they retain the most important things from each lesson. This video creation feature helps get students into a storytelling mindset, allowing them to really unleash their creativity in the process. Students still have to think critically, but the expressive tools within the CrossBrianing platform can help them express their knowledge in a new way!
CrossBrianing can also be used effectively with students who tend to struggle with traditional tests or assessments. Even though teachers are still assessing the content they create, students are able to learn while they’re creating and reflect on what it is they actually learned in the process. The CrossBrianing tool can be used in just about any academic subject and in many different kinds of projects, including in at-home learning, too! They have a Lessons section on their site, which is filled with a variety of project ideas and examples for new users!
To get started with using CrossBraining, educators can create a teacher account on their site. We’d definitely recommend checking out the rest of the platform and, if you’d like, you can contact their team to learn more about the tool and pricing options. And, like we said, hopefully distance learning becomes a thing of the past but, if not, CrossBrianing can be a valuable home learning tool for teachers and students! After checking out CrossBraining, be sure to visit our store as well for all of the latest hands-on STEM tools and discounted prices for educators! You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram, too.