SHOWBIE AS ONE OF THE BEST GRADING APPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS :)

 

Signing up as educators means that one will typically appear to have more tasks on their hands alongside on their To-Do Lists than they have spare time to pamper themselves in their daily lives. Other than in the actual teaching process in the classroom, the planning and documentation involved might be difficult and challenging enough. In responsive learning contexts, paper grading can be incredibly time-consuming for teachers. Performance evaluations and home works, by their very nature, imply regular student quizzes and written works to turn the information provided into practical teaching opportunities. As a result, it is no surprise that reasonable and free paper graders for educators are among the most in-demand formative evaluation tools these days. 

Showbie, as of 2021, is one of the best online grading applications that teachers can get. Showbie, a Canada based application, was founded in 2012 by the CEO, Colin Bramm. Showbie’s central vision is to develop technology that will enable instructors and students worldwide to be more productive and creative in a paperless classroom. Teachers technically love how simple Showbie is to use and how it converts their classrooms into exciting, collaborative, and well-organized learning spaces. Showbie, without doubt, offers some cool features for a quick and engaging way to complete tasks and receive feedback as teachers constantly face the growing demands on their time. Due to that issue, technology has become a more vital aspect in many classrooms worldwide. Showbie has over 3 million users and 3.7 million educators and is available in 14 languages in over 140 countries.

Showbie is a package that integrates all of the necessary tools for completing assignments, communicating with others, and receiving feedback. Showbie provides a functional gradebook as well as a variety of other features. It is a simple online grading application that can fully replace paper copies in the classrooms. It also offers many tools that will help teachers build a connected community with their students, parents and other teachers both within and outside the classroom. Showbie also incorporates a range of features that supports teachers and students in digitally assigning and turning in written work and assignments. Teachers have access to different features depending on the account they choose, either the Showbie Basic or Showbie Pro plans. For the school and district level, Showbie Complete is made mainly for them!

The basic plan, especially for individual teachers on Showbie, offers no restrictions to the number of classes or students they can have, annotation tools for documents, text and voice notes, assignment scheduling and free flow access from any device. On the other hand, the Pro plan for individual teachers offers all the features available on the Showbie Basic with six additional features, which are unlimited assignments feature, groups and class discussion, parental access and involvement with co-teaching, portfolios and grades for students, longer voice notes and larger uploads together with customer service is given top priority. Showbie Pro plan retails at $16.99 (RM71.88) monthly, and it is billed annually. Showbie also offers another plan, particularly for schools and districts named Showbie Complete, and it is available for a minimum of three teachers and above. The price for this plan is not revealed, and the additional features available for this plan are a video chat feature for any class discussion and lesson, dashboard for administrative reporting, access to auditors, options for exam mode and MDM configuration, dedicated manager for customers, and additional application access that explain everything in a Socratic manner.

Before moving on to the explanation of the features, we will look at how to sign up for Showbie. Showbie can be installed through Apps Store for iOS devices or Play Store for Android. One can also choose to sign up through the Showbie website (https://www.showbie.com/), and it is compatible with every device. 

           

                                                               

Firstly, go to the Showbie website, click the Sign up for free button, and choose the proper role (teacher, student or parents). The users may choose to sign up using email or other sign-up options. Once they have chosen their preferred way to sign up, they need to fill in the form by completing the details needed: first name, last name, username, password, and email. After that, the account is created, and they only need to put the class code to access the materials! It is to be noted here that the details needed for teachers, students, and parents are not the same, so the form might look slightly different for everyone. Teachers have to insert the title for their classes and insert the school name. They also need to key in their roles (teaches, administrations, school leaders etc.) and phone number (optional). After they are done filling in the needed details, the account is created, and they are free to explore all of the features.

Credit: Carvin Palanca (Showbie support)

Showbie’s purpose, like that of many other platforms, is to help teachers organise their classrooms and make the most of their time. One of the best features of Showbie is the access to an unlimited number of classes and students. Teachers can invite their students through the given code and upload all their materials in one spot. Hence, creating activity on Showbie is simple, straightforward and very convenient. Teachers must first create, set up a class and assign a class code to each student. After that, rather than printing and photocopying, everything can be distributed and shared to everyone into the class’s “shared folder.” Teachers must follow a few steps to set up a class and those steps are; First, click the wrench icon on the upper right of the profile. Second, click on the new class feature. Third, insert the class name and hit the save button. Teachers can copy the class code here, including the classes in the portfolio, and allow students’ parents to access the class. 

Credit: Showbie support

Next, teachers can also assign tasks and assignments to their students by clicking the wrench tool on the top of the profile and select “new assignment.” Teachers can freely add the name of the assignments, assign the due date for the assignments and tasks, set the schedule for the assignments and give or deny students’ access to the materials. 

Credit: Showbie support

Teachers can navigate to the assignment after creating the assignment and head to the “shared item” folder. Teachers will be able to specify the task-related files and attach them to the assignments folder. The shared folder feature is helpful for teachers as they can upload multiple assignments and tasks for students in a sequence before any students enrol and have access to the class materials. Teachers can click the “everyone” to “none” button if they want to suppress students from viewing the assignment before the preferred time. Students will be able to see whatever assignments the teachers have made visible to them when they enter the class. 

                                                             Credit: Showbie support

This feature is reliable and can help both teachers and students in their teaching and learning processes. Teachers can include images from the Internet or just their own images from their possessions and include any relatable link and explanations about the activity. They can easily put all materials in one place and control every due date and the materials’ access dates. Assigning and collecting students’ assignments and homework can never be easier than using this application. As for students, they can view their upcoming assignments and due dates at a glance, allowing them to prioritise their work. Furthermore, because teachers provide students with digital copies for every material, they can choose to upload and view them on other educational note-taking applications such as Notability and Goodnotes, allowing them to organise and develop their own personal way of studying. 

                                                           Credit: Showbie support

Another feature that caught my attention on Showbie is the document annotation tool, voice and text notes. Students can annotate directly using the pen tool on visual aids or PDFs that their teacher provides, whether they have access to the internet or not, and then save their work in their personal folders. This feature allows them to write, sketch, draw and jot down anything directly on the page. Usually, teachers will send a voice note about the related topics, so, if students find that voice notes explanation helpful, they can pin them. They can also use the text comments while working on their work to ask and respond to any inquiries given by their teachers. If they know any answer to the questions asked by their friends, they may also answer the questions on the page. These features will help students because it is possible for them to complete their overall work on the application, which saves tons of time and space. The document annotation tools and voice and text notes feature made students stay productive and active in managing their workloads. Students no longer have to use many educational applications to keep with the lectures and school works. 

As for teachers, things work the same way for them. Teachers can also assign grades and provide detailed feedback in voice notes, comments, and videos. They can write comments on the students’  works and even record voice recordings if something needs to be explained more thoroughly. Showbie has exclusive access to voice notes on assignments. This provides for quick and easy feedback as well as evaluation. After that, by clicking on a student’s folder, they may easily access all of their student’s grades and assignments.

                                                             Credit: Showbie support

Credit: Corey Knight- Showbie Blog

Credit: Showbie Website

The last feature on Showbie that can help teachers and students is the student portfolios feature. Each student will have their own personal portfolio, which contains pieces of their best student work from any of their classes and evaluations, which they either produce or which their teacher curates. Portfolios are a terrific method for kids to reflect on their previous work and for parents to stay informed! As a result, parents can see their children’s progress by having access to any assignments, projects, or homework placed in the portfolio. This feature can help teachers monitor, discover, and choose students’ best work that will motivate other students to get their works featured. Students are highly competitive, and teachers can encourage healthy and valid competition in their classrooms. For students, they can showcase and display their accomplishments to be seen by their friends, teachers and parents. This will allow them to monitor their accomplishments and push themselves to be better at school!

Credit: Showbie Support

The major advantage of this application is that teachers will never have to prepare papers for students to work on, no photocopies and no missing works as everything is used online. It is also a fantastic method for students to show off their knowledge in a unique way, and it certainly can help to motivate students to complete their works. 

On the other hand, the major disadvantage of this application is that while it is compatible with every device, such as smartphones and computers, many of the features are better used with an Ipad. With that being said, every student is “forced” to buy an Ipad if their teachers in school use this application. This can undoubtedly be a problem as not every parent can afford to buy one each for their children, and not every school can afford to supply one for their students. Moving from traditional to paperless classroom preparation might be difficult, but it is well worth it.

Finally, without doubt, although there is a disadvantage for the users when they are using Showbie, the goods still outweigh the bad. There were many advantages when one started to use Showbie because it really helps with schoolwork as it focuses on the teaching and learning process rather than technology. The developers made the application interface easy to work with so that everyone could use it comfortably and up to its potential. Showbie is a lovely, sleek, easy-to-use software that integrates all the necessary features for coursework, evaluation, and interaction in one app. It means the users will spend less time dealing with the technology and more time indicating teaching and learning.

I would love to try and use Showbie with my students because I believe it is a wonderful method to stay organised and supervise my students’ work once I install it in my classroom. It is easy to use for both teachers and students, making life easier while planning a class. I can see myself handling and involves in new and exciting activities every week while making full use of Showbie in my classroom. I would like to use this fantastic technology and take advantage of all the features in my classroom!

Disclaimer: The photos were taken from Google, Showbie blog and Showbie Website.