Tonight I was planning a unit form my Year 9 class on big data . Big data is extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behaviour and interactions. When planning , I had  the idea that, after teaching the unit students would somehow demonstrate an understanding of how big data is being used on a large scale to inform decision making.

I became excited when I thought of the idea of students using the  app,  Explain Everything to demonstrate their understanding. Explain Everything is a whiteboard and screen-casting app I’d previously used when teaching Year 3 and using iPads. Here is a link to a previous post on how the app can be used to teach Superheros, and below is a video work sample of a student of mine from 2014.

However, what made me even more excited is that the app is available for free through the Windows store. We have Surface Pro’s at school, so my year 9 students will be able to use the app to create a video and explain how big data is being used on a large scale to inform decision making. Well, that is the plan. I will post student work samples once they have completed the task.