Wixie- The Program That Does It All
By Kerri Lambert, OIT Teacher Specialist
Are you looking for a program that allows students to combine text, drawing, images, speech and video? Are you looking for something that has pre-made templates, but also allows free creative reign? What about a program that gives you access to all the projects your students have completed- without anyone having to take extra steps? And let’s not forget easily taking pdfs and making them editable for students!
This is not some mythical unicorn program. Believe it or not, such a program does exist. It’s called
Wixie, and it’s available to all teachers and students in the AACPS.
I may even like it more than Google, but don’t tell anyone I said that.
Aren’t those some incredible projects? The possibilities really are endless when it comes to how you can use Wixie in the classroom, which I realize can be overwhelming, but Tech4Learning and AACPS are here to help you out:
Need some ideas for middle schoolers that involve no prep? Here are 6 Ideas for blank-screen projects.
How about math? Scott Loomis, a former math specialist does a series of blog posts on the Real World of Math using Wixie templates.
- Looking for activities that tie directly to AACPS curriculum? Look in the AACPS templates folder.
Log into Wixie and select the folder on the left hand side. What about choice boards for stations? Yup, Wixie has those too. Just search choice board and you’ll bring up almost 3 dozen options.
Are you excited yet? If not here are a few other reasons why you should fall in love with Wixie:
Classes are loaded and managed by PowerSchool, so you don’t have to. Don’t see classes? Reach out to your OIT specialist to get access.
You can easily assign a project to the whole class, a small group, or even just one student. Throw in Wixie’s text to speech and it’s compatibility with Read&Write and it’s differentiation at it’s finest.
Teachers can leave students feedback on their work, and students can respond back. Rubrics and feedback stickers are two more options available to let students know how they’ve done on an assignment.
Wixie’s image library has thousands of fantastic pictures that students can use in their projects. It has everything- circuit icons, weather symbols, math manipulatives, classic storybook characters, you name it, they have it. If you’re afraid your students will be easily distracted by all the choices, you can even lock the image library so they can only use the images you want them to.
Wixie is by far the easiest way for students to record a video. Just click the video record button, talk, and hit stop. The video is inserted on the current slide and available for viewing. It’s a great option for students to use when they have to explain a concept. Have them complete their work on the slide, and record an explanation video.
Create an activity and want to share with a teammate? Every school has a folder in Wixie for sharing templates with colleagues. If a teacher friend is in another building, you can share the activity with the share link.
- Student collaboration is easy in Wixie. Teachers set up groups for a project, and those in the
group will see it on their dashboard. Teachers can join in at any point to provide feedback to the team.
So I encourage you to explore Wixie and all it has to offer. I promise you won’t be disappointed! You may even like it more than Google, but don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. 😉