Last Friday I shared three more notes from ISTE Live. The third one was that I Engageable was the only technology tool I saw at the expo that focused on SEL and similar ideas about the general well-being of students and teachers. If you haven’t tried it, here’s a brief overview of Engageable.
dockable is a free service offered by the people behind Swivl. During the 2022-23 school year, Engageable was known as Focusable. The name has changed, but the purpose remains the same. That purpose is to help students and teachers learn how to focus on a task at hand and then recharge with short, guided activities before beginning a new task or continuing with the current task.
Engableable works in your web browser. There are also Engageable apps for Android and iOS. All three options work the same way. When you open the app or website, you’ll see an option for “pulse” or “recharge.” Choosing Pulse gives you a short breathing activity to do before you start working on a task for five minutes. After five minutes have passed, you will be asked to record how you felt during that focus block. After recording, you can start another focus session or jump into a “reload” activity. Recharge activities include guided breathing exercises and guided physical exercises that you can do at your desk.
I asked Brian Lamb, Swivl’s co-CEO, about the name change. His response was that they found that many people had a negative association with the term “focus.” Also, “engage” more accurately reflected what they’re trying to do, which is to encourage people to fully participate in whatever it is they’re trying to do without distractions. You can read more about the name change right here.
I used Focusable for many things in the last school year, including professional development workshops. I plan to use Engageable in the same way in the next school year.
