We are often asked what the differences are between Showbie and Seesaw. While they both help teachers manage classroom workflows and increase collaboration with students and parents, one of the most important distinctions is that in Showbie files are saved in an editable format, meaning files can be marked up and edited multiple times, whereas Seesaw only allows a single upload.

But there are some other differences that you should note if you are trying to decide which to use in your classroom (or how to implement them together). Rather than provide our perspective on what makes each app unique, we reached out to a group of teachers who use, or have used, both apps to get their point of view.

Showbie or Seesaw or Both?

Seesaw is a great parent

communication tool. It is nothing

like Showbie. While students can

upload work into Seesaw and

parents can like/comment on

items, students cannot manipulate

documents like in Showbie. There

really is no comparison between

the two.

Kelly TurcotteTEACHERINMAN ELEMENTARY

I see Seesaw used mostly from

kindergarten to grade 3. It

is almost used like a school

Instagram. I see very little

curriculum usage with it, but

it does have value in that it

functions like an easy class blog

that all can contribute to. It’s often

used side-by-side with Showbie.

I met with a few kindergarten

teachers recently and showed

them both Seesaw and Showbie.

They all picked Showbie because

of its ability to create learning

pathways and differentiate for

their students.

Seesaw is an easy way to capture

“what’s happening in the room”

for younger grades.

Adele Brice

Stephanie Weber

Amy Tong

LEADING TEACHERWONGA PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL

TEACHERAUBURN DISTRICT OFFICE

IT/ICT COORDINATORAZLE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

Here’s what they had to say.

There’s a subtle but profound difference between Seesaw and Showbie. Seesaw is more about

capturing learning, whereas Showbie is more about facilitating. Seesaw makes more of a

portfolio, and provides more of a social feed view with easy QR code login and collaborative

feedback. With Showbie, a student can upload an e-book one day then download it again the

next day and carry on. This is not possible with Seesaw. Showbie is more silo-ed but allows for

‘real’ files, more detailed feedback, and increased collaboration.

Tim LingsIT/ICT COORDINATORHERONSGATE PRIMARY SCHOOL

So deciding what app is best for your classroom – or whether you should use both – is a matter of asking yourself what you want to achieve. Seesaw is geared towards younger learners with one-time work submission, and provides a simple way for parents (and fellow students) to keep track of what’s going on in the classroom through a Facebook-like stream of photos, videos, and updates. Showbie excels at individual, on-going student work (that can be edited and re-submitted multiple times) and is great for providing individual, personalized feedback on native files.