Last Friday I shared three more notes from ISTE Live. The third of those was that I Engageable was the only tech tool that I saw in the expo focusing on SEL and similar ideas about overall well-being of students and teachers. If you haven’t taken a look at it, here’s a short overview of Engageable. 

Engageable is a free service offered by the folks behind Swivl. During the 2022-23 school year Engageable was known as Focusable. The name has changed, but the purpose is still 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 starting on a new task or continuing on with the current task. 

Engageable works in your web browser. There are also Engageable Android and iOS apps. All three options work in the same manner. 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 starting to work on a task for five minutes. After five minutes have passed you’re prompted to record how you felt during that focus block. After recording you can start another focus session or jump into a “recharge” 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 answer was that they found a lot of people had a negative association with the term “focus.” Additionally, “engage” more accurately reflected what they’re trying to do which is to encourage people to fully engage in whatever it is they’re trying to do without distraction. You can read more about the name change right here. 

I used Focusable for a lot of things in the last school year including pacing professional development workshops. I plan to use Engageable in much the same way in the next school year.