Freeform: The App That Wears Every Hat

Some of the best tools are the simplest ones. Freeform is exactly what it means — setting your thinking free on a blank canvas, a space with no fixed format or "right" way to begin. Have you all come across and worked with it?

I wonder at the infinite applications and possibilities Freeform has to offer. But the real magic isn't in the tool — it's in connecting it to purpose. And Freeform has an answer for almost any purpose a classroom throws at it — for the teacher planning a lesson, and for the student making sense of one.

As a teacher, I often use Freeform to discuss perspectives during class. My colleague has done this by sharing their own ideas on Freeform before a lesson takes shape on paper — a point evidence explanation pinned up before a class discussion, threads of thought pulled together in one glance. 

Literature: Freeform

I've used it with students in two very different ways. First, students used a ready template on Freeform to create their own food plate, adding a personal touch with voice notes, links, and images from Freeform's own library. Recording their voice to explain their own food plate gave the activity a sense of agency and personalisation — this was their plate, in their words. The template gave them a starting structure, but how they filled it in — and expressed their understanding — was entirely their own.

The second was an end-of-topic assessment — a fully blank canvas this time. Students created a timeline of the scientists behind atomic theory, organising their ideas freely, bringing in images, text, and their own connections between events. With no fixed structure to follow, it gave them a way to imagine and put that imagination into action.

The same idea stretches well beyond these two examples — as a pre-assessment before a unit begins, a space for brainstorming, a template turned into something personal, or an end-of-unit assessment. The purpose changes, but the canvas keeps up. The canvas is infinite-you can add scenes, have sequels, brainstorm-the possibilities are endless.

I hope this gives you a sense of how open Freeform really is. Pick a purpose from your own classroom — a lesson you're planning, a topic you're about to assess — and give it a canvas. You might be surprised at what your students build.