Nearpod - Engage your learners

This week I am going to be talking about the student engagement platform Nearpod... FYI I have never used it as a teacher, BUT I have experienced it as a student and, for me, it really does enhances learning 🙌


What can you do on Nearpod?

Well, what can't you do might be an easier question to answer... 

Think of it as a platform where you build a lesson - and to do this you can create slides (similar to those in PowerPoint), import slides you've already created, add pdfs, pictures and audio. Then to make it interactive you can create multiple-choice quizzes, polls, a collaboration board, insert gap fills or matching activities among other things⇩ 

The activities you can utilise on Nearpod

To get a feel for it why not take a look at the example lesson I built.  

The lesson I have built is to be used synchronously in the classroom (the slides have been kept real simple but would be expanded on) with teacher trainees. It is part of a lesson from a course I designed on supplementing the coursebook with authentic materials. I think being able to embed activities in the material really brings this material alive and if I were to even use this it again I would certainly do it through Nearpod!

Although the lesson I have planned is for teacher trainees it goes without saying that it could be used with any students in any discipline. Nearpod really is for ANYONE that wants to make their lessons more participatory/ interactive!!!

Those who have a free account are only able to use the features synchronously in a teacher-paced lesson (this could be face-to-face or live). However, if you wanted to make use of Nearpod with your students asynchronously - at their own pace (so for homework or students in distance contexts that can't be online at the same time). You can - just you would have to buy a silver membership at €120 per year 😬. I know a teacher who has done this and she definitely doesn't regret it (aaaand I think I were teaching regularly I would also do the same but do appreciate that for some that might be way too expensive.). 

The best thing about Nearpod is the range of activities that can be embedded in the lesson you design. They really can be exploited to increase student participation and collaboration!

The worst thing about Nearpod (except for the cost if you want a premium account) is you can't edit a lesson without resetting the code for the session - meaning that if students were already working on content it can't be amended. 

Thanks for reading, 
K

Whiteboard image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

Photo of students talking by mentatdgt from Pexels
All other images taken from Nearpod