Community reviews for Nearpod

This is a great teaching tool! I liked that it is a powerpoint style presentation, but includes easy to create interactive tools. I was able to get instant feedback, and allow for full student interaction and participation. It does require technology and internet (computer, iPad, tablet, smart phone....) however. The "homework" feature allowed me to save my lesson so students at home could work through it independently outside of school.

I love using NearPod because as a teacher I can control the pacing and see student understanding in real time. It is engaging to students because it is constantly changing and asking for their input.

The interactivity is key; a lesson can be advanced so much by simply providing formative checks and interactive elements. Nearpod can ensure that you're getting feedback from your entire audience (class). For teachers that have existing Powerpoint presentations, Nearpod lets you import the presentation and add interactive elements. This tool is extremely easy to use even for novice users. Another bonus is that you can search and download already made lessons.

From the above description it should be obvious that I like a lot. I create Nearpods for most of the topics and a secondary Nearpod for remediation of that topic. I use it with small focused groups and full group instruction. Sometimes the students are frustrated when the wifi is spotty and/or the site will not load correctly. I have found the paid content is not worth it. I can create better resources myself. With that being said, it is very time intensive to create my own presentations. There are many engagement elements that take it beyond a boring presentation. I think investing the time is worth it, but if you don't spend the time ahead of time on creating a stellar product to share with the students, you might not find Nearpod as valuable as I do.

Many of the features are user-friendly, even for younger students. Some students say things like, "This is the best technology class ever!" and "Can we do this all the time!?" Other students get frustrated when Nearpod lags. I love the reports tool. However, I find that if a lesson takes more than one class period, there is no way that I know of to get back to where we were. Therefore, I have to send out a new link and put the two reports together. That's frustrating but not a deal-breaker. Overall, a great learning tool I can't wait to use more often.

I think this is an excellent teaching tool and it is a bit more powerful than another similar product I have tested. I would definitely recommend it to other educators.

I look forward to being able to have my students label/draw illustrations of concepts (I teach biology in high school), to being able to import videos/links, and more. It is great if the wifi is up and running well. Our freshmen have tablets and I can immediately see their responses to questions posed and I can also then share them for the class to view without revealing the student. It engages them, they enjoy seeing their responses shared, and they like using the split screen function to take their notes on the material (the paid version, I believe, will allow them to have a copy of the work). It doesn't work well, obviously, when the internet is strained so you must have a good system.

Nearpod is a great interactive presentation tool. Teachers are able to use ready-made lessons or create their own. Teachers are able to guide students through the presentation on their own devices and then use embedded assessments and activities to gauge student understanding. Having students use one digital tool throughout a lesson is easy with Nearpod. Nearpod starts off as a free service, but its best features come at a cost. Some of the pre made lessons are free, but the better lessons do cost. Storage is limited in the free version. If you are planning on using Nearpod throughout the school year, I would upgrade to a paid account.

If you want to increase the engagement in technology in your classroom and in the lesson you present, Nearpod is the easiest and quickest way to accomplish that. Not only is setting up and implementing a Nearpod quick and easy, it is instantly rewarding when you see students engagement increase because of the interactivity of Nearpod. No longer will your students sit idle, instead they will be able to explore more deeply into a lesson. From flipping the classroom to collecting realtime data, Nearpod is a tool that you won't soon forget!

My overall opinion about this project is that it is a great way to increase student participation, interest, and it is a easy way to assess students. It is great for reducing the work load after teaching a lesson, but also does a better job issuing out formative assessment throughout the lesson. The available lessons are well put together and some authors involve the Khan Academy, and various museums. Even the virtual field trips are a nice touch. The site is user friendly for both the teacher and students. If teachers want to incorporate assessments into their PowerPoint presentations they can easily upload their presentations into Nearpod. However Nearpod focuses only on content. There are no solutions to if a student exits the virtual classroom. If that happens there is no active way to get the student back into the classroom. Also there is no way to hide content, so if the teacher needs to have the students look at something off their tablet or computer screen its not possible quickly. Next, if your school has a poor internet connection it might not be worth the time. Finally I would like to have a feature to hide the student names, or give them random nicknames so students wont know who is who within the classroom, or a random group creation button,