Amazing tool to update PowerPoint in your classroom

Submitted 4 years ago
My Rating
Pedagogy
Supports

My Take

This tool is a great way to deliver presentations with ppt slides, while being able to increase student involvement. Students enjoy having the slides play on their own devices because it makes it easier for them to view the content. Mostly they enjoy being able to answer teacher questions without having to raise their hands and speak in front of the class. This also prompts participation from students who may be nervous about speaking in class. Moreover, the teacher can ensure 100% participation in discussions or in answering questions. It can also allow the teacher to track student understanding through formative assessment tasks during the lesson in a way that may be more complete than asking students to raise hands or answer in person. The participation aspect of this software is definitely a case of technology in the classroom improving the overall educational experience for students and changing their learning experiences. Because of this, nearpod is not just a technological substitute, but a modification if used with all of the interactive features. And, importantly, it improves the ability of the instructor to assess student learning and thus improve their own teaching.

How I Use It

This platform is basically an advanced version of PowerPoint. You can even create slides ahead of time in ppt and then load into the nearpod website. Once in the nearpod interface, you can insert interactive features, such as polling or asking each student to write a response to a question. When you play the presentation, students can log into it on their own device (can use tablet, computer, or even cell phone), and then the presentation will play on their device. Students log in on the nearpod website using a web browser with a code that the instructor receives when they click play live lesson. For students' devices, the presentation will be locked on the slide that the instructor is on. For questions and other interactive features where students post responses, the teacher can choose to have student names displayed or hide them on the general screen.