Week 8- Nearpod
This week I explored Nearpod. This software is focused on making lessons more interactive and incorporating technology into lessons or powerpoint that may be less interesting to students.
With this program you can create interactive lessons in minutes, search through customized ready-to-teach lessons, receive comprehensive student assessments, evaluate students responses live or with post-session reports, give every student a voice, and allow students to take ownership of their learning.
It takes iPads that are already being used in the classroom and turns them into an interactive platform to explore and extend students learning. students can draw and write on the screen, it is saved and sent to the teacher iPad which allows to get more information on exactly what the students are taking away from the lesson. The teacher can create quizzes, polls, virtual field trips, 3d objects, and open ended questions that are embedded into the powerpoint. Students use a stylus to appropriately answer the questions or take the poll. Their answers are saved and can be referred to later.
NearPod works on apple, android, chrome and windows operating software so actually it would work on other tablets not just iPads. In the video I watched they used iPads which is why I focused on them for this post. Also apparently to the website 1 in 10 schools in the U.S. use Neared.
In another video I saw how it was in a school for deaf students. Because of the interactive and visual nature of the lessons it was excellent for differentiating the learning to meet these unique needs. It also bridges the gap between home and school because with a log in families can view videos of the teacher explaining the lessons so families can help their student at home.
Some problems I see coming up with this is that every students need an iPad to work with. Most schools and teachers don't have the budget to have an iPad for an entire class of 16 students to have their own. I can see how sharing and working together would be a challenge because it seems like it would be pretty easy for one student to take over the learning and cause one to fall behind.
Pricing options
Silver (free)- create polls, interactive quizzes, open-ended questions, beautiful slideshows and more
-classes size: up to 30
- multi-platform availability
- basic features
- download hundreds of free lessons
Gold ($120/teacher/year)- Assign homework, create your own virtual field trips and ad on the fly activities (also includes all features from Silver)
Platinum ($349/teacher/year)- Includes access to thousands of ready-to-teacher, k-12 lessons (all silver, and gold features included)
School district- contact information
Links to videos explain Nearpod
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThlqFu1qIlM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMBCIfEsSCI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3GVkM_GVa4
With this program you can create interactive lessons in minutes, search through customized ready-to-teach lessons, receive comprehensive student assessments, evaluate students responses live or with post-session reports, give every student a voice, and allow students to take ownership of their learning.
It takes iPads that are already being used in the classroom and turns them into an interactive platform to explore and extend students learning. students can draw and write on the screen, it is saved and sent to the teacher iPad which allows to get more information on exactly what the students are taking away from the lesson. The teacher can create quizzes, polls, virtual field trips, 3d objects, and open ended questions that are embedded into the powerpoint. Students use a stylus to appropriately answer the questions or take the poll. Their answers are saved and can be referred to later.
NearPod works on apple, android, chrome and windows operating software so actually it would work on other tablets not just iPads. In the video I watched they used iPads which is why I focused on them for this post. Also apparently to the website 1 in 10 schools in the U.S. use Neared.
In another video I saw how it was in a school for deaf students. Because of the interactive and visual nature of the lessons it was excellent for differentiating the learning to meet these unique needs. It also bridges the gap between home and school because with a log in families can view videos of the teacher explaining the lessons so families can help their student at home.
Some problems I see coming up with this is that every students need an iPad to work with. Most schools and teachers don't have the budget to have an iPad for an entire class of 16 students to have their own. I can see how sharing and working together would be a challenge because it seems like it would be pretty easy for one student to take over the learning and cause one to fall behind.
Pricing options
Silver (free)- create polls, interactive quizzes, open-ended questions, beautiful slideshows and more
-classes size: up to 30
- multi-platform availability
- basic features
- download hundreds of free lessons
Gold ($120/teacher/year)- Assign homework, create your own virtual field trips and ad on the fly activities (also includes all features from Silver)
Platinum ($349/teacher/year)- Includes access to thousands of ready-to-teacher, k-12 lessons (all silver, and gold features included)
School district- contact information
Links to videos explain Nearpod
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThlqFu1qIlM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMBCIfEsSCI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3GVkM_GVa4
I really like the idea of using Nearpod to individualize instruction. I feel like you could easily provide the resource, like a field trip or slideshow, for students to view on their own, at their own pace. I can imagine using it in my classroom when students are working on an inquiry project, where I give them a slideshow to work through with instructions and information for them to accomplish their project. Also I thought it was neat how schools with students who are deaf incorporated this to differentiate the instruction to the needs of those students.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about the virtual field trips? Have you tried doing on on Nearpod? Is it easy to do? That would be such a great tool, especially since we're so isolated in Alaska.
ReplyDeleteI like your suggestions on how Nearpod can be used to make lessons more accessible. I would be curious to see how Nearpod could be used for visually impaired students (if it was accessible with screen readers or not)
ReplyDeleteI wonder, does it use bluetooth, or something else to connect to the teacher's computer?
ReplyDeleteI signed up for Nearpod, but I haven't found a lot that I would like to use. You said you use it with iPads. Can you use it with Chromebooks? I plan on spending more time on it this summer because I am probably moving to first grade next year and my students will have access to iPads.
ReplyDelete