What is Nearpod?
There are many resources to help teachers implement technology use in the classroom. Many schools are becoming one to one and have the opportunity to use many of the resources available. The school system that I work in is not one to one. I wanted to use technology in the classroom to keep students engaged but I had to find a program that could be used with the student’s phones. For that reason, I searched around and found Nearpod.
Nearpod is a program that allows students to interact with the teacher’s lesson. The teacher can use a presentation on Power Point or Google Slides and insert interactive activities in the presentation.
How do you use Nearpod?
There is a paid version and a free version. There are many activities you can use on the free version to keep the kids engaged.
Using Nearpod is as simple as taking a PowerPoint or Google Slide and uploading it. You can make a new PowerPoint or Google Slide presentation or you can use one you already have. Different activities can be placed in between slides. You can also a make a Nearpod using Nearpod slides and activities.
What types of activities are on Nearpod?
Nearpod has several activities for students to use to interact with the lesson. The student responses to some of the activities can be posted to the board with or without names. You can also share student responses to devices for good discussion.
I will briefly describe the free Nearpod activities.
Open Ended
This activity is just like it sounds. You can put in a question and students respond to it. Students type in answers. Student answers can be shared with the class.
Draw It
This activity is similar to the open ended activity. The main difference is that students can draw. They can still type but drawing has been added. Student answers can be shared with the class.
Collaborate
This activity lets you put in a question or comment that students need to respond to. The responses are put on the display on note cards. Students can “like” responses they agree with. Student responses are shared with the class.
Poll
Students are asked a question and they choose the answer they agree with. Student results are shared with the class.
Time to Climb
This is a new game. Students answer questions and move up a hill as they answer. Students chose an avatar and you can see where they are on the hill as they climb.
Matching Pairs
Students click pairs that match. It could be a definition with a term. Math equation with an answer. You put in what matches when you make the lesson.
Quiz
You can create a multiple choice quiz. Students answer the questions and then submit the quiz. The teacher gets the student scores on a report.
Fill in the Blanks
With this activity you can type in a paragraph and highlight words to remove to make blanks. Students are given the words to fill in the blanks.
Memory Test
This is like concentration. Students match like items.
Nearpod has more activities you can use on the paid version but as you can see there are plenty of activities on the free version. It is a great tool for keeping students engaged in the lesson. It is a quick formative assessment tool for the teacher because you can immediately see student responses to determine if there are any misconceptions. Even more, students are excited when they participate in a Nearpod lesson.
