Nearpod

Big fan of Nearpod for Education

Comments: All in all, I'm a big fan. I recommend it in the classroom and strongly suggest teachers explore using it. You must be in one-to-one setting.

Pros:

I'm a big fan of Nearpod when giving presentations. Here are the pros I see: - Allows students to become active participants in their education. Presenting instructional content is engaging with Nearpod, not just a one-way conversation. - You have the ability to check for understanding with built-in questions. - They have a ton of free resources that are great. - Real-time assessment/feedback. - They've even offered VR field trips that you can take your students on. - It's easy to learn how to use it, navigate, and build presentations. - You can also easily upload presentations from other platforms.

Cons:

While I feel that the pros outweigh the cons, here are some problems I see: - It is completely based on your wifi. If you have a weak internet, then Nearpod will be slow and lagging. If you add a lot of students to a presentation, it can also significantly slow down. (Although I realize that this is not necessarily Nearpod's fault - it is worth noting.) - Even though you can check for understanding in real-time, you cannot do so anonymously. It would be nice if you can anonymously assess students from time-to-time. - The subscription is steep - some may think it's worth it and the features are great, but it comes with a price that is a bit much. - The coolness factor will eventually wear off with students.

My new favorite distance learning tools!

Comments: We had more teachers use this service than any other offered because they said it was very user friendly and it gave them great immediate feedback on student progress.

Pros:

I am the director of educational technology at a school that recently shifted to virtual learning. We gave our teachers several lesson delivery/classroom management services to try out and this was their favorite. Nearpod has a great resource library with lots of great videos and lesson content. You also can track everything about how a student engages with the content you post.

Cons:

I am curious how expensive it is going to be. The service is free right now because of COVID-19 but we will definitely need to invest in it next year.

Nearpod

Comments: I used this product because my school site bought us a license. I had used Pear Deck previously which is a similar software. In my opinion Pear deck is much easier to use and the students enjoy using it more as well.

Pros:

It makes boring powerpoints more interactive. You can engage students by asking questions throughout the lesson and see their responses on your screen. There is also a library of pre-existing lessons ready to use.

Cons:

The pre-made lessons didn't really fit my needs and creating your own Nearpod presentation from scratch is extremely time consuming. During the lesson it is difficult to go back and forth between the presentation and checking student responses.

Middle school science teacher for 5 years; Instructional Technology Facilitator for 2 hears

Pros:

Nearpod is a high-quality, user-friendly, reliable presentation program that could be a valuable asset in every teachers classroom. There is a fee, but it's definitely worth the investment individually or at the school-wide level. For starters, it's easy to create slide decks, but what's amazing is that these presentations can be pushed to student devices or phones instantly and with ease. Students can then follow along and interact with the instructor. Other types of presentations can easily be converted and used within NearPod, too, so you don't have to reinvent good material. Just upload and begin pushing to students with ease. Next, audio and video files can be dropped in to decks which enables students to interact with the multimedia individually or in groups. Beyond that, and perhaps my favorite feature is the ability to collect real-time feedback from students through a wide variety of question types/formats. This enables the presenter to pace the lesson appropriately, follow-up with anyone who may be struggling, or engage students in conversation or clarifications based on the feedback. Next, NearPod has a database of phenomenal content available to educators. Large amounts are free. Some of the content even offers VR360 opportunities for students who are using capable devices. Last, I just appreciate that they are committed to improving their product - always taking steps forward, listening to user concerns, offering loudly support, and advancing.

Cons:

It would be great if they could add on some sort of homework feature for students who may not have access to WiFi. I know they are exploring several potentials here, and I think they'll figure out a solution, but this would be helpful for flipping the classroom in Title One environments.

Presentation Supercharger

Comments: Nearpod allowed teachers to create engaging presentations for their students. The students enjoy the platform and the onboarding process was Bay breeze. Enhanced reports allow teachers to better understand student engagements to make adjustments to their instruction. My overall experience with nearpod is extremely positive

Pros:

Implementation of nearpod is easy. Creating presentations is intuitive and familiar for teachers. The onboarding process requires little effort. Students enjoy the presentations. Nearpod makes creating engaging lessons becomes a reality

Cons:

There is a cost associated with nearpod however it is a fair price. The amount of add-ons and additional resources make nearpod an exceptional value. There is a cost but the improved presentations offset the expense.

Great Engagement and Success Tracking

Comments: Nearpod is my presentation go-to that helps me deliver information or learning in a fun and efficient way. It allows me to assess my students with reports in real time. I can even share a code with adults then I can track who has accessed it. I often turn to the Nearpod library when I need a last minute lesson-- it gives me content to start with so I don't have to build a lesson from scratch.

Pros:

I use Nearpod for training teachers as well as creating and delivering lessons to students. The interactive features such as quizzes, a Time To Climb game, and Draw It keep grownups and kid engaged in the material. The VR "field trips" are amazing also, even if you don't have VR goggles. Nearpod support is great, there is a very active community of users to learn from, and the company is very responsive to feedback.

Cons:

There is a learning curve before a person can use Nearpod to its full advantage. There are many premade lessons, but they often need to be customized for specific audiences such as grade level (I have found some of the Kindergarten lessons, for example, are too advanced for most little ones).The file structure and management is also a little awkward.

Amazing Resource for Student Engagement

Comments: Its an amazing tool that all teachers need to have in their arsenal. As a teacher, I used it daily and it was my go-to presentation creator.

Pros:

Nearpod is a must-have - especially during this period of remote learning. Nearpod is an amazing tool that promotes student engagement and collaboration. Its like PowerPoint/Google Slides on steroids. Teachers can easily create engaging activities, complete formative assessment checks, and connect students remotely through self-paced or teacher-led lessons. The Nearpod Extensions for Google Slides also makes it even easier to transform your static presentations into engaging learning experiences.

Cons:

When students join a session, Nearpod simply asks them to type their name. It would be great if they implemented some type of SSO option so it automatically logs students' names. This would significantly cut down on the number of inappropriate things students may type in as names.

Interactive and Effective Learning with Nearpod

Comments: I find Nearpod very fun and effective. My students love it so, learning has been quite fun during this pandemic.

Pros:

Nearpod is like the next generation of PowerPoint. It a very effective and interactive way of learning. You can reach all of your students together with Nearpod. It proves very effective in the current scenario. With Nearpod teachers are able to present lessons to students in a whole new way. It combines of audio, video, presentations,quizzes and very beautiful designs which helps the students to remain active and focused during class.

Cons:

It's quite expensive which make it not accessible to many organizations. Sometimes students report of facing lags while using the app.

Provides Effective Interactive Lessons

Comments: Nearpod has been a very useful tool for presenting material and evaluating student performance. It is simple to use and has functionality that has enhanced my classroom instruction.

Pros:

Nearpod allows me to upload my slideshows seamlessly to the platform. It allows "real-time" checking for understanding for my students to alleviate misconceptions immediately. The feature for assigning the presentation as homework is also useful for absent students. In addition, the ability to add voice to the lessons really enhances the comprehension of the material for my students.

Cons:

It is difficult to grade the results of the students' responses because the software does not notify you when a student has submitted an assignment nor does it upload to learning management systems. When a student submits an assignment late, I do not know evaluate their performance and post their results in the electronic gradebook.

Interactive Presentation App for Multiple Learning Intelligences

Comments: I am happy I have this resource to use in my classroom. I wish I had more time to develop more lessons.

Pros:

I have been a Nearpod user since 2012 (almost the beginning). I have seen the program evolve over time into a more and more dynamic platform for teachers to update their presentations and add interactive elements like polls, quizzes, virtual 360 tours, videos, audio, and worksheets. The pre-made presentations that come with a site license can be a huge time saver.

Cons:

With time, Nearpod has become more expensive. As a small school, we have had to make sacrifices to afford the site license. It can be hard getting faculty to feel comfortable using it because it is a new way of approaching presentations, but those who adopt them enjoy using it. It does require a time investment to build a lesson in Nearpod, but they are sharable and reusable.

Helpful for virtual engagement

Pros:

I like that when provided with a nearpod link you can complete/participate in the nearpod at your own pace.

Cons:

There is not anything that I do not enjoy about this software.

The perfect tool for asynchronous work and differentiation

Comments: Nearpod has been an incredible addition to my self-contained English as a Second Language classroom. My new to country students are emergent in their language and literacy skills, but are able to navigate Nearpod easily after only a few tutorial sessions. It has made a huge difference in what work I can provide for them to do during independent work time while I meet with small groups. Seriously, this is an instructional game changer. I was lucky enough to have a small class size that allowed us to be 1:1 for devices, but this would have worked by staggering online and offline activities as well.

Pros:

Nearpod is an incredibly easy to navigate platform. The interface with Google Slides is seamless and allows for greater creativity in building slide decks for instruction. It has a variety of student response types (matching, drawing, multiple choice, short answer, etc.) and they are adding features on a regular basis. This program is especially helpful for providing the same instruction at asynchronous times (student-paced option) or for guiding synchronous lessons across devices (live lesson option). Reports let you know who logged in to the lesson as well as what their responses were to various prompts. There are a wealth of lessons in the lesson library that you can launch as is or modify to fit your instructional needs. Because students are able to work through it independently, you can use Nearpod as an independent work station and have students logged into remediation, practice, or enrichment lessons simultaneously. Because you can record audio over slides as well as within question prompts, this is an excellent tool to differentiate for students who need accommodations and who are emergent in their literacy skills. Nearpod also works as an excellent tool for delivering professional development as you can record audio over slides, embed videos, and link to outside sources.

Cons:

Audio recording is only available through lessons created within Nearpod (cannot be imported through Google Slides extension), but I'm sure this is something that will be modified in future updates.

Interacting Platform for Online Learning

Comments: Nearpod has made my life a lot easier. It is simple to use and offers stuff in a fun and effective manner. Nearpod eases the pressure that online learning has placed on our shoulders. Without a doubt, it makes learning enjoyable and interesting. My pupils are challenged every day by the innovative lessons I teach, and I am pleased with the outcomes I have seen thus far. I would not hesitate to suggest it to anyone else contemplating purchasing software to improve the effectiveness of online learning.

Pros:

On the Nearpod Platform, teachers may design a complete class. On the presenter screen, the code is ready. When students input the code, they are sent to the first slide, which contains their tasks. All of my instructions, collaboration structures, and supports are easily posted on the slides. This allows me to concentrate on the needs of the students while still completing the tasks I set out to do. Nearpod provides a few teacher features that bring accountability to every session by allowing teachers to see in time who has and has not submitted work. They can then approach to kids who may want support or motivation.

Cons:

Nearpod has various drawbacks. The free version has limited capacity, the gold version is absolutely essential. Students can interact with a website when it is displayed, but as you move to the next slide the link disappears. If they need to glance back to perform the task on the next slide, that site is no longer available.

Nearpod equals Student Engagement

Comments: It has been a very rewarding software for my classroom. I am able to start off with Do Nows, Check for Understanding, Closing activities and Quizzes all in one place.

Pros:

I love the ability to add slides, activities and collaborative tools to improve student engagement and student learning retention. I love how easy it is to share my lessons with my students and colleagues.

Cons:

I wish there was a bigger database of lessons I could use for my classes. I end up making most of my lessons from scratch.

Nearpod: A much needed asset

Comments: I have a great overall experience with Nearpod. The lessons incorporate our subject matter and have the various activities the students complete on their own which can make the lessons an in-class lesson or a virtual learning activity.

Pros:

I like the already. y set up lessons that Nearpod has created in so many subject areas. I can use Nearpod in a broad overview and also has a specific lesson on a specific skill

Cons:

I had a bit of difficulty at first with creating my lessons and dropping graphics. It had a bit of a learning curve.

An excellent interactive tool for teaching and learning

Comments: We use Nearpod to promote active learning in our teachers and trainers. It has enabled our tutors to get meaningful engagement in a variety of audience sizes (large lectures and small groups). The fact that it works reliably on students' devices both on the web and dedicated app makes it easy for learners to engage with.

Pros:

Nearpod provides a seamless means of both presenting content and embedding interactions for learners to engage with on their own mobile devices. The variety of interactions is wide, allowing for all kinds of ways for students to engage. The set is growing all the time, e.g. the new 3D graphics function is very welcome! The ability to embed PowerPoint slides is very helpful (paid-for plans only) and the in-built slide content design toolset has really grown over the years to become much more viable. The paid-for plans also provide access to many other libraries of existing content.

Cons:

The lover level paid-for plans are quite limited in the number of active users and the fact that >200 concurrent users requires a custom enterprise plan may put off smaller, not-for-profit organisations. It would be good to have larger audience users available in the lower tier plans.

Nearpod for DIstance Learning

Comments: Nearpod is an app that I discovered during distant learning. It is effective and helps me keep students engage with interactive content.

Pros:

This program is an awesome way to keep students engaged during class. The teacher is able to see the students' understanding.

Cons:

The slide component is a little awkward. There are not a lot of theme options unless we use the premium add-on in google slides. However, that can be mitigated by uploading the slideshow in Nearpod once your complete it in slides

Nearpod For In-person or Distance Learning

Comments: I have been using Nearppod for a bit of time and then when the pandemic hit and remote learning took over it was a blessing to be able to use, it made student feel like I was right there with them and we continued with our lessons but most importantly continued with the relationships that we had built and were able to build new relationships using the platfrom.

Pros:

Nearpod is a great online learning tool that can be used in the classroom or remotely. Teachers can lead the learning or opt for student paced mode and it integrates seamlessly with Google Classroom. They have great customer support, online how to videos, and it's easy to use. You can be using a premade Nearpod from the thousands in their library within a few minutes and be learning to create your own shortly thereafter. With the large number of activity and content choices students will stay engaged through the entire lesson and they can even collaborate with certain activities. One of the most useful tools in my toolbox.

Cons:

The only thing that I don't like is Nearpod own Flocabualry yet you have to pay for it as an add on if you want to be able to use more than 3 of their videos. This was a disappointing to learn.

Nearpod - Helping teachers

Comments: I use it in my classroom but also I teach seminars to other teachers on hiw to use it/

Pros:

That it has Google search integrated in it. That I can upload videos and pause them with questions. The fun interactive games and characters.

Cons:

For English language learning, I find nothing negative.

Nearpod has transformed our classrooms

Comments: Nearpod has transformed our classrooms and allowed teachers to reach both face to face and virtual students at the same time. It has been an excellent tool for asynchronous learning.

Pros:

The functionality of using Nearpod to share lessons is excellent. In today's classrooms where there are both face to face and virtual students, Nearpod has allowed teachers to reach all students at the same time. The teacher paced option allows teachers to control the pace. The student paced option is great for asynchronous work. The library of lessons has some great resources. My teachers love the ability to convert Google Slides into Nearpod lessons.

Cons:

I would like to see a feature where students can work offline for those who may not have internet access at home. I hope that this in the works with the new integration that is coming with Google Classroom updates.

Nearpod: Make your lesson interactive and engaging

Comments: Nearpod is really an amazing interactive online tool. I could say that it is the most loved software that I used in my entire life because everything is there. You just have to maximize the features and be creative in presenting your lesson to the class!

Pros:

The feature that has the greatest impact on me is the interactive video. Unlike the usual pace of watching a video where the teacher will just ask questions right after the video, the teacher can pose questions in between the video and students may answer that verbally or through chat in the interactive video responses of the students.

Cons:

I find the software easy to use. I don't experience difficulty using Nearpod.

Improve Participation with one click

Comments: My personal experience with the software trumps the minor issue of being unable to recycle materials as it indeed have the student doting their i’s and crossing their t’s. Their engagement, particularly and behaviour during class has improved greatly while using this software.

Pros:

The software has a feature in which you can add questions to videos, this is very effective in keeping the students focused on what they are required to learn. Addition to this, it increases the students attention span.

Cons:

Though this software is great, like many other it has small challenges as to what it can achieve. What I did not enjoy while using this software was that after a month the materials that you created will automatically delete itself, so you cannot recycle the same material two months later for revision with the students.

Great product, especially for virtual learning!

Comments: I really enjoyed using it. It made it so easy to assign asynchronous lessons and we also used it to monitor our benchmark testing which was great. I requested that my campus and district purchase the license again this coming school year because I cannot see us going without it.

Pros:

It is so easy to turn our boring powerpoints into interactive lessons with our students. They especially enjoy the Draw It and Collaboration Board features.

Cons:

There really isn't anything to dislike. One thing that did concern me was that in the Nearpod Library, there are not many lessons that are ready to go, but I know as time goes on, more will be added so it was more of a temporary inconvenience.

An absolute MUST for classrooms with technology

Pros:

Nearpod has made my job (I'm a teacher) so much easier!! I love how Nearpod offers student paced lessons or teacher led lessons. This is a great way to differentiate instruction and allow students to work at their own pace. I have used Nearpod in my classroom and during staff meetings. It's very easy to use and there are several lessons you can use if you don't want to make your own. Students can also use this as a presentation tool!

Cons:

I do wish there was a way that I could switch from teacher led to student paced throughout my presentation.

Replaces the Projector

Comments: This is a great product and Nearpod's customer service it great too!

Pros:

What a great product! I love Nearpod because the students can see, up close my notes and videos, on their own screen! And I can control the slides!

Cons:

I would like Nearpod to be more user-friendly for my students to do a group project or even an individual project.