Cool, New Way to Make Presentations Interactive: Nearpod

PowerPoint used to be the "in" presentation tool.  Many teachers relied on Power Point to present information to students.  However, these presentations were lecture-style lessons with little or no student interaction. However, with more classroom sets of laptops through 1:1 learning environments or even 2:1 learning environments, students have the opportunity to become more engaged in the lesson with technology.
This leaves one question:  What do teachers do with all of those old PowerPoint presentations?

Answer:  Nearpod!

Nearpod is a web-based tool, with Google login capabilities, that allows teachers to upload previously created PowerPoints, or new PowerPoint presentations, and add engaging interactive slides.  Teachers have the ability to insert polls, open-ended questions, quizzes, and images (pictures or text) for students to annotate.  The presenter has the ability to control the pace of the presentation from his/her computer.  Students "join" a session (without a logon name/password) by entering a presentation pin that is automatically created once the presentation is published and started in a "live session."  In addition, once students have joined the live session, they sign in with their name and/or a student ID.  This allows the teacher/presenter to track interactions and gain feedback instantly.  At the end of a session, teachers even have the ability to send themselves a report, via email, that summarizes each session's activity, including the number of students in the session, the overall student participation, a student list with each student's percentage of correct responses, and student's individual responses for each interactive question/prompt.

Very few tools leave ITFs in awe.  This tool is one that allows teachers to begin shifting from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning by increasing engagement.  If you are looking for a simple shift to move your instruction from being the "sage on the stage" to being a facilitator of learning, check out nearpod.com.


Nearpod from a Teacher/Presenter View

Nearpod from a Student View