This app turns your mobile phone into a tutorial
The phone wins in the struggle for students attention? Wrap it in your favor with the help of interactive presentations.
Nearpod is an online platform that allows teachers to create presentations to their classes and share them with students directly during class. You simply send via email or through social networks the presentation code, and children from their mobile phones are connected to a common action. You thumb through the slides, asking self-paced classes, involve children in the implementation of creative tasks and real time track the results with the help of the gadget, which is usually only a hindrance.
In contrast to the popular tool for interactive presentations Pear Deck, which is tied to Google drive, Nearpod does not depend on other applications. To participate in the sessions from any device and from any platform: iOS, Android, Windows Phone. To work with presentations suitable and tablets with laptops, but the developers have paid special attention to the fact that the interface was easy to access from your mobile phone.
To start working with Nearpod, you need to register on the website (you can use your social network profiles or email). Those who join an already created session, on invitation, registration required.
It looks like a personal account
You need to keep in mind that the platform does not support the Cyrillic alphabet. When creating a presentation, you will see your text correctly, but for others it will not be displayed.
The free version of Nearpod allows you to make slides with images, text and audio tracks and invite them to participate in the session online up to 30 students. The paid version of Nearpod Gold offers much more possibilities: create a slideshow, insert videos, writing quizzes, open questions, drawing tools, adding charts and graphs. All this allows to make the lesson really interactive, because every child enthusiastically solves problems with your mobile, and you can immediately see the result and can give each due consideration.
A small hint: the developers propose to make a Nearpod upgrade to Gold for free for six months, you need to invite five friends to join the service.
Created presentations can be saved in PDF format and distribute to work offline. Another useful feature is homework. To work with the presentation in this mode, students can independently, without connecting to a shared session.
Presentation on the student screen when it executes your task.
Teachers are eager to share their success stories of using Nearpod.
The service offers online store: you can buy the presentations created by other teachers, and some of them are free.
Instructor of social Sciences at one of the schools of Portland Kim Hoffman Kanof talks about his experience of using this application on lessons:
You know these students. They may be late for 20 minutes and forget a pen, a notebook, and everything else. But, fortunately, there is one tool they always have with them: a cell phone. Many of my students have serious problems outside of school, they don’t have Internet access. But the mobile phone can afford. To involve these guys, I started to plan lessons with Nearpod and phones as educational tools.
Kim recommends the use of more open questions in the presentation that would encourage students to delve deeper into the subject and Express their opinion. You can do so during the lesson the children could add your content: images, links to websites. This can be the occasion for informative discussions and a means of expression. It’s one of the main advantages of such interactive presentations that speak out and be heard.