Nearpod: Interactive Lectures

Nearpod is an interactive presentation tool that allows a presenter to guide participants through a slideshow on the participants’ devices. No longer are lectures and presentations limited to the projector. This tool allows all participants to log into a Nearpod session from their laptop, tablet, or mobile phone, see the presentation slides on their device, and participate in interactions like polls, quizzes, videos, and VR explorations.

The participant experience in Nearpod encourages better readability, more time on task with a personal device, and increased agency for the learner. As seen in the following video demonstration, Nearpod combines the power of a slideshow with the flexibility of interactivity tools. Participants can even interact with one another on brainstorming and note-taking (seen at 0:47).

(This video shows the slides to my 2018 presentation Digital Classroom Management: Design, Delivery, Data.)

 

The initial scope of the Nearpod project at Penn State Harrisburg was to support Dr. Shauntey James in her Criminal Justice classes. The idea being that we needed to redeem the use of students’ technology in the classroom. Whether they were using their devices well or not, the presence of technology in the classroom posed a significant barrier to the teaching and learning process. Thus our project implemented Nearpod as a classroom management tool to promote equity. Paired with Dr. James’s  teaching practices, students participated in her interactions allowing her to see the scope of the room’s comprehension of topics and then she could call on specific responders to volunteer their insights to the rest of the class to stoke discussion. For a quick insight into Nearpod in Dr. James’s classroom, watch the following EdTech Tip.

 

Furthermore, we continue to seek innovative ways to use Nearpod. The below tweet references our work in using Nearpod to facilitate a Networking Mixer provided for students to gain access to and experience with local employers in their fields.