Nearpod

Avantages

I most enjoy Nearpod's customizable lesson platform. A teacher can include assessments, polls, virtual field trips, and even links to outside sources throughout their lesson. Nearpod's ability to keep every student on the same slide at the same time is also powerful for classroom management.

Inconvénients

The only negative aspect of Nearpod is that not all of the features are free. I wish I was able to utilize all the site's function's without having to pay, but I do feel that Nearpod is worth paying for.

Avantages

Everything was good until they stole my content.

Inconvénients

Their user policy.I am very upset about the Nearpod policies, and I am going to complain on every venue that I can. I have been a paying gold membership on Nearpod for 5 years. My account has always been paid automatic, so I did not have to concern myself. When my card got stolen and I had to replace it, of course the number had to change. I did realize that my membership had expired. When I went to do my lessons all of one class lessons that I had accumulated over the 5 years was gone. When I contacted Nearpod they told me they would return them when I renew my gold membership. I asked them how they could take the lessons that I created on a paid subscription. If anything, they can prevent me from making new one but the ones that are created, I have already paid for, they are mine. They said because it is on their platform. This is utterly ridiculous and a misuse of the monopoly. In 5 years of using Nearpod, I know I have brought them thousands of customers from my university and other educational institutions that I work with. I loved them and could not get enough of them. NOW I AM THROUGH WITH THEM. I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY ARE TAKING BACK SOMETHING THAT I PAID FOR 5 YEARS!!! I WILL LET EVERYONE KNOW.

Avantages

I like the funcionality of nearpod in allowing the creation an sharing of a lesson in a fun format. With Nearpod, I can import a lesson that I have already created in Google slides, power point or I can create them through nearpod. I can embed a virtual field trip, musical links and audio files throughout my created lesson. As I am giving a live lesson, each student sees my annotations and discovers for themselves the lesson, as it allows themm to individually work through an assignment.

Inconvénients

Nearpod does not make it easy for me to see what my students are doing all at the same time. It does not let me see the notes that they took.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

I have been using Nearpod in my classroom for the past few months. I like that the software is very easy to use and allows teachers to customize lessons and adapt pre-made content to fit their needs. When I first started out teaching, I created every single thing I used in the classroom. Once I learned there are programs for teachers, my life became so much easier. Nearpod is one of those programs that are great to have. Being able to integrate Nearpod with Microsoft Teams was very helpful. I am only using the free version at the moment but plan to buy a subscription.

Inconvénients

The biggest con of Nearpod is the price of a subscription. The free version lacks many of the important features. Another complaint is a few times a week, students have trouble getting the app to connect. Once students refresh, it usually fixes the issue. But having 30 students having trouble is never good.

Avantages

Nearpod is very interactive and has a ton of ready-made content.

Inconvénients

It takes a while to be able to use all the features with ease.

Avantages

Nearpod has been fantastic to help make existing class materials more interactive for online lessons. It offers the ability to upload and enhance existing materials, as well as searching from a range of provided templates and lessons that can be edited. Nearpod absolutely offers the ability for online lessons to be interactive for students as it has, for example, surveys and individual tasks that students are prompted to complete on their own as certain times of a presented lesson. The platform allows for lessons to be tailored for a range of age groups and skill levels. It is visually engaging for students and encourages participation.

Inconvénients

I was able to teach myself how to use Nearpod with a concentrated effort but teachers who have not used online platforms for teaching may need some support. The features I could access with a free account were more than enough for my needs, but do note that some things that cannot be used (including some aspects of pre-made/ provided lessons) without a paid subscription.

Avantages

Ease of use - digital upskilling is made easy by Nearpod training and tutorials.

Inconvénients

Back end Control Panel could be better.

Avantages

I can create self guided lessons with primary sources. There are multiple ways for the students to learn and remain engaged with the lesson and each other!

Inconvénients

There is nothing that I don't like, but I hope Nearpod continues to add new features for students.

Avantages

I love the functionality of Nearpod. I am able to upload lessons from other programs to create interactive lessons for my students. Nearpod has a lot of features that can be imbedded from other technology reasources, too.

In a virtual/hybrid learning situation, Nearpod is a great resource to reach students with and without solid internet access.

Inconvénients

The one feature that has been troublesome is the amount of video data that can be uploaded. I was able to work around this issue by creating my videos as YouTube videos and uploading the links.

Avantages

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

Inconvénients

For English language learning, I find nothing negative.

Avantages

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!

Inconvénients

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

Avantages

Activities that you can create to engage students. Love the time to climb and interactive features. Like that you can embed videos and use what others have created

Inconvénients

It can be time consuming to create activities and turn a PowerPoint into something interactive.

Avantages

I like how Nearpod has changed and adapted over the years to meet the needs of the upcoming generational interests in digital tools. It seems like every time I visit the site, there are new features available. It is also easy to integrate into an LMS automatic sign in.

Inconvénients

Nearpod would benefit from new branding because most people associate it with the way it used to be-- an online powerpoint platform.

Avantages

What I like the most about this software is that it is very helpful for me as a teacher-student in my demonstration teaching in an online setup. Even though that the teaching-learning process is not in face-to-face settings, Nearpod I must say is one of the educational tools that are very useful for making every lesson engaging to the students. Again, it has default features where the students can drag & drop elements in a slide, use an interactive whiteboard, answer open-ended questions, answer quizzes and polls and get a real-time result, interact with one another through collaborate board, and many more.

Inconvénients

I think what I like the least about this software is the limitation in the free version. As a student that usually cannot afford such a subscription, this gives us the challenge to use the limited version and maximize it for the learning of our students. In the free version, the storage that we can use must only be within 100MB and at the same time, only 40 students can join per lesson. But good thing that whenever we have a demo, it's like the maximum number of students that I only handle is 35 students so that I do not have any problem when accommodating them. Also, I heard that in premium versions that Nearpod can be integrated into a lot of other software like specific LMS or google applications like Google Docs that is useful for organizing things. What I suggest is that give also those features to the free version but at the same time have limitations too so that we as practice teachers will be able to practice using this application on some of their premium features so that it will be easy if we are going to avail it in the future if we are already a licensed teacher.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

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

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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.

Avantages

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.

Inconvénients

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

Avantages

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

Inconvénients

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