Accessible Tools & Platforms: Nearpod

Nearpod is an Interactive Lessons editing and sharing platform. An easy to use tool to engage students with interactive activities, connect them through collaborative discussions, and gain instant insight into their learning through formative assessments. Content can be either teacher-led or student-led. Lecturers can incorporate a range of information slides including text, images, videos, sounds, 3D content and 360° virtual environments (including ThingLink content) as well as interactions that help students to collaborate and test their understanding. The beauty of Nearpod is the engagement beyond just the experience, to confirm and solidify genuine learning.

1. INTERACTION: 

Pros:

• Nearpod (user-friendly, cost-effective and accessible from multiple devices) gives teachers the ability to create and use interactive presentations in the classroom, synchronize their prepared lessons to all students devices (no matter which one and where at), cast the lesson simultaneously to each student, and monitor the students’ progress throughout the lesson. All in real-time.
• Presentations can include images, videos, documents, 360° VR content, and combine those with interactive activities like questions, polls, and quizzes. Moreover, through Nearpod’s Collaborate! feature, real-time group brainstorming can be facilitated, all of which supports discussion activities and interaction in the classroom.
• The possibility to include 360° VR experiences makes of Nearpod an optimal platform through which start integrating immersive media within the classroom in a collaborative and accessible way.

Cons:

• When utilizing immersive media such as 360° VR, because the content would often consist of the reproduction of real-world environments/situations, there are limits to what can be created and/or externally sourced (e.g. copyrights constraints), as well as limits to the level of interactivity and immersion the experience can give to the students.
• Educators can always run the risk of simply reproducing traditional methods of teaching within ThingLink rather than inventing new collaborative ones.

2. INCLUSIVITY: 

Pros:

• Nearpod can be accessed from a wide range of devices (e.g. tablet, mobile, desktop, etc.), giving so students a greater choice of options through which to interact with the learning activity, in a way that is inclusive and adaptable to their individual needs.
• The possibility for lecturers to integrate images, audio, video, 3D and 360° VR content, interactive activities (e.g. Open-Ended Questions, Polls, and Draw It) can allow students to be exposed to different visual representations and modes of interactions to the subject being taught, and to answer questions and share their own opinions in different ways and formats without needing to be placed under the spotlight.
• By making the lecture more interactive and by either developing the learning to be teacher-led (e.g. having control over what the students are looking at (slide show) or student-led (students learning at their own pace), lecture time can become a moment of cohesion between the members of the classroom.

Cons:

• As Nearpod allows the integration of 360° VR content that can then be viewed not only on mobile/tablet/desktop displays but also on HMDs (e.g. google cardboards) additional inclusivity issues associated with 360° VR experiences and devices should also be taken into consideration.
• When relying on open-ended questions as a form of assessment, some students will naturally be faster than others in typing in their responses. This can create distress upon those who are slower, and frustration and disengagement upon those who are faster and are waiting for the others to finish.
• Just like Engage, Nearpod is also internet-dependent. A good connection is crucial to keep engagement high and understanding of the subject being taught. When the connection is low and multiple devices are connected (e.g. classroom usage), technical complications can be faced, impacting students ability to equally participate in the learning.
• Educators can always run the risk of choosing VLEs (e.g. 360° VR) or pre-made interactive lessons (created by other educators and available on the platform), that are not necessarily suited for all student’s needs. The learning can be disrupted and the students can become disengaged, demotivated, less confident and excluded from the group or the activity being thought.

3. INNOVATION: 

Pros:

• Nearpod, one of the easiest and most cost-efficient ways to build real-world learning experiences without logistical hassle, provides just another way for educators to shape traditional modes of teaching and learning, apply and enhance powerful pedagogies such as ‘situated learning’ and ‘transfer’, and create more exciting and interactive learning activities that meet the requirements of 21st century students (prospect and current).
• Nearpod is an optimal platform through which start integrating immersive media within the classroom in an easy and accessible way.

Cons:

• While similar to PowerPoint to some extents, the great variety of features and tools available within the platforms cannot only overwhelm lecturers but also make it a very time-consuming platform to learn for a successful usage within the classroom.
• Nearpod provides only one free template to start with and, although it does provide a suite of pre-made, fully-interactive lessons for all school levels and subjects, not as many quality free resources are available – which may also not be suited for the intended teaching and learning objectives.
• When considering using 360° VR within Nearpod, it is important to consider that: as the boundaries of what can be done with this technologies are yet to be written, while raising incredible opportunities to experiment with innovative pedagogies, it also raises significant challenges as case studies and clear guidance on how and when to effectively apply these media within teaching are still lacking.

4. INFORMED: 

Pros:

• Knowing the technological and pedagogical affordances and limits of Nearpod, compared to other immersive and non-immersive educational tools, can support educators to make informed choices regarding which tool/s to use, how, and when. All of which can help educators and the institution reduce the risk of failure, the risk of wasting time and money and, instead, maximize the success of each experiment with benefits to the students learning.
• As years go by, there will be an increasing number of case studies available to us, explaining how and when to effectively apply these media in education and which one/s to use in which context/s.

Cons:

• Staff needs to invest additional time in planning a series of learning activities based around these immersive experiences in order for students to benefit from the full learning opportunities presented.
• If the content has been sourced externally and then imported and used within Nearpod, rather than produced ‘in-house’ and then uploaded, educators could face copyright constraints, as well as risks of disrupting the students’ learning if the sourced and chosen VLE is not in line with the intended learning and teaching objectives.

• As this technology evolves, more and new ways of collecting personal user data consequently emerge, raising so new questions and concerns regarding how to deal and protect these new forms of data and who else could have access to it beyond the university.

5. INVESTMENT: 

Pros:

• Nearpod is downloadable across almost all devices (desktop, mobile, tablet, etc.) reducing so the need of the institution of having to acquire and provide additional hardware to the students.
• Subscription options go from Free, to a few hundred pounds depending on the type of subscription chosen (our Information Services team is already in possession of Nearpod’s licenses – get in touch to learn more about this).

Cons:

• Alongside the potential costs involved with the acquisition, set-up and maintenance of immersive hardware (e.g. 360° VR headsets) and software (even when relatively cheap), there are also the time and money investment needed to train and support the staff and the students.