Nearpod’s interactive activities in the classroom have the power to add interest and excitement to everyday learning. Using digital activities such as gamification, drag and drop, drawing, matching, and collaborative discussion enhances classroom learning for all students.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

What interactive activities keep learners engaged during a lesson?

Interactive activities keep students engaged by providing a creative and collaborative learning experience. With our growing options of Drag & Drop, Draw It, Time to Climb, Matching Pairs, Collaborate Board, Quiz, Poll, and Open-Ended Questions, teachers have multiple options to meet the specific needs of the diverse learners in their classrooms.

Activity Banks offer an ever-growing collection of ready-to-use engaging activities. With 2,000+ activities available, and hundreds more being added, there’s something to meet the needs of every classroom.

Our standards-aligned activities provide comprehensive opportunities for:

• Recalling prior knowledge 
• Supporting a student’s learning progression 
• Building an understanding of essential skills 
• Collecting essential assessment data 

6 quick ways to use interactive classroom activities

1. Use gamified interactive activities

Gamification keeps students engaged and alert! Not only does friendly competition and fun gameplay lead to increased participation, but it also motivates students to dig deeper into what their learning. When used consistently, educational classroom games can increase students’ social and emotional learning skills, such as problem-solving, collaborating with peers, behavior management, and more. Teachers can also get real-time insight into how students are doing while keeping them focused and smiling.

A student-favorite interactive classroom game on Nearpod is called Time to Climb. With this activity, you can assess understanding with a gamified multiple-choice quiz where students can race to the top of a mountain with their favorite characters.

2. Demonstrate steps, labels, and sorting with interactive diagrams

Captivate learners through problem-solving and critical-thinking activities. With interactive diagrams and models, students can show their understanding of the concepts being taught. Use these classroom activities to have them create timelines, outline steps, pair labels, and sort ideas into buckets to demonstrate what they learned.

Drag & Drop activities teach concepts in a fun and engaging way. Students can sequence events in a timeline and steps in a process, label diagrams, and models, or sort properties, categories, and characteristics. You can also create your own activity by uploading a background and inputting draggable text or images. Drag & Drop activities provide students with gamified learning opportunities and increased engagement and retention. As students physically engage with concepts, learning will be transformed within an interactive classroom environment.

Here are some Drag & Drop activities you can use in your classroom:

• Sort natural and manmade resources (Grades K-2)
• Showcase steps of the life cycle of a bean (Grades 3-5)
• Add, Subtract, Multiply, & Divide Decimals (Grades 6-8)
• Identify euphemism figurative language examples (Grades 9-12)

3. Provide opportunities for creative expression

Let students express themselves creatively through drawing. This could be on a blank sheet of paper, the board, canvas, or their devices. Having students draw on their devices can address common misconceptions as they work in real time, creating a truly adaptive, interactive classroom.

Our Draw It activities provide interactive tools for students to represent problem situations and a working space in which teachers can see in real-time the progression of student thinking as they write, draw, and record their thinking processes. Draw It activities are the perfect fit for when teachers want to see work in progress. It’s one of our most used activities on Nearpod because it is easy for teachers to customize and collect student responses. You can create your own Draw It activity by creating a prompt for students, using a blank background or uploading your own, adding a reference media if you please, and then having them complete the activity on their own devices.

Here are some Draw It activities you can use in your classroom:

• Animals Preparing for Winter: (Grades K-2)
• Drawing Shapes: (Grades K-2)
• Template: Life Skills Cause & Effect (Grade K-2)

4. Prioritize classroom discussions

Encourage classroom discussions to create a rich dialogue, facilitate discussion for all student learners, and give students multiple opportunities to see how their peers solve problems and hear the language they use to describe representations. Not only will this keep your students focused, but it will also help them practice social and emotional learning skills.

How can you ensure all students are participating and can be heard? Through our Collaborate Board, students can share ideas with a larger audience as they begin their discovery on selected topics. With this activity, students can share their thoughts and ideas on an interactive digital board that’s moderated by the teacher. Teachers can support a whole class discussion while ensuring all students’ ideas are heard and considered.

Here are some Collaborate Board activities you can use in your classroom:

• Check-In (Grades 2-12)
• Which Doesn’t Belong: Reptiles & Amphibians: (Grades 1-5)
• Would You Rather: Run or Fly (Grades 3-5)
• All About Fictional Characters (Grades 6-12)

5. Matching activities for students to self-asses

It’s important for students to assess themselves to see how they’re understanding the lesson. Our Matching Pairs activities guide students in thinking through processes, demonstrate student understanding, and provide accessibility for visual learners. With this activity, students can match two cards that pair together. They are given instant feedback to allow for opportunities to self-assess and guide students in refining and revising their thinking. In the end, you’ll be able to see how many tries it took for them to get all pairs correct. Teachers can create their own Matching Pairs with just a few clicks on Nearpod and add a time limit with the timer!

Here are some Matching Pairs classroom activities:

• Match Seasons and Weather (Kindergarten)
• Internet Vocabulary Grades (K-5)
• Narrative Writing: Text Examples (Grade 6)
• Trigonometric Ratios: Matching (Grades 9-10)

6. Keep students focused by launching activities on-the-fly

Through our Quick Launch feature, teachers can add learning activities to drive adaptive teaching and differentiated, personalized instructional decision-making that accelerates learning for all. Teachers can use Quick Launch to launch an Open-Ended Question, Collaborate Board, or Timer!

Use Quick Launch for learning fun moments to create a quick exit ticket, bell ringer, or do-now. You can also consider using this for those in-the-moment sparks of inspiration or when you’re trying to get student’s attention back to a lesson.

Sign up for free to use these interactive classroom activities

Increase transformative learning in your classroom through these tips. As features and tools become more engaging, teachers have the ability to design learning experiences that are more effective, interactive, and personalized. Use Nearpod’s collection of features to create an interactive classroom where student learning comes first truly!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Jessica Clarke

Jessica Clarke is the Curriculum Manager at Nearpod.

The post 6 quick ways to use interactive classroom activities appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

3 Efficient ways to lesson plan for back to school with Nearpod

1. Revisit and revise previous Nearpod lessons

You’ve already created amazing Nearpod lessons, now is the time to revisit and revise these lesson plans for the new school year! Access your library and choose a lesson to view. Hover over the lesson tile and select “Edit” to update your lesson. From this screen, you can easily reorder or delete slides in your lesson to meet the needs of your learners.

Don’t forget to embed activities and content into your existing lessons to enhance your content! My students love the Virtual Reality, 3D images, Draw It, and Time to Climb activities on Nearpod. When students first experience Nearpod activities, they’re immediately happy to see the lesson on their individual screens and love that they don’t have to strain to see the board at the front of the classroom.

2. Find premade standards-aligned content

As teachers, we put our creative, innovative minds to work on a daily basis to provide our students with the best possible education. That’s just who we are! The existing lessons in Nearpod’s library provide teachers with amazing, premade activities that are sure to fit the needs of your students. To access Nearpod’s lesson library, log in to your account and select “Nearpod Library” on the left of your screen. On the next screen, you’ll be able to filter your search by activity type, content area, and grade level. Watch this tutorial to learn how to search and filter through lessons in the library.

As you look ahead at the standards you’ll address and begin lesson planning, be sure to take advantage of the standards search feature in the Nearpod library. After you’ve added the lesson to your library, you’ll be able to quickly rearrange activities and add content and resources to best fit the needs of your students. You can even adjust the lesson sequencing of your own existing lessons or pre-made Nearpod ones. Don’t forget to take advantage of the growing number of lessons from Nearpod’s dozens of well-known partners, including ABC Mouse, History, Khan Academy, PBS, TED-Ed, and more! Teachers can customize these lessons, too!

3. Launch a quick Nearpod activity

Have you tried launching a Nearpod activity without a lesson? If not, you’ll definitely want to add this to your back-to-school prep list!

From your lesson library, select the “Quick Launch” icon in the top right corner of your screen. Launch an activity timer, Open-Ended Question, or Collaborate Board that your students will join with a code, just as they would join a traditional Nearpod lesson. In addition to Quick Launch options, teachers can also launch a quick activity by selecting “Create” and selecting the “Activity” option from the dropdown menu. Also, don’t forget to use the search feature in the Nearpod library to find an activity to fit the standard you’re teaching. Explore our premade classroom culture-building activities that you can easily embed into your lesson plans.

Start using these tips to lesson plan for back to school

It’s time to get excited for the back-to-school season and lesson preparation that comes with it! By using Nearpod’s existing lessons, Nearpodizing content you’ve already created, and quickly launching fun and effective activities, back-to-school lesson preparation is sure to be a fun experience!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Bethany Petty

Bethany Petty is a mommy, wife, award-winning Social Studies teacher, Educational Technology professor, blogger, published author, runner, & reader! She loves using educational technology to enhance the learning environment, increase student engagement, & make learning memorable for her students!

The post 3 Efficient ways to lesson plan for back to school with Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

While athletes vie for gold every two years in the Olympics, you can reach for gold right now—Nearpod Gold, that is! You may have started with a free Nearpod Silver subscription, but do you even know what you’re missing out on? You can upgrade your Nearpod account to Nearpod Gold for $159/year at any time to discover even more Nearpod features and benefits that you’ll love.

Teachers can sign up for free below and then upgrade to Gold to access and create interactive lessons. Or, take your Nearpod game to the highest level and experience the full power of this platform with a school or district account. Speak to your administrator about Premium Plus accounts for schools/districts!

How to get Nearpod Gold

If you don’t already have a Nearpod account, start by signing up for a free one and then simply upgrade. Once logged in, you can select the profile icon in your screen’s upper-righthand corner, then click “UPGRADE.” You will be asked to enter your payment and address information before clicking “COMPLETE PURCHASE.”

If you want to secure a Gold account today, you can use this special Nearpod Gold code to get 3 months for free: NP-BTSB24.

7 Ways to maximize teaching with Nearpod Gold

1. Integrate the Google Slides Add-On

Are you an avid user of Google Slides? With Nearpod Google Slides Add-On, you can integrate any of Nearpod’s interactive features into your Google Slides deck. We all know how hard teachers work to capture students’ attention and engage them in learning activities. With Nearpod Google Slides Add-On, you can enrich your existing slides with multimedia content and reference materials to appeal to a wide variety of learning styles. Interactive features like Draw It or Collaborate Board reinforce those active learning strategies that help support the retention of new information and bolster communication, critical thinking, and creativity skills (the 4Cs!).

Imagine how you can level up your Google Slides with this premium Nearpod feature. Take your typical slide presentation to a whole new level by adding in any of the nine different formative assessment activities or any of the Nearpod multimedia content, including virtual field reality trips. With these active learning strategies, you are sure to spark student engagement. You can even save time by leveraging the Google Slides templates for various design elements. And don’t forget to lean on Google’s collaborative feature and share these lessons with your team teachers, so that you can all can contribute and share ideas to slides across the grade or subject.

2. Use the Drag and Drop activity

Nearpod offers a suite of formative assessment activities, but one that is exclusive to Nearpod Gold and above is Drag and Drop. You can use this activity to test students’ recall and understanding. From close reading exercises to vocabulary definitions to timelines, there are many ways to use Drag and Drop across various subject areas. With Drag and Drop, students can sort, order, or label images or text sequentially or in groups. This visually rich activity encourages kids to use logic and spatial skills to label, sequence, sort, and categorize. You may want to use the activity as an anticipatory set to gauge students’ prior knowledge or as a quiz at the end of a lesson to evaluate students’ level of mastery. Did you know you can even add a background image and customize draggable items for each Drag and Drop activity? You can create your own or choose from a large library of premade activities within Nearpod:

• Math (Grades K-1) Representing the Numbers 14, 15, 16: Students will engage in practicing various methods of representing numbers using draggable objects.
• Social Studies (Grades 3-5) Locating & Identifying States: Northwestern States: Students identify the location of and label five northwestern states.
• Science (Grade 4) Labeling the Parts of a Plant: Students can practice identifying the different parts of a plant.
• English Language Arts (ELA) (Grades 6-8) Story Elements: Students will identify the story elements of a passage.
• Math (Grades 9-12) Identifying Congruent Triangles: Students will sort triangles based on their characteristics.

3. Download and create more lessons with 10x the lesson storage

Quite simply, Nearpod Gold offers 10 times the amount of storage compared to Nearpod Silver. Whether you filter or search for lessons and save them to your account library or you design your own lessons, ample storage is helpful when saving lessons rich with multimedia and interactivity. We know how precious time is for teachers, so 10 times the storage enables you to easily organize and find the content you need for your daily instruction within a couple of clicks.

Browse through the following resources and save lessons to use for your next instruction:

• Lesson guides
  • Math Lesson Guide for grades K-9
  • ELA Lesson Guide for grades K-9
  • Social Studies Lesson Guide for grades K-8
  • Science Lesson Guide for grades K-8
• Core subjects lessons
• Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips
• Curated collections like Current Events
• Interactive videos

Then, you can drag and drop the selected content into folders, which you can (and should) rename and color-code by unit, subject, class, or month. With more than 22,000+ high-quality lessons, videos, and activities that the expert Nearpod team and trusted, leading education organizations (such as Smithsonian, ReadWorks, NASA, and PBS Kids) have created, there is a lot at your fingertips, but we want to make sure your time is well spent connecting with students instead of searching through files.

4. Launch multiple live lessons at once

If you team teach or are a grade 6-12 educator, you may be teaching multiple classes of students the same lesson throughout the day or across a given week. With Nearpod Gold, you can launch multiple codes of the same Live Lesson, and still gather class-aligned data through the Student Reports that you can find on your Teacher Dashboard. You can also still access real-time insights for a data-informed approach to teaching, which will help you pivot and tailor your instruction day over day. You’ll be able to provide authentic feedback and personalize your approach based on data from the formative assessment activities across all classes.

5. Support larger class sizes

Class sizes can vary district by district, year over year. Public schools in the U.S. have an average of 24 students per classroom, yet there are growing concerns that this number may grow due to the national teacher shortage. Although your class size may fluctuate, Nearpod Gold’s extended capacity will cover all of your students. 

With Nearpod Gold, you can add up to 40 students per lesson with an individual account or up to 250 students per lesson with a school or district subscription. Larger class sizes mean more diverse learning needs. You can leverage the various upgraded features of Nearpod Gold to better differentiate your instruction, choosing to share different lessons or focus on particular activities with different groups and classes.

6. Always be prepared with Sub Plans

Nearpod Gold also gives you access to Sub Plans—a feature that enables you to create and share your own or premade standards-aligned lesson plans to use at a moment’s notice. Why add to the stress of curating and organizing materials and resources at the last minute when you can’t be there? Share easy-to-implement lessons that a sub can use in your absence.

Simply email the Sub Plans to your substitute teacher beforehand. You can monitor the classroom’s activity remotely since you can access real-time data through the Teacher Dashboard, or you can review all of the lesson data after class time is over in the Student Reports. Find ways to create Sub Plans that are engaging yet meaningful, and encourage students to continue learning on their own even if you’re not right by their side.

7. Adjusting code expiration date

When you choose to use a Student-Paced Nearpod lesson with students, you can send the lesson using a 5-letter code. And you can share content with students’ families—think newsletters!—in the same fashion. Usually, the platform will default to having the access expire in two weeks. However, with Nearpod Gold, you can modify the expiration date. This flexibility enables you to extend a student’s learning as needed.

When crafting an authentic assessment as part of your Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach, you may realize students need more time with activities and materials. Or, you may want to provide further reinforcement and materials for students to explore on their own during a given unit of study. You may want to plan ahead and curate materials for rotation stations or provide access for students who are absent, or you may want to create open access for resources that students can repeatedly use, such as reflective journals or choice boards. There are many reasons for wanting to extend access beyond two weeks, and Nearpod Gold provides that flexibility.

Upgrade to Nearpod Gold

Go for gold … Nearpod Gold! You can find the upgrade option by clicking on your account settings in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and following the prompts. As you use the next couple of months to prepare for another banner year, consider how Nearpod Gold can help you and your students start off the new school year successfully. If you have any questions or would like to see a demo of some of the premium features, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team to learn more!

Teachers can sign up for free below and then upgrade to Gold to access and create interactive lessons. Or, take your Nearpod game to the highest level and experience the full power of this platform with a school or district account. Speak to your administrator about Premium Plus accounts for schools/districts!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post 7 Ways to maximize teaching with Nearpod Gold appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Nearpod’s PD team: Professional Services

At Nearpod, I lead the work done by an amazing team called Professional Services. We are responsible for creating and delivering the professional development opportunities that educators at all levels have access to, so they can more effectively use the instructional tools and supplemental content from Nearpod and Flocabulary.

The Professional Services team is an impressive group of educators who combine their valuable knowledge and expertise to help support schools and districts worldwide. Our team members have diverse educational backgrounds, including expertise in elementary education, special education, leadership, technology, and more.

Before we create a slide, handout, catchy title, or description, we make sure that whatever learning and work we are asking teachers to do will positively impact and support the important work they are already doing.

There are multiple ways for all types and levels of educators to engage in these learning opportunities, especially when considering how to get professional development hours for teaching. From free to paid, from beginner to advanced, we have professional development you can access that will impact the teaching and learning happening in your classroom, school, and district.

Nearpod PD: How to get professional development hours for teachers

Earning professional development hours should not be complicated when you are spending time learning new skills and ideas to support your students. At Nearpod, we diligently strive to make all our professional development offerings easy to join, relevant to your instructional needs, designed for you as an adult learner, and of course sharing documentation for you to submit for professional development hours. And of course, our webinars are usually hosted through the Nearpod platform, making it an interactive PD experience for all participants. Any webinar, course, or session that you join will model the best uses of Nearpod as a learning and instruction platform, it will be engaging, and—dare we say—you might even have a bit of fun along the way. So, what are all the options for you to earn professional development hours with Nearpod?

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Free professional development with year-round public webinars

Let’s start with something free, because who doesn’t love some free learning? For all users of Nearpod and Flocabulary, we offer free public webinars year-round. These webinars are typically 60 minutes in length and support primarily the basics of each of the two platforms. For each session that is attended live, you will receive a certificate of attendance that can be used to support your professional development requirements in your district.

For Nearpod, we regularly offer the following webinars:

• Nearpod for Beginners
• Plan, Create, and Edit a Nearpod Lesson
• Using Nearpod with Google
• Using Nearpod with Microsoft
• Nearpod for Corporate Training
• Nearpod in Higher Education

For Flocabulary, we regularly offer the Beginner’s Guide to Flocabulary.

The calendar of available webinars can be viewed at Nearpod.com/Resources. Find the session that supports your learning needs and register!

• Sessions are presented using GoToWebinar.
• Recordings are provided for all who register.
• Certificates of attendance are automatically sent to those who attend the live webinar; these can be submitted to your school or district to clock hours for professional development.

Summer sessions: PD by the Pool

And for the summer, we add a little more fun and learning! Each summer from mid-June until the end of August, we offer PD by the Pool. 

These opportunities include our regularly scheduled webinars but also include new learning opportunities. Explore more Summer PD learning opportunities.

This summer, we are including sessions such as:

• Creating & Launching Choice Boards with Nearpod 
• Enhancing Vocabulary and Comprehension: Using Nearpod to Support the Science of Reading for All Grade Levels
• Achieving Balance: On-Screen and Off-Screen Teaching with Technology 
• Using AI to Generate Text to Differentiate for Students 
• Enhancing Academic Vocabulary and Comprehension: Using Word Up in Flocabulary to Support the Science of Reading for All Grade Levels
• Back to School with Nearpod 

A certificate of attendance will be provided for each session that a teacher attends live so they can gain free PD hours. This certificate can be shared with your school or district as evidence of professional development hours. 

If a live webinar doesn’t work within your schedule or your time zone, Nearpod and Flocabulary offer several options for learning the basics asynchronously. Although these options are designed specifically for those who have a paid school or district Nearpod or Flocabulary account, they are available for free. 

Getting to Know Nearpod

This course is meant to introduce Nearpod and support educators in learning the Nearpod platform to support daily instruction and formative assessment. Participants will learn about navigating the platform, finding and editing lessons from the Nearpod library, creating lessons using their own resources, launching lessons to students in two modes, and reviewing evidence of student learning in reports.

Getting to Know Flocabulary

This course is meant to introduce Flocabulary and support educators in learning the Flocabulary platform so they can continue to support learning academic vocabulary in the classroom. Participants will learn about navigating the platform, understanding the lesson sequence, creating classes and assignments, and reviewing evidence of student learning in reports.

Contact your Nearpod or Flocabulary school or district account manager for more details!

Camp Engage

Two times per year, Nearpod hosts an event unlike any other: It is called Camp Engage! This is an online, multi-day, free conference for anyone who wants to learn about Nearpod and Flocabulary or anyone who already uses these platforms and wants to level up their skills. This is a perfect way for teachers to earn PD hours!

Camp Engage is designed to provide quality professional development led by experts in Nearpod and Flocabulary. You will learn from educators who have been or are currently in the field using these tools every day! Attending any of our main learning sessions during a Camp Engage event includes the option of earning free professional development hours for teachers. These can be shared with your school or district as evidence of your professional growth. It is also an opportunity to build your community of fellow educators to learn and laugh with during this conference.

Save your spot now for Camp Engage: Back to School, July 25-27, to help you make the most of the upcoming school year and find creative ways to engage your students!

Personalized professional development for your school and district

When a district or an individual school purchases Nearpod or Flocabulary platforms, there is the option to access professional development designed to meet the learning needs specific to that district or school.

The Professional Services team aims to help schools and districts just like yours to cultivate an environment that encourages digital learning and interactivity, helping teachers utilize technology in the most effective way possible. Each session begins with essential questions and learning objectives that are connected to the ISTE Standards for Educators and Coaches. Sessions are delivered virtually or on-site and are always designed using adult learning strategies, best instructional practices, and of course a little element of fun!

These learning opportunities are designed for a personalized approach with custom-tailored sessions to help educators seamlessly integrate Nearpod’s tools to address their unique needs. Professional development can include an introduction to the latest methodologies and strategies for technology integration as well as equipping educators with tools for digital learning success in their classroom or school.

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital education, we’re here to be your guide, your mentor, and your partner. Let us support you as you take your district or school to new heights.

Check out the professional development currently offered, to encourage transformative instruction with Nearpod, with the purchase of professional development for Nearpod and/or Flocabulary. 
Contact nearpodcoach@nearpod.com if you’re interested in this PD opportunity!

Start exploring Nearpod’s PD

Most teachers are in the education profession because they enjoyed or excelled at being a students; at some point, they enjoyed the process of learning, challenging the status quo, and working to make something better. Sadly, for the last few years that love of learning may have waned a bit. This could be from a lack of resources, ever-changing expectations, or just sheer exhaustion!

At Nearpod and Flocabulary, we hear and see you! Our goal has been, and continues to be, to offer professional development that prioritizes learning relevant ideas and skills you can immediately implement in your classroom or your school. We strive to do this through an engaging platform, using adult learning strategies, all while providing you with the evidence needed to meet accountability demands.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Julie Cobb

Julie Cobb is a Director of Professional Services at Nearpod, leading high-quality implementation and training consultations for Nearpod School and District partners across the United States. She has her Bachelors in Education of the Hearing Impaired and her Masters in Educational Leadership. Passionate about education technology, she was inspired to join Nearpod because she wanted to share innovative ways to transform teaching and learning using technology in the classroom and beyond.

The post Extend your professional development learning and earn Nearpod PD hours for teachers appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Student engagement refers to when students actively participate, contribute, question, personalize, and take ownership of their learning. There are usually some telltale hints, such as hands waving in the air, students jumping in their seats, and eyes literally sparkling. Student engagement strategies make a teacher’s job easier and fulfill their goal of developing students into lifelong learners.

Classrooms have changed and will continue to change as times evolve. Methodologies and pedagogies should shift as new philosophies, research, and technology come into play. Gone are the days of a “sage on a stage” preaching to rows of children.

Nearpod’s instructional platform supports both teachers and students in individualizing the learning process so growth and progress are optimized over time. Explore strategies to increase student engagement in your classroom with Nearpod’s support.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

6 Strategies to elevate student engagement in the classroom

1. Leverage real-time insights

Formative assessment is the process through which teachers gather real-time feedback and evidence of learning to guide the next steps of their instruction. For instance, let’s say a teacher delivers a math lesson on finding the lowest common denominator. During a quick check for understanding, only half the class can accurately answer a question and correctly find the lowest common denominator. The teacher uses that evidence and most likely reteaches the concept before moving on. Such real-time insights are key to a teacher addressing not only the learning objectives and standards but also ensuring every student’s learning needs are being met, which will support classroom student engagement.

Nearpod was designed to give teachers these powerful real-time insights! Teachers have access to in-the-moment student responses. They can use this evidence of learning to share them with the whole class, address misconceptions in the moment, and modify instruction to support learning through these student engagement strategies. The intuitive Nearpod dashboard provides quantifiable data in a visual format, making it easier for a teacher to determine the next steps with a quick glance and a bit of instructional ingenuity. And it’s not just in-the-moment data: after completing a Nearpod session, teachers can review the post-session reports to inform their data-driven instruction further.

2. Active learning

Active learning quite simply means that the child is physically and mentally engaged in the learning at hand. Teachers use all sorts of traditional and innovative engagement strategies to promote such participation. From hands on heads to think-pair-share, teachers aim to invite each student to make personal or real-world connections to their learning. Teachers want each and every student to know they have a role and a responsibility as they enter the classroom.

When schools reopened for in-person learning after the COVID shutdowns, we saw endearing social media posts of teachers welcoming kids back into the classroom actively, where the kids chose the greeting—such a simple activity can help involve kids in their learning process.

Technology can also foster active learning. When using Nearpod for active engagement strategies, students are more actively involved in their own learning, with features and interactive activities that support many of the principles James Paul Gee highlighted in his 16 Principles of Good Video Game-Based Learning. Students are challenged cognitively and socially; many of Nearpod’s activities act as springboards for meaningful in-person conversations. Nearpod encourages students to have a sense of agency and be the drivers of their own learning.

3. Focus on student motivation

In a world of constant beeps, chirps, and buzzes, it can be hard for students to avoid distractions, stay focused, and be motivated to succeed and learn. Sure, we can use extrinsic motivators to give students a carrot or a brass ring to reach for. But ideally, our tactics lead them to find the internal motivation to accomplish a task at hand and take the next steps without much prodding.

Nearpod’s educational game, Time to Climb, provides friendly competition to incentivize engagement. As they make progress (moving or “climbing” up the mountain), their own intrinsic motivation grows, and their confidence and enjoyment build as they learn. Teachers can create their own version of this gamified multiple-choice quiz on any topic or use one of the hundreds of pre-made Time to Climbs available in Nearpod. These student-centered games motivate students and foster classroom engagement.

4. Student voice

Often, you may hear educators talk about “student voice and choice.” Student voice is when kids are empowered to share their stories, their opinions, and their perspectives. Not only does such dialog promote community, but it helps hone children’s developing sense of self, independence, and individuality. To do so, teachers seek to challenge students’ high-order thinking skills, like evaluating, problem-solving, and creating. Creativity is just one of the “4Cs” for 21st-century education: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity (Battelle for Kids). Regardless of age, all children need to hold on to their sense of wonder, feed their bubbling curiosity, and bolster their questioning attitude. In doing so, they refine their voices to continue contributing and engaging in the classroom.

Using Nearpod strategies for student engagement encourages all kids to employ high-order thinking skills, especially through interactive activities like Draw It and Collaborate Board. With Draw It, students use a drawing assessment tool to explore new concepts through visually rich approach and hands-on student engagement activities. And as a picture says a thousand words, they also can express themselves creatively in yet another manner. The Collaborate Board invites all students to the virtual table to exchange ideas. Students write their thoughts and ideas into a virtual bulletin board using text or rich media for everyone to see. This activity promotes the best of peer-to-peer learning as well.

5. Student choice

Now, onto the second part of that phrase: student choice. As part of their burgeoning independence, students are more actively engaged in their learning environment when they have a choice in what they are learning, how they are learning, and when they are learning. Such successful child-led learning opportunities help students develop in a safe environment. Student engagement will be at an all-time high as they explore, interact, inquire, and progress toward mastery. Maria Montessori wrote about the importance of this sense of agency and ownership in the 1800s.

The greatest sign of success for a teacher … is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist

Maria Montessori

Nearpod’s thousands of pre-lessons allow teachers to tap into students’ various interests, as they can share various resources with different kids. A student can take a deeper dive into a topic by embarking on a Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trip or engaging in an Interactive Video. With their eyes on the real-time data, teachers can support students to work independently in the moment and progress at their own pace. This academic and emotional engagement will encourage them to be proud of their independent growth resulting in student success.

6. Differentiation

As part of a teacher’s quest to personalize and individualize instruction for students, they often showcase their artistry by modifying a lesson to meet the various needs within their classroom. Teachers can differentiate instruction through lessons by modifying the steps, amassing a variety of supporting resources, and appealing to various learning styles. Such differentiation will help increase student engagement by hooking their interest and appealing to their strengths in various ways.

With Nearpod, teachers can distribute a variety of resources to various children throughout a lesson. They can encourage students to personalize their Student Notes to help reframe a concept or further illustrate it. Teachers can also take an existing lesson, duplicate it, and modify it in several different ways, thus ending up with a variety of student engagement activities or lessons that take different paths to achieving similar learning objectives. Use Student-Paced mode to have students do independent or small group work.

Boost student engagement with Nearpod

Capturing students’ attention is paramount across all types of engagement strategies. Educators forever grapple with how to increase student engagement—it can be a daily pursuit if not a challenge. Those beloved teachers are often revered because they took the time to invest in students individually. They showed respect to their students by figuring out how to address their learning needs best and make them engaged in their own learning. A teacher’s craft truly is part science and part artistry!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post 6 Strategies to elevate student engagement in the classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Active learning is the process of having students regularly assess their own understanding and skill. This means students are attaining knowledge by participating and contributing. Learning involves the active construction of meaning by the learner. Learners construct meaning from their foundational prior knowledge and the new information they acquire. (Dewey)

Many teaching methods promote active learning in the classroom. These include: 

• collaborative learning
• cooperative learning
• problem-based learning
• discovery-based learning
• inquiry-based learning
• case-based learning
• project-based learning
• exploratory learning 
• experiential learning

You might see everyday classroom examples of this in teachers’ action verbs in their learning objectives or in a kinesthetic activity that has students in a science class figure out what molecules look like in a liquid or gas. Active learning strategies are tied to constructivist and constructionist learning theories in all these cases. The ultimate goal is for students to play a participatory role in—and take ownership of—their own learning.

What does active learning look like?

Active learning in the classroom transforms students’ educational experiences and improves academic outcomes.

In the classroom, active learning techniques require a student’s direct engagement, whether physically or mentally, but ideally both. Consider an analogous scenario: television. Watching TV is often a passive activity, with viewers literally sitting and consuming content silently. Yet some educational television shows like Dora the Explorer are designed to get kids to be active viewers. They move and jump, answer questions, talk, and sing with the characters on the screen. This is what makes these shows effective: viewers are doing more than just watching–they’re active.

How can we encourage students to be enthusiastic and actively engaged learners in our classrooms? This is the ever-present challenge for educators! With tech tools like Nearpod, teachers can add interactivity to their instruction, spark collaboration, and engage students mentally and physically.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

5 Impactful active learning strategies for the classroom

1. Use various activity types throughout a lesson

Students learn by doing and engaging their minds and bodies in active learning in the classroom. Varying the activity types used throughout a lesson can prompt students to take on the onus of thinking, working, and doing. It promotes intrinsic motivation so students take agency over their learning journeys.

As teachers, we aim for students to take participatory roles, which commonly involve movement, whether that’s picking up a pencil, raising a hand, or constructing a model. With Nearpod, teachers can offer a mix of question-and-answer formats from Matching Pairs, Drag and Drop, Time to Climb, and Draw It, just to name a few.

One of John Dewey’s goals in education was to create involved democratic citizens. Various assessments and interactive activities often promote peer-to-peer learning, which bolsters communication and collaboration skills. Plus, students grow by teaching others—opportunities for students to explain their thinking become a powerful check for understanding. Getting kids out of their seats to engage in paired or small group discussions, putting their heads together for problem-solving, or moving about with role-playing are examples of active learning in the classroom.

2. Activate students’ prior knowledge

A common practice in instructional design is to start each lesson with an activity meant to activate prior knowledge. Such activities include bellwork, sponge activities, and anticipatory sets. Regardless of the activity name, the goal is to better understand what the child already knows about the topic at hand and to have the student connect what they are about to learn to what they’ve learned previously. Prior knowledge can be information developed and retained through earlier classroom course material or based on personal experience outside of the classroom. Prior knowledge can differ vastly, so it is important for teachers to have a pulse on their students’ range of understanding before diving into a new lesson.

One way to spark prior knowledge is to appeal to varied learning styles with the use of multimedia. When it comes to a new topic, how can you remind students to think of what they have seen, heard, or touched before? Nearpod makes it possible for teachers to not only weave multimedia throughout their lessons but to do so in a way that invites interactivity. Try using a media-rich Poll or a Collaborate Board at the start of a lesson. When exploring how to engage students in active learning, consider using such tools and techniques into a student’s prior knowledge, making connections between what they’ve learned and know already to what they are learning now.

3. Metacognitive reflections

Personal connections to learning don’t have to occur only at the start of lessons. At the end of any lesson, we want students to reflect on what they’ve learned. Learners construct meaning from their foundational prior knowledge and then scaffold the new information they acquire, connecting the old to the new. Many teachers use exit tickets as a quick metacognitive reflection opportunity. A simple yet effective construct for such metacognitive reflections is K-W-L: What did they already KNOW, what did they WANT to know more about, and what did they LEARN?

Add a K-W-L Chart to a Draw It activity or include a Poll for implementing active learning in the classroom around a new topic. Metacognitive reflections encourage students to identify and challenge their assumptions and perspectives and create a more dynamic (and often collaborative) learning experience. Students become agents in their learning process, summarizing their main takeaways, identifying their struggles, and questioning what they want to learn more about next.

4. Make traditionally passive learning moments active

As educators, we’re always challenging students to move from lower-order thinking skills to those denoted as higher-order thinking skills in Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. Frameworks like the Padagogy Wheel suggest active verbs to strengthen learning objectives and align varied activities to reach such outcomes. With the influx of technologies and shift in philosophies, teachers’ roles have moved from the “sage on the stage” lecturing (passive learning) to more of a “guide on the side” that encourages students to engage in learning.

Nearpod’s ready-made lessons align with Mayer’s theory that effective active learning methods engage learners in at least one of three cognitive processes: selecting material to attend to, organizing material mentally into meaningful representations, and integrating those representations with prior knowledge. For instance, Nearpod lessons provide a “critical frame” to guide students as they read text or watch media. The media is followed up immediately with a prompt for them to reflect on and respond to. With ready-made Interactive Videos, interactive questions at key moments allow viewers to pause, think critically, and share their ideas.

“Ownership in the classroom matters. It’s not only how the brain learns best—by trying out new skills and wrestling with new knowledge and experiences ourselves, rather than just receiving information—but it’s also how students build the confidence to take on new challenges. When students are asked to try in school, when they are asked to push their thinking even when they’re stuck, to explain why they’ve arrived at an answer, to help a classmate, they also have the chance to stretch their sense of their own capabilities and see themselves grow.”

The New Teachers Project, The Opportunity Myth

 5. Spark connections through discussion

Classroom discussions also help students realize that their learning doesn’t occur in isolation. Such aha moments often happen through meaningful social interactions with teachers and peers alike. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory emphasizes the role of society and culture in learning outcomes and how it occurs first through interaction with others.

Nearpod activities spark peer-to-peer conversations, think-pair-share opportunties, and small-group deliberation to leverage the social dynamics of learning. Collaborate Boards and Polls can promote class discussions, highlight anonymous answers/responses from peers for analysis, and encourage collaboration that can continue “offline.” With Nearpod, meaningful discussion underscores diverse perspectives, encourages opinion-taking, and encourages active listening and probing questioning. Today’s 21st-century skills center on the 4Cs: communication, collaboration, creation, and critical thinking (P21 (now part of Battelle for Kids)).

Create effective instructional experiences with Nearpod

No teacher wants passive, disengaged students in their classrooms. We aspire to tease out the curious learner and to show them how personally satisfying a learning experience can be. We’re the tapestry weavers making those cross-curricular connections and showing how what’s attained during instruction has real-world significance and application. In doing so, the key benefit of active learning in the classroom is that students become agents of their own learning pursuits.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post 5 Impactful active learning strategies for the classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Effective instructional strategies go beyond those daily teacher-centric tips and tricks. They are those tried-and-true methodologies that help you, as an educator, reach your teaching and learning goals throughout the school year. When it comes to instructional design, teachers infuse their lesson plans with effective instructional strategies. Many such learning strategies are steeped in research from educational psychologists, philosophers, and researchers such as Piaget, Freire, Dewey, and Papert (just to name a few!).

What are the characteristics of effective and efficient instructional tools?

Meaningful learning experiences motivate students to dive deeper, explore further, and make personal connections. When it comes to personalized or individualized learning, technologies such as Nearpod support teachers in tailoring and targeting learning activities for each and every student. Such experiences put the students in the driver’s seat and give them a sense of agency to become lifelong learners.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

7 Essential strategies for designing effective instruction

1. Student engagement

Student engagement is one of those ubiquitous phrases that educators use to speak about their goals for teaching and learning. What is student engagement? It’s that rapt attention that teachers strive for—students leaning forward in their seats, participating with thoughtful questions and meaningful dialogue, eyes bright with those epitomized lightbulb moments, jumping over one another with their curiosity piqued.

Children are naturally curious; just think of a toddler’s persistent question, “Why?” Educators try to nurture this sense of curiosity into a pursuit of lifelong learning by designing effective exploratory or experiential instruction. Often teachers strive to provide hands-on activities to literally let kids get their hands dirty in the process of learning. Such kinesthetic and tactile tasks improve muscle memory, increase energy, and nurture cognitive and emotional development.

Another way to support student engagement is ensuring lessons have clear and authentic real-world connections. By showcasing how skills apply to everyday life or with career goals in mind, students are more likely to embrace instances of practice. Constructivist Bruner lauded the process of student-centered discovery, and Papert celebrated constructionism to provide children with meaningful challenges they’d be excited to tackle.

Nearpod offers a treasure chest of interactive activities specifically designed to champion to engage students. From engaging educational games like Time to Climb to Interactive Videos and immersive Draw It activities, Nearpod transforms learning into an exciting journey, challenging and motivating students along the way. Nearpod effectively brings abstract concepts to life, fostering students’ active participation and turning the traditional classroom into a dynamic, student-centered discovery hub.

2. Active learning

Active learning involves all facilities. It underscores that learners aren’t just consuming but creating, making connections, and building upon prior knowledge. It asks that students do the heavy lifting and thinking in a lesson. Piaget claimed students aren’t just “empty vessels” waiting to be filled. Freire warned against the banking method of education in which students are treated as passive receptors, thus limiting their creative and critical thinking.

Active learning transforms students’ educational experiences and improves academic outcomes. For students of all ages, active learning practices lean quite a bit on activities that pull in kinesthetic movements to encourage students to hone multiple learning styles as they digest and retain new information. Such participatory roles promote active learning across the curriculum.

Nearpod creates active learning environments where every student participates, increasing engagement and challenging students through interactive features that puts them at the center of learning. Interactive features, such as Polls, Open-Ended Questions, and Collaborate Boards, can be one of the most effective instructional practices to spark students’ prior knowledge at the beginning of a lesson or for metacognitive reflections to assess what students learned by the end.

3. Collaborative learning

Collaborative learning brings students together in a joint venture to search for understanding or meaning. This framework of effective instruction is a great way to promote a community of learners as well. Students take a more active and participatory role when they’re engaging in peer-to-peer learning. And today’s technologies allow students to “discuss” while leaning in on their preferred learning styles.

VAK (Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic) is a common way educators begin to address where a child’s strengths lie when it comes to processing and retaining new knowledge. With collaborative learning, students develop and lean on one another’s strengths, benefit from their varied perspectives, and challenge each other for problem solving and deconstructing a problem differently.

Collaborative learning and building connections are of paramount importance in creating active learning experiences. Nearpod provides multiple opportunities for teachers and students to collaborate and build connections. Collaborate Board enables students to work together in a shared digital space and share their thoughts via text, images, audio, video, and ever-so-popular GIFs. Teachers can hear from every student by having them use multiple formats to develop their ideas further. This fosters teamwork and cooperation and builds communication skills among students and teachers, creating a collaborative learning environment.

Our digital world (inside and outside of the classroom) challenges how we need to learn and refine our social and interpersonal skills when communicating and collaborating with one another. Nearpod’s interactive lessons and activities prepare students to use technology effectively, safely, and appropriately, all while building positive and empowering school climates. Nearpod’s social and emotional learning (SEL) activities and lessons highlight these core life skills.

4. School culture

A positive classroom and school culture are crucial to creating a welcoming and supportive environment inclusive for all students and their families. It’s helpful to set and share expectations at the beginning of the school year to emphasize what your goals are for your students. Level setting with such shared routines and procedures can help create a cohesive climate.

Invite all stakeholders to have an active role in your classroom. Encourage all stakeholders to model leadership with positive behavior and a can-do attitude or growth mindset. By focusing on forming authentic and caring relationships, you can motivate students on their learning journeys. And don’t forget to celebrate the daily small and big wins! With such dedication, schools can actualize a student-centered vision for all and implement effective instructional strategies.

Nearpod plays a significant role in connecting and building school and classroom culture through its various features and functionalities. Nearpod allows educators to see every student and create active learning experiences where every student participates through:

• Interactive lessons, videos, activities, and formative assessments 
• Dynamic media and gamification activities like Time to Climb
• Collaborate Boards that build connections through class discussions

5. Formative assessment

Formative assessment can help guide an educator on how best to keep each student on a personalized learning path. Such techniques—whether it is a simple thumbs up/thumbs down, a poll, an exit ticket, or a quiz—provide teachers with a plethora of data, allowing them to take a data-driven approach to designing meaningful learning experiences. Teachers can use this intel to monitor students and modify the next steps in instruction.

Does a lesson need to be revisited? Does the content need to be modeled in a different manner? How can you take students from comprehension to mastery? Data can range from active participation to a test score. Educators can look for patterns to best understand how individuals and small groups are progressing against learning objectives and goals. Formative assessment is a continuous process and bolsters designing elements of effective instruction.

With nine types of formative assessment tools within Nearpod, teachers can design interactive lessons that promote engagement and progress.

6. Real-time insights

Today’s technologies allow us to economize gathering student data across the curriculum so we can analyze and glean insights in real-time. Data can be visualized in many ways, making it easier for teachers to digest and act upon the insights effectively.

Teachers can monitor student progress more readily and provide immediate feedback when the child has a question or meets an obstacle. The value of immediate feedback is immense—students feel more self-aware, motivated, and confident. Such constructive feedback can thwart bad habits or misinformation from being further cemented. This feedback cycle encourages students to reflect more on their learning journey and rely on internal and external feedback.

Nearpod empowers teachers to effectively measure student understanding in real-time, enabling them to make instructional decisions at the moment. Having access to real-time insights, teachers can make more informed instructional decisions and visualize learning in various ways to drive instruction.

Nearpod keeps students and the learning process at the forefront of every class through:

• Formative assessments that provide real-time insights to guide instruction
• Post-session reports informing your next lesson
• Tool and content to scaffold instruction and meet students where they are

7. Differentiation

Meeting a child where they often mean a teacher has to be ready to differentiate instruction for lessons, whether that be to modify a particular activity to support a student better or add a layer of complexity to challenge another further. By understanding your students’ diverse learning needs, you can individualize your lesson plans to ensure immediate feedback, varied instances of practice, and increased engagement.

Similarly, schools often face a challenge of amassing and providing a rich diversity of resources for an equally diverse set of students. Educators seek to deliver high-interest resources so kids can go beyond the old adage of amassing knowledge that is a mile wide and an inch deep. Instead, they grow their depth of knowledge and expand their interests. Such resources encourage teachers to design effective instructional strategies and differentiate learning experiences so students have options and various ways to meet learning objectives through different paths and channels.

Nearpod’s quality content library plays a crucial role in supporting differentiation in the classroom. With over 22,000+ standards-based interactive lessons, activities, and videos, Nearpod gives educators the flexibility to meet students where they are in their learning journey. Teachers can easily tailor their instruction by selecting materials catering to different learning styles, abilities, and interests. Whether it’s providing additional challenges for advanced learners or offering extra support for struggling students, this content library lets teachers create personalized and engaging learning experiences that cater to the unique needs of each student.

Design effective instruction with Nearpod

Having these seven essential strategies as habits of mind when engaging in effective instructional planning will result in more dynamic classroom interactions. When it comes to personalized or individualized learning, technologies such as Nearpod support teachers in tailoring and targeting learning activities for each and every student. Nearpod’s all-in-one platform aids and supports teachers and students alike. From interactive lessons and videos to real-time student data, such experiences put the students in the driver’s seat and give them a sense of agency to become lifelong learners.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post 7 Essential strategies for designing effective instruction appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Collaborative learning is all about coming together with others to understand a concept or work on a common task. In the classroom, collaboration is a great way to practice life skills that students can take into the future. Classroom communities often reflect a smaller version of a future workplace or project where students must work together on a joint task.

Use Nearpod’s Collaborate Board for collaborative learning

With Nearpod’s Collaborate Board, teachers have an opportunity to connect technology with pedagogy in the classroom. Students work to understand how their individual thoughts, ideas, and contributions fit into a larger shared collection of thoughts in Nearpod. Whether you are new to Nearpod or an experienced user, an individual feature like Collaborate Board can offer many unique ways to bring student-centered discussions to life.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

5 Ways to create collaborative learning experiences in the classroom

1. Make collaborative classroom discussions part of every lesson

Classroom discussions in any subject are an essential part of the learning process for students. Discussions are an opportunity to brainstorm creative ideas, put students at the center of their learning, learn from peers, and develop critical thinking skills.

When discussions happen in the classroom, students are at the center of learning. They listen to and learn from their peers while actively absorbing knowledge from each other’s thoughts. Additionally, discussions emphasize the need and importance of multiple and different perspectives.

However, most students don’t naturally engage in discussion around academic content that builds their understanding of something they’re learning. Sometimes students choose not to participate in a traditional classroom discussion. When students aren’t engaged in classroom discussions, they aren’t benefiting from the critical thinking and problem-solving skills of their peers.

With Nearpod’s Collaborate Board, student-centered discussions merge with technology to ensure students have a platform where it’s easier than ever for their ideas to be heard, shared, and developed. Using technology to support discussions helps all students develop the confidence to participate, which broadens the different perspectives and ideas all students are exposed to in the classroom.

Teachers use Collaborate Board to pre-assess students’ knowledge of a new concept they’re about to learn, check in on students’ well-being, and foster a sense of community around academic learning. Collaborate Board provides students with even more opportunities to build confidence around discussions in the classroom. Just add a question for students to respond to and let them take charge of their own learning.

2. Keep feedback at the center of classroom discussions

Discussions are most beneficial when students receive feedback on their contributions. Student-centered feedback is especially effective. Feedback and ongoing conversation during a collaborative learning discussion help students develop skills like learning to agree and disagree respectfully, leadership skills, and social skills and allow them to learn and grow from each other.

In today’s classroom, students are engaging with technology more than ever, and digital citizenship skills are especially important. Learning social and interpersonal skills in the digital world can be especially challenging. Still, with student-centered technology like Collaborate Board, teachers can support students and model how to recognize ideas, cooperate, and share appropriately. Teachers can even model how a student’s idea may change someone’s perspective, helping to create a safe environment and boost confidence in the classroom. To take cooperative learning a step further, split students into groups and assign roles for team building games such as scavenger hunts or role playing to practice social skills.

Students can provide feedback on each other’s posts on a Collaborate Board with hearts. Teachers with a School or District Premium Plus license can allow their students to comment on each other’s posts, bringing even further development to classroom ideas and higher-level thinking skills. This feature ensures that discussions brought into Nearpod don’t end at individual contributions. Instead, those initial posts and thoughts from students can change and grow over the course of a discussion with additional input from their peers.

3. Make collaborative learning visible

Visual learning helps students break down information into manageable pieces that are easier for them to understand. Classroom discussions are often not visual. However, when you can connect technology to a classroom discussion, teachers have the opportunity to give visual purpose to every discussion and reach visual learners.

Collaborate Board helps students collect and share thoughts or information all in one spot, making it easier for every learner to track the discussion and digest the information. When students learn in ways they like and understand, students are more likely to engage, pay attention, and be motivated to participate. Making learning visual in a discussion will also increase students’ interest in that subject matter which leads to long-term retention and makes communication easier and quicker.

4. Collaborate and contribute in multiple formats

In a traditional classroom discussion, students raise their hands and participate by talking. It can be difficult to hear from every student and increase participation in a method that only some students may feel confident using. When integrated with technology, students can participate in multiple ways. Providing multiple media formats values everyone’s contributions to the class. It helps personalize student learning and can even boost comprehension for students. 

Collaborate Board allows all users to share their thoughts with more than just a text or image post. Students can record an audio response, upload a video responding to a discussion, or even post a GIF to support your collaborative teaching initiatives.

In order to get all students actively engaged and collaborating in a classroom, students need their different needs met. Some students may require specific scaffolds or support. Collaborate Boards allow teachers to add new reference media to support student understanding. Teachers can provide a web link, video, PDF, an audio file, or image with their discussion question as a way to ensure all learners can access the information or have the support they need to engage confidently in a discussion. Consider trying problem-based learning by setting up group work opportunities for think-pair-share and encouraging team members to discuss a specific topic.

5. Build community and social emotional skills

Each classroom’s community is representative of the types of communities students will find themselves in as adults. Building a strong sense of community in class will help set up students for success when collaborating and building those life skills they’ll take into the next stages of life.

Collaboration helps build relationships by allowing students to access diverse viewpoints, acknowledge their peers’ differences without critique, and create safe, comfortable learning spaces. When students are in a learning community, they build interpersonal skills that allow them to work with all types of people. Engaging in culture-building and social emotional learning activities further enhances students’ ability to develop empathy, emotional intelligence, and effective communication within their learning communities.

Collaborate Board can be used at any point in the classroom to not only facilitate academic and collaborative learning strategies but to build community at the same time while practicing academic skills. We encourage teachers to use opportunities to collaborate in every lesson and ensure every student’s voice or perspective is heard during discussions. Create active learning experiences for team teaching with these collaborative learning activities.

Start using Collaborate Board

Technology only makes collaboration easier in the classroom by giving students multiple ways to collaborate and the supportive tools to make it happen. It brings so many benefits to 21st-century skills students will take anywhere in life. Using Collaborate Board will help nurture responsible citizens with global perspectives who can collaborate to solve real-world problems. Here at Nearpod, we can’t wait to see how working together in the classroom creates a better learning experience and positively impacts student achievement!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post 5 Ways to create collaborative learning experiences in the classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

How to convert your existing presentations into interactive Nearpod lessons

Educators can import existing slides from Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations onto their Nearpod lessons. Upload files directly from your device or from Google Drive, Office 365, or Dropbox. Imported content will be uploaded as static slides. To build or edit content slides on Nearpod, you can use Nearpod Slides Editor. After your content has been imported, you can start adding interactive activities, assessments, and dynamic media! Learn more here or watch the tutorial below.

Ready to import your slides? Follow these steps:

Step 1

Begin by navigating to your “My Lessons” page. From there, click on “Create” and select “Lessons” to initiate the lesson creation process.

Step 2

Once you’re in the lesson creation interface, locate the center of the screen and click on “Upload Files” Alternatively, you have the option to simply drag and drop your files directly into Nearpod for seamless uploading.

Step 3

Nearpod offers multiple options for sourcing your files. You can choose to upload files from your computer or opt for files stored in Google Drive, Office 365, or Dropbox, providing you with convenient access to your preferred platforms.

Step 4

After successfully uploading your file, you’re all set to enhance it with Nearpod’s interactive activities. Take advantage of the platform’s formative assessment tools and engaging media features to make your lesson truly captivating and impactful. For a comprehensive guide on creating lessons, be sure to explore our tutorial resources.

Google Slides add-on

If you use Google Slides, streamline your workflow and save valuable time by utilizing Nearpod’s Google Slides add-on. Discover the convenience and efficiency this add-on offers as you seamlessly integrate Nearpod activities into your Google Slides presentations. Google Slides add-on is exclusively available to teachers with Gold, Platinum, School, or District accounts.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post How to convert your existing presentations into a Nearpod lesson appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

What is Nearpod for Canvas?

Canvas is an LMS that helps to gather all the tools together so students and teachers can easily access them – think of it as a custom one-stop shop. If your school or district uses Canvas already, you can save your teachers and students time by integrating your Nearpod account. The four tips below will help you get started and learn how to add Nearpod to Canvas.

How to add Nearpod to Canvas: 4 tips for integrating

1. Install Nearpod LTI 1.3 for Canvas

Nearpod is LTI (Learning Tool Interoperability) Advantage certified, which is an interoperability standard that allows institutions to create a technology ecosystem where different products can “speak” or communicate with each other. This communication is key, whether products are being used in the classroom, for distance learning, or in a hybrid scenario. You will need to have a Nearpod School or District license to access Nearpod LTI.

Nearpod’s LTI 1.3 (the latest) for Canvas includes:

• Single sign-on
• Assignment linking (deep linking)
• Canvas SpeedGrader – manual grading
• Support of all Nearpod school and district setup configurations
• Support of all Nearpod rostering options

2. Create a home base

Schools and districts can maximize their Canvas investment by showcasing how Nearpod seamlessly integrates. You can embed and assign live and student-paced lessons and videos into Canvas. Students then click on the shared link to access the shared lesson. You and your students will appreciate the ease of accessing resources curated into one centralized hub.

How to add a Nearpod assignment to Canvas

1. From the left navigation menu, click on Assignment.
2. In the top right corner, click on + Assignment.
3. Scroll down to Submission type, and from the drop-down menu, select External Tool.
4. Click on Find.
5. From the modal that appears, find Nearpod (LTI 1.3).
6. Sign in to your Nearpod account if you have not already done so. 
7. Select the Nearpod delivery type from the lesson you want to add to this assignment, Live Participation or Student-Paced.
8. Complete the Canvas assignment details and click Save & Publish when ready.

3. Track and grade student progress

With Canvas, teachers can input, manage, and share grades with students via the Canvas Gradebook. You can sort through students and/or assignments to reflect on your next instructional steps.

Via Gradebook, you can access Canvas’s SpeedGrader to gain real-time insights into students’ understanding. SpeedGrader displays students’ submissions, and you can provide feedback via annotations. You can grade submissions using a simple point scale or a comprehensive rubric. Students will be able to see their own reports in “Submission Details.”

You can access the SpeedGrader through the Assignments or Grade areas. Click below to view step-by-step instructions for both ways.

4. Seek out professional growth opportunities

Make sure that you and your colleagues are up to date on the latest and greatest features that Nearpod’s integration with Canvas includes. Consider creating a teaching cohort, as Cleburne Independent School District in Texas did, so that all teachers can see the ease of use and share best practices.

“We wanted to make sure from the instructional technology side that we were creating an actual cohort, where we could help teachers grow during the process.”

– Tracy Shea, instructional technology & district multimedia specialist

5. Showcase the results

Share with your stakeholders the ways in which you are enriching students’ learning experiences with tech. Tout the ways in which you are creating continuous student engagement through Nearpod’s integration with Canvas. As referenced earlier, Cleburne ISD leveraged Nearpod’s integration with Canvas to transform its practices and build a strong culture of digital citizenship within and across its schools.

Start using Canvas with Nearpod now

Take advantage of how edtech companies like Nearpod and Canvas collaborate so that their platforms can support one another in making teachers’ instruction more efficient, engaging, and effective for students. Consider speaking with your district or school’s tech lead to see what needs to happen for your Nearpod account to integrate with your Canvas account!

Admins: Interested in Nearpod for your school or district? Schedule a call to access these integrations and so much more!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

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