Summary

After rolling out a 1:1 Chromebook initiative, Eastside Elementary in Hendry County, Florida faced a challenge: how could they best utilize their new technology to maximize student growth? And how could they leverage technology to support English Language Learners (ELL) students?

The district wanted to increase student engagement while keeping teachers in control of their classrooms. After Nearpod trained Eastside teachers on its interactive platform, not only did ELL students benefit, but all students experienced Nearpod’s transformative effects on learning.

Challenge

Now that every student in her school had access to a Chromebook, Eastside Principal Sarah Sanchez came to a realization: she needed to pair the hardware with a comprehensive strategy for utilizing the new technology in classrooms. Additionally, administrators needed a way to centralize and organize lessons for their teachers.

As if this wasn’t enough, the school had the unique need of focusing on enhanced learning and engagement for their ELL student population.

Solution

After district leaders learned about Nearpod at a Texas technology convention, they were impressed with Nearpod’s ability to make instructional content relevant and engaging for students. The district wanted to take advantage of the platform’s features for building academic vocabulary, providing real-time formative assessment data, and integrating standards-aligned content for ELL students. Hendry County was eager to get started with Nearpod with the ELL supplemental curriculum package.

After experiencing Nearpod’s power, teachers were ready to unleash the interactive learning platform in their classrooms.

The next step was an on-site training. Members of the Nearpod team visited Hendry County to provide educators with hands-on implementation training. After experiencing Nearpod’s ability to streamline the creation of lessons and the hands-on minds-on learning opportunity Nearpod creates, teachers were ready to unleash Nearpod in their classrooms.

The first students to use Nearpod in Hendry County were ELL students. District teachers loved the ready-to-run lessons including Virtual Reality for newcomers, Academic Vocabulary, and social-emotional learning. Administrators immediately developed a clear picture of student growth and performance using Nearpod’s real-time formative assessment reports.

As the ELL community in Hendry county experienced great success, the buzz about Nearpod spread amongst teachers. Soon, the district rolled out Nearpod to all district classrooms.

“We recently became a 1:1 school. We had all of these Chromebooks, but no way to strategically integrate them into our curriculum. That’s where Nearpod came in.”

Sarah Sanchez, Principal @ Eastside Elementary, Hendry County

Result

Less than one month after the Nearpod team trained district educators, the majority of Hendry County teachers were using Nearpod as a part of their regular instruction. Since then, Nearpod has saved Hendry County teachers countless hours and enhanced the interactivity of daily lessons and activities. Elementary students have improved their vocabulary scores thanks to Nearpod’s rich content delivery platform. Most impressively, one of the district’s schools increased its ranking by a full two letter grades, moving from a “D” to a “B” in official rankings.

There is a strong positive correlation between use of Nearpod lesson content and academic achievement scores. In 2018, Hendry experienced the strongest positive change in ELA performance after several years of stagnant results.

Teachers in a treatment group used Nearpod 2 times/week on average – significantly more than the control group. Their students scored significantly higher than the control group on their standardized state test.

Students of teachers in the treatment group that received customized training on using Nearpod with diverse populations scored significantly higher than the control group on the state ELA assessment.

About this Study

• Involved over 7,000 students from 10 school sites in the highly diverse Hendry County, FL.
• 884 students were taught by 16 teachers who received 2 additional in person training sessions on Nearpod (beyond “business as usual”) in support of diverse learners.
• ELA state test scores of those 884 students were compared to students who were demographically and academically similar in order to determine the impact of Nearpod usage on outcomes.
• Quasi-experimental methods were used to verify and validate the findings with rigor.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Nearpod increases student engagement: Hendry County’s Story appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

While looking for a way to centralize classroom management, foster digital citizenship among students, and increase student engagement, Cleburne ISD leaders partnered with Nearpod to transform teaching and learning.

The challenge

Leveraging easy-to-access classroom technology to foster trust and responsibility.

Cleburne ISD was looking for a fresh instructional technology solution that would build an environment of trust and digital citizenship with students, but also keep students on-task and teachers in control of their classrooms. In addition to this, they were looking for a classroom management system that would streamline their tech integrations and eliminate multi-tab teaching.

Solution

A meaningful, flexible platform and curriculum for continuous student engagement.

After initially hearing about Nearpod years earlier at the TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association) Conference, Cleburne ISD’s Director of Instructional Technology, Tim Grijalva, was impressed to see how far the platform had evolved, new features that were added, and the number of renowned publishers that were added to the Nearpod Library since the last time he saw Nearpod in action. What stood out to Tim the most was the alignment and shared intention both Nearpod and Cleburne ISD had around fostering digital citizenship in the classroom.

Cleburne ISD has developed a culture of encouraging responsible, safe, and empathetic activity online, and has adopted the Capturing Kids Hearts cultural program and initiative. One of the tenets of Capturing Kids Hearts, according to Tim, involves giving students tools to make good decisions instead of limiting choices with restrictions. This implied that technology choices should encourage good judgment and not “lockdown” Internet access. The district found Nearpod to be a meaningful addition to this initiative.

“We’re trying to teach our students how to be responsible enough in this digital age to make good decisions on their own.”

Tracy Shea , Instructional Technology & District Multimedia Specialist

The district had several realizations that led to their adoption of first Nearpod Gold and then ultimately adopting Nearpod district-wide.

The district’s favorite Nearpod benefits included:

• Nearpod’s power as a classroom management tool
• Nearpod’s digital citizenship & literacy curriculum
• The overall flexibility of the platform and canvas integration
• The quality of digital content in the Nearpod Library
• The variety of interactive activities for continuous student engagement
• The ability to push links “on the fly” to students during class
• Teacher notifications when students went “off-tab”

Seamless integration fuels teacher adoption and professional growth.

Next came implementation. Instructional Technology & District Multimedia Specialist, Tracy Shea, led the charge to support teachers in adopting this new technology to encourage the success of their 1:1 initiative. One of Tracy’s priorities was ensuring that the platform integrated seamlessly with Canvas, the district’s learning management system (LMS). In response to this challenge, she created a teacher cohort to allow teachers to learn how to use Nearpod and Canvas and share their findings with each other. “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 said about her plan.

With the support of the Nearpod team, Tracy led initial PD on implementing Nearpod as a tool to use through Canvas. Teachers saw the ease and utility of the Canvas-Nearpod integration immediately. Because teachers can create content in Nearpod and deliver it through Canvas, teachers can easily view student performance through Canvas’s assignment feature. This allowed students and teachers to have an ongoing record of assessment data in Canvas, making Nearpod a seamless addition to the teacher’s existing instruction.

Tracy explains that “The grading feature that is offered through the LTI integration is wonderful. You get a PDF for each kid, and you can see their progress and what they did.” Additionally, Tracy appreciates how easy it is for students to access Nearpod through Canvas. “I love that we do not have to create student credentials,” she says.

Result

Nearpod use “exploded,” the district observed increased engagement.

After the adoption of Nearpod, the district observed increased student engagement and instructional rigor. “Nearpod [content] has higher rigor, which is going to keep kids engaged. From our perspective, engagement is number one, and that’s what we’re seeing more of with the teachers that are using Nearpod”, Tim said. Tracy recalls Nearpod “exploding.” Once a few teachers presented on Nearpod, conversations continued after the sessions ended. “Teachers’ faces light up when they talk about Nearpod.” This provides her with the assurance that the district is moving towards its goals. “We know that our 1:1 initiative is being supported and will continue to grow because teachers have a product that is working for them,” she said.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Building a culture of digital citizenship with Nearpod and Canvas appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

To reach their goal of empowering creative digital learning and modernize classroom instruction, School District of Lancaster (SDoL) selected Nearpod’s student engagement platform to accompany their district-wide 1:1 iPad initiative. In one year, they’ve seen teacher adoption across many schools, enabled by professional learning and support from their Instructional Technology Team. In May 2019, over 40 teachers were inducted into their Pod Squad, Nearpod innovators who have been challenged to champion Nearpod usage in their buildings. Usage continues to grow as these master teachers utilize technology in their classrooms and share Nearpod practices with their colleagues.

Challenges:

• Equipped with iPads in the classroom, SDoL needed a strategy for utilizing
technology to its fullest.
• The Instructional Technology Team worked to identify a few core instructional apps
that allowed for student creativity in learning, aligned to PA Core Standards and
were easy to use for teachers at all school levels.
• SDoL lacked the expertise to develop lessons for district priority areas – college and
career readiness, digital citizenship, and (future) social and emotional learning.

Solution:

SDoL chose Nearpod and Nearpod’s Supplemental Curriculum content – Digital Citizenship, Social & Emotional Learning, and College & Career Explorations.
• They integrated Nearpod with Schoology – students easily access lessons directly from the LMS.
• The Tech Team provided a district-level Nearpod microcredential through Schoology for
teachers. Teachers are rewarded with digital and physical badges, certificates, and the
opportunity to be inducted into the Pod Squad.

Results:

• 950 teachers with Nearpod today
• 11,741 lessons launched in 2018 – 2019, growth from 1,977 the previous year
• Student engaged moments: 1M+ in 2018 – 2019

Keys to success:

A product that both teachers and students are excited to use and is aligned to PA Core Standards.
• Ongoing support from the Instructional Tech Team to ensure teachers are effectively
integrating Nearpod into their instruction
• Nearpod Customer Success Manager to support SDoL district initiatives

Popular Nearpod features:

• Lesson Library for teachers – 50% of lessons based on Nearpod content
• Interactive Collaborate Board and Time to Climb game for elementary students
• Notes feature for middle schoolers

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Rolling out 1:1 devices across a district: Lancaster SD’s story appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

A public charter school, South Bronx Early College Academy, is located (you guessed it) in the South Bronx, a New York City borough with its own vibrant culture. While the area is sometimes more notorious for its violent aspects, the school strives to celebrate the positive, including its academically rigorous curriculum, collegial staff, and students who are eager to learn. As a college academy for grades 6-8, SBECA is a learning community where the talk is often about college, and many of the staff are still students themselves, working on advanced degrees.

According to Principal Brian Blough, the focus this year is on making the kids proud of the school and the community. “It used to be that we were told as teachers to get kids to college so they could leave,” he explained. “Today, our mission is getting students into college so they can come back to live here and make the neighborhood a better place.” Blough helps the kids feel pride in their school by using technology like producing a weekly news show about the exciting things they are doing in class. That’s where Nearpod comes in.

Challenges: Low Academic Performance, Lack of Engagement

In 2018, Blough took over at SBECA, a school that had been performing very low academically, with a desire of immediately addressing challenges like consistency and engagement. One of the first things he did was to bring in bring in a number of inspirational staff – and tools like Nearpod. This all-star team of educators generates a really great energy because they genuinely want to work at the academy and are willing to use technology to teach and inspire each other. This year, the biggest goal academically for SBECA is to raise proficiency. Blough says that they are improving but are not yet in a great place. So, the academy wants to keep moving forward and in the right direction – with the help of Nearpod.

Solution: Enhancing Edtech with Nearpod

Standard education technology at SBEC includes Google Chromebooks, Google Classroom, and a few other tools for teaching and learning. Plus Nearpod, of course. “Nearpod came in with me,” acknowledged Blough. “If you don’t use technology, you’re fighting upstream. Technology is what the kids want and are going to use anyway. When they are engaged in something interactive on Chromebooks, students are less apt to sneak on a phone.” At the academy, technology adoption is currently great, according to Blough. “I was coming from a school where technology like Nearpod was a big part of the way we teach, he revealed, “so we were able to ride a wave of excitement and get existing teachers involved.”

“Nearpod helps by engaging students, and there is so much content that teachers have access to,” he explained. “There are so many things they can do to track, assess and keep kids going.” Nearpod also allows teachers to differentiate right within. They can have specific lesson codes for kids with specific needs like ELL and get the same content through differentiated experiences and opportunities for growth.

Teaching with Nearpod

How teachers use Nearpod at SBECA varies, according to Blough. Some teachers love to create and adapt existing units every year, adding different activities with Nearpod to improve engagement. Other teachers are comfortable with the standards they are expected to teach, tweaking Nearpod lessons to personalize them. Nearpod’s ready-made lessons serve as a great jumping-off point since they are easily customizable. Teachers are also encouraged to visit other classrooms for peer observations so they get to see tools in action. And to see the kids engaged and excited as well. As an adjunct and doctoral candidate at Fordham, Blough is a Nearpod user himself. His college cohorts are school leaders who are big on resource sharing. So Blough has done presentations with Nearpod and especially likes collaboration activities. “We’re so used to liking things on social media, now we are liking ideas and academic content,” he said. “For anyone who hasn’t experienced Nearpod, it’s easy to fall in love with it.”

Keys to Success: Engagement, Differentiation, Motivation

According to Blough, the biggest key to learning success is Nearpod’s engagement factor. “Kids like to be doing and interacting,” he commented. “They want to be engaged in technology and immersed in the lesson rather than it just coming at them (like watching a teacher flip through PowerPoint). Nearpod is a good way to do that.” Another key to success is the flexibility to differentiate lessons with Nearpod. Teachers have the flexibility to provide different student-paced lessons to different students based on where they are in their learning. This enables students to get content in different Lexiles that meet their individual needs, for instance.

“We are just scratching the surface, and our relationship with Nearpod will keep going,” concluded Blough. “Our energetic and inquisitive staff likes to try things, so they will keep trying them. That’s the third key.”

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Increasing engagement and raising proficiency with Nearpod: South Bronx Early College Academy’s story appeared first on Nearpod Blog.