Svenia’s book ‘Exploring the Future of Education’ encapsulates best practices and top education innovations from around Europe. Fanny speaks to her about how she sees Classroom 4.0.

Going from a synchronicity-based education model to an asynchronous model where hybrid, blended learning opportunities give us much more flexibility and agility in teaching tomorrow’s classroom. Fanny Giuliani, an Account Executive at Nearpod, had the opportunity to chat with Svenia Busson about the future of education.

Fanny: What changes are you seeing in the world’s classrooms?

Svenia: The school simply doesn’t play the same role as it did before. We’re going from a synchronicity-based education model to an asynchronous model where hybrid, blended learning opportunities give us much more flexibility and agility in terms of organizing how we teach and learn.

Some universities are adopting a blended model even if they can reopen. In K-12, this evolution is playing out through the rise in tutoring and peer-to-peer coaching. Tutoring was huge in Southeast Asia yesterday and today it’s huge everywhere. Peer-to-peer startups like Brainly and Socratic are sky-rocketing because students want to have more than one modality. They want to help each other online and to study together. StudyStream has reached three million kids that connect together on a Twitch type of platform. They just look at each other while they’re studying. No one talks. They’re muted and they just look at each other and read together. You have a few teachers here and there, but it’s mostly K-12 students helping each other and autonomously organizing the community.

Fanny: What did the pandemic teach students and educators?

Svenia: A lot of schools went back to class very fast – especially in Europe. In France and Spain, they went back for the 2021-22 academic year. Confinement generated a catastrophe in terms of technological infrastructure. Teachers were not trained for it. Around 15% of students never connected. We need to learn from this and be better prepared for tomorrow’s classroom. There are various plans – like Germany’s Five Billion Digital Pact to train teachers in the use of technology but despite State and policy level changes, many schools just to go back to normal and not talk about digital anymore because it was quite a frightening experience for them.

The GDPR regulations in Europe threw another spanner into the works because the State mandated the use of specific tools but they were too complex for teachers, who ended up using Meet, Teams, and Zoom… 

Students, on the other hand, are continuing to use the tools they discovered during confinement. Even if their schools and the system are back to “normal,” the experimental studying and learning methods are here to stay.
I work with a lot of universities and business or engineering schools in Europe that managed the transition quite well. They focus on student wellbeing and how to build tools around that and create focus groups or coaching methods that helped them because they didn’t have the campus experience anymore. Many universities also want to adopt the blended model to save money on renting big spaces.

Fanny: How can we integrate new learning methods?

Svenia: We need to train teachers and develop their digital skills – and governments must invest massively in this. We have an acute shortage of teachers, even in Finland, where becoming a teacher is a dream job. To prepare for tomorrow’s classroom, we need to provide teachers with professional development, value their work, and pay them a decent salary. 

There are plenty of tools created to support teachers. But teachers often don’t have the budget for them. Tech startups should focus their communication and marketing efforts on how to help teachers do their job more efficiently and save time. Peer-to-peer teacher communities are also springing up which brings teachers together to exchange experiences and best practices, stimulating professional development and promoting wellbeing. I would like to see some kind of award, perhaps a global teacher prize. It’s really important to put teachers center stage and build great content for them. Nearpod also has a significant global community on social media where teachers exchange best practices, ideas and troubleshoot issues that have come up in today’s classroom.

Fanny: What will we need in tomorrow’s classroom?

Svenia: We need to empower students and shift the focus from teacher-centric to learner-centric. That’s what I do in my work. I train professors and teachers to use new types of pedagogies and not just talk about technology. It’s just a support system. It shouldn’t be visible. It’s not a silver bullet. It should help in the background. What’s key, is how you organize your classroom, how you engage learners to the maximum. Active learning pedagogies are essential, but teachers aren’t trained for that. They often replicate the top-down model they got used to as students themselves. But it’s really about shifting our pedagogical mode into something more active and engaging.

Teachers can’t personalize learning for a class of 30 different kids with 30 different backgrounds but technology can support adaptive learning. It also has a role in enabling peer-to-peer collaboration inside the classroom – which is hugely important.  When you look at the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, the top 10 skills needed in tomorrow’s workplace include problem-solving, flexibility, adaptability, critical thinking, creativity, empathy… We need to use tools or pedagogical methods that can help teach these skills. When you teach project-based learning, you teach how to work together collaboratively on the project. When you teach problem-based learning, you teach kids how to solve problems. These methodologies are absolutely key to cultivating these types of skills. In Denmark and Finland, there are mandatory courses on empathy in the curriculum. Reaching that level of innovation today is essential for tomorrow’s world.

Fanny: Tell us a bit about your many EdTech hats…

Svenia: I’m a community instigator. When I started EdTech France three years ago, we were four entrepreneurs. Now we are 400. We bring entrepreneurs together to grow to understand the market better. And then we represent them at the public policy level. I did the same with the European Edtech Alliance. My new baby is the Female Edtech Fellowship. I created a business club for women entrepreneurs because only 8% of EdTech startups worldwide are led by women CEOs. I think that’s a catastrophic figure so I created a fellowship to help women founders, to bring them together, around a 6-month program that will hopefully support their growth.

Fanny: You and Nearpod have a lot in common. At Nearpod, we also believe in putting our teachers front and center. We host free training events every year like Camp Engage where we identify innovative teachers and professors from across the globe and they share best practices on how they use Nearpod to engage and inspire their students in the classroom.

You mention project-based learning, problem-based learning, flipped classrooms, gamified learning, and blended learning. These are all topics that teachers have found solutions to through Nearpod and will certainly be the key to maintaining our students engaged in tomorrow’s classroom.

Fanny: Svenia, how can people connect with you?

Svenia: You can find me on LinkedIn or find out more information about my work on Twitter. I’m always open to connecting with new educators and edu-preneurs as I am now building a new Edtech VC fund to support European founders in the field of Edtech!

Fanny Giuliani

Account Executive and presenter, Fanny helps educators increase student engagement with Nearpod.

The post Today’s innovation for tomorrow’s classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Whether delivering lessons via a screen or across the room, 100% of UAE  teachers believe that mental health should be proactively addressed with students, as much as physical health. UAE teachers are increasingly concerned about student wellbeing but only 36% of teachers are confident of delivering the essential soft skills and values needed to address students’ emotional health. These are results from the EVERFI Middle East research survey conducted in the UAE and released in July 2021.

The surveyed UAE teachers acknowledged the importance of wellness and soft skills training of teachers to flag students who may be experiencing emotional difficulties. Among the skills that the teachers identified were important are communication (95%) and problem-solving (91%). They wanted to be able to teach the students other soft skills like maintaining healthy relationships, emotional wellbeing, being kind, family & social values, and anger control among others.

The survey also showed that while 95% of teachers regularly used online teaching resources, 55% of tutors wanted support on how to better engage students in remote learning environments.

Wellness and soft skills training, a growing priority

The UAE is serious about the mental health of its youth. Over 9,000 UAE  teachers participated in ‘Well Schools Network’ initiatives by The Ministry of Education’s ‘National Program for Happiness and Wellbeing’ in March 2021, to promote students’ personal and positive skills alongside their academic skills. The program also prioritized teachers by conducting workshops to improve teachers’ sense of recognition and to promote their positive behavior as role models for students through healthy lifestyle choices.

Dubai conducts the world’s largest cross-cultural study on mental wellbeing titled ‘Dubai Student Wellbeing Census’ every year in November-December to learn the most pressing needs of its students aged 7 to 13. The data is then shared with schools in February the following year to help them implement appropriate programs to ensure the emotional and social welfare of students. The teachers are trained, according to the need gaps revealed in the survey, to support students’ emotional health.  

The Millennium School, Dubai, introduced the ‘Mental Toughness Programme’ in 2020 to address the issues that came to light in the annual wellbeing census. The school, which runs on the motto ‘Happy teachers create a happy school’ believes in the mental wellbeing of both educators and students. The school introduced social online channels named ‘Let’s Unwind’, ‘Morning Tweets’ and ‘Cheers to Peers’ to give students a social platform for self-expression during the remote learning days. 

Schools are initiating a slew of wellness and soft skills programs to prioritize better health and learning environments for students. Gems Legacy School launched a mental health and wellbeing program for students in Grades 3 to 6 in April 2021.

With more such programs gaining popularity, teachers with skills in counseling will be an ever-growing need.

Training the teachers

GEMS International School, Al Khail, Dubai, has taken the lead to educate the teachers with their program, which includes classes for teachers in sports, arts, cooking, dance, wellness and soft skills. Usually, teachers teach the other teachers in school. Simon Herbert, CEO of the school, learns Arabic after school hours every Tuesday, taught by the head of the Arabic language department. “This is good for everyone’s wellbeing,” he says.‘Mental Health Training First Aid’, a training program to educate people on how to help someone with a mental health problem, should prioritize training a large percentage of teachers and school staff in the UAE, recommends a policy council titled ‘Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing for UAE Schoolchildren’, hosted by the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government in February 2020.

A hybrid future

The transition to remote learning in March, 2020, demanded urgent but necessary preparation for the teachers in operating digital classrooms and managing course content via digital screens. To better equip teachers in the logistics of teaching online, the UAE’s Ministry of Education tied up with Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) to train 42,000 teachers by designing a certificate course titled ‘Be an Online Tutor in 24 hours.’ This course included several modules, such as ‘Online Learning Technology Landscape’ and ‘Design an Online Course in 24 Hours.’

The government has been running the ‘Transformation to Smart Teaching’ program for several years now, to train teachers in the UAE on how to behave with students and manage any classroom challenges that may arise. The pandemic has made these skillsets more significant and vital to continuing education despite the disruptions. 

These virtual learning environments may be born out of an urgent need but the uncertainty of the pandemic has demanded that teachers be prepared to upskill with new capabilities to manage students in a volatile global climate. One such requirement has been to support students during the ambiguity of online-to-offline-to-online classes, as the situation changes rapidly.    The education system is learning how to retain classroom teaching practices and melding them into online formats. UAE teachers are being trained to smoothly manage the transitions from physical to online (and back to physical) classroom sessions as demanded by the uncertain ebb and flow of the pandemic. In August 2021, 25,000 public school teachers and administrators received training on ensuring the safety and hygiene of students as they restarted physical learning sessions after a gap of many months. This training was provided in the Professional Development Week program launched by the Emirates School Establishment for the school heads, teachers, and administrative staff.

UAE teachers are busy working hard to hone their skills in shaping the futures of young minds. Amid the rapid changes and the demands for adapting to new environments and uncertain futures, teachers have to be evergreen students by constantly learning and adding new skill sets to their growing repertoire.

Interested in reading more about this topic? Check out this blog post: Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE: Technology Partners’ Collaboration Moves with the Times and Trends

Steve Pachan

Steve has coached, collaborated, and worked in classrooms all over the world. Feel free to connect with him to discuss how Nearpod can activate learning in your school at steve.pachan@nearpod.com.

The post UAE teachers spread positivity with wellness and soft skills training appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Financial Time Review stressed that Australian schools are tech-ready, not teachers. Local educational solutions are insufficient to support teachers in designing self-paced and interactive learning experiences. “I have always found it really frustrating to be switching between different platforms to deliver my lessons,” says Tara McDonald, teacher at Durack State School. To solve this problem, many Australian teachers have reached out to international educational technology providers like Nearpod. “Nearpod has alleviated this issue as I am able to embed all features of my lessons within the one platform,” McDonald shares, “my lessons are far more engaging for students and [Nearpod] provides me with high quality data based on student responses immediately.”

In the wake of Covid-19, Australian education has been forced to adapt. Public schools suspended all first-term classes, and millions of students of all levels have taken their studies online. PwC reported that in Australia, the pandemic required teachers to rapidly adjust to new learning modes and adopt collaborative technologies to increase student engagement.  

Now, let’s look deeper into the future of Australia’s edtech sector and how collaborative technology will soon become dominant in teaching and learning across the country.

How will collaborative technology shape the future of Australian education?

More than half of Australian students bring their own computers or laptops to class. More than 75% of Australian teachers often let students use digital devices for projects such as classwork. As Australian teachers and students are more familiar with technology, they’ve started to try collaborative technology to improve teaching and learning engagement.  

Sheridan Smith, teacher at Bangor Public School, has been using Nearpod to teach students with severe vision impairment. The platform allows her students to access the curriculum and complete assignments right from their iPads. “I use Nearpod across many key learning areas and the benefits for differentiation are endless,” she confirms. Tran Minh Hien shares the same experience when she teaches research skills at Monash Malaysia. Even though the training room is small, she says, students sitting far from the project screen can still follow the lessons by accessing Nearpod on their devices.  

Collaborative technology also allows teachers to run small self-space groups and ask questions based on each group’s learning level. Students will get appropriate activities, making them feel confident to share their ideas in the classroom by writing text, drawing, or recording. “Like most classes, my class had a wide range of ability levels, so the ‘draw-it’ tool means that in every [Nearpod] lesson I create, everyone is going to be able to share their ideas with the class, regardless of ability level,” says Sam Korsch, kindergarten teacher. 

Not only K-12 students are beneficial from collaborative technology, so are higher education students. According to Andrew Trosic, lecturer at Curtin University, even though adult students may be hesitant to engage sometimes, he can “respectfully and safely engage students” by using open-ended questions and quizzes in online student engagement platforms.

Nearpod even offers a popular virtual reality feature. Teachers can create lessons that allow students to fully experience a site or an event as if they were actually there. “With Nearpod VR, I have taken my students to visit the Pyramids in Egypt, Machu Picchu, the Terracotta Warriors, Angkor Wat and so many other places, without even having to leave our Sydney classroom,” says Karina Parker, teacher at Wahroonga Adventist School. This level of technology integration can change how distance and in-person students learn and reinforce a sense of connection to their studies. 

Wrapping up

Technology has made great inroads in Australia’s education system over the years. More innovative startups join the edtech sector; hardware ranging from smart whiteboards to tablets is common in schools, and educational apps continue to be widely used every day. With the rise of BYOD in schools and increased demand for engagement in classrooms, the application of collaborative technology to teaching and learning will become dominant in the years ahead. 

Are you an Australian educator looking for a flexible educational platform to improve students’ engagement? Give Nearpod a try. Nearpod provides engaging lessons and formative, real-time assessments to make every lesson interactive and collaborative.

Lavender Nguyen

Lavender is a full-time freelance writer for SaaS and e-commerce. She’s obsessed with research, writing, and reading. Learn more about her at lavenderwrites.com.

lavenderwrites.com/

The post Edtech trends in Australia appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

When Keystone Academy in Beijing transitioned to online learning in February 2020, teachers tested multiple technology resources for their classrooms. Fourth grade teacher, Tyler Rumley, wondered, “There has to be something better…”. Then he found Nearpod which, “cuts away the interference that comes from navigating many teaching platforms.” After a quick pivot and implementation, Keystone Academy teachers in both lower grades and upper grades began using Nearpod for both teacher and student-led lessons. 

Keystone Academy is incorporating technology in the classroom when it positively impacts teaching and learning and finding that supportive partner in Nearpod. In 2021, Keystone Academy students went back to the classroom and took Nearpod with them, especially in Math and ELA classes. 

Challenges:

• Finding a learning technology solution that would flex between online learning environment of 2020 and the in-class environment of 2021 and beyond 
• Sourcing a technology platform that is able to function seamlessly in Mainland China 
• Providing lessons in a primarily analog, low-screen environment 

Solutions:

• “Many features that we could really jump into.” 
• Incorporating Nearpod into virtual and in-person classes in order to augment lesson engagement and provide teachers with easy to access in-person assessments 

Results:

• Nearpod has been used in over 30,000 Keystone Academy lessons to date in courses such as ELA, Math, General Studies, Science, Social Studies, and World Languages
• 37 teachers at Keystone Academy are active Nearpod users 
• Nearpod library Math, SEL, and ELL resources are the types of lessons the most launched, slightly ahead of teacher-created lessons 
• Teachers are no longer speaking over PowerPoints during lessons, but instead are actively engaging each student in class – lessons are 65% teacher-led and 35% student-led 
• Teachers are able to see student work in real-time 

Keys to success:

• Students and teachers embraced technology with a curious mind 
• Supporting instructors’ Nearpod Certified Educator applications 
• Using the Nearpod library to its full potential 
• Continuing to use Nearpod after the return to the classroom 

Popular Nearpod features:

• Draw It: Fourth graders at Keystone Academy use the Draw It feature in English class to annotate sentences and underline words. The Draw It feature is a favorite because of its versatility and flexibility. 
• Nearpod lesson library: When Mr. Rumley discovered that Nearpod not only has interactive games and real-time assessments, but also has a library of over 8,500 pre-made lessons, he was thrilled to use them in class. He “couldn’t believe all of the content that was available,” and, “was astounded how much content was online; such good quality resources.” 
• 3D Features: At the end of 2020, fourth graders at Keystone Academy had a unit on space exploration. Students were able to get out of this world and explore using the 360 Mars Rover feature. 

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Keystone Academy’s Story: Enriching Classrooms in Beijing appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

2020 brought into the national consciousness many things. The effectiveness of a three part slogan, how many times a centenarian can lap his own garden, and just how close to us an unmasked member of the public can stand to us before we feel the need to to tell them to “back off”. There has also been the rise of some new phrases in the modern vernacular. Furlough, distance working, lateral flow and lost learning. 

That last one sticks with me a little bit. 

“Lost learning”. 

As if learning is a set of car keys or your new varifocals. In my opinion parents and teachers have been nothing short of heroic in their efforts to maintain some semblance of normalcy for the millions of children for whom the last  12 months has been a rollercoaster of zoom assemblies, socially distanced classrooms and adding increasingly complex lyrics to the time they spend washing their hands. To suggest they have “lost learning” implies blame on the students for not working hard enough. In my opinion a better phrase would be stolen education. Children have had these opportunities taken from them by circumstances far beyond their control. They are not to blame. So how can we rectify this? How can we give our students, our children, the time and educational input they have been so cruelly denied? The short answer is, we can’t. That time has passed and, short of Elon Musk building a DeLorean factory and perfecting the flux capacitor, we won’t have that time again. 

We need to look at how we can be smarter with the time we will have with our pupils in the future. To ensure that we give them an experience that not only replaces those educational opportunities they have had taken from them by the pandemic, but gives them greater experiences and deeper learning opportunities than before. The UK government has announced funding for schools to help pupils to recover some of their stolen education through access to private tutors or online “catch-up” programmes. Schools can use the funds at their own discretion and will most likely be looking for the best way to support not only their most vulnerable pupils but enhance education across the school. This is where I believe Nearpod comes in and the greater value it can bring to a school beyond catch up learning. 

Nearpod’s blend of live and self paced presentations means teachers can apply nearpod lessons across a range of situations. Users can create a custom program of lessons for a group of children based on the child’s specific needs. Lessons which record student efforts through activities such as the draw it and quiz functions. This allows teachers to assess pupils’ understanding quickly and with low stakes assessments to ensure that any gaps in their understanding can be treated quickly and efficiently. With a shared school library teachers can pick and choose lessons created by their colleagues meaning content creation workload can be shared easily. Content creation is simplified by the ability to upload any PDF or PPT file into Nearpod and have the slides be converted into Nearpod format automatically. In my experience when introducing teachers to Nearpod it is the simple and easy way presentations are created from existing material that most catches their attention. 

Teachers can embed questions into videos of any length meaning pupils’ understanding can be assessed as they are working through instructional material. I have found this tool to be of great use when creating materials for schools as the video source can come from pretty much anywhere, youtube, my local device or from Nearpod’s growing library of custom videos. 

Nearpod doesn’t just have to be used for “catch up” lessons either, as the engaging content available within the platform makes it great for live teaching and self paced homework assignments. The integrated 360 photo viewer brings pupils closer to places they have never been, particularly when school trips are not currently on the cards. The array of activities that allow for pupil feedback and input help create a discourse with pupils and can be tailored to pretty much any situation or topic. From collaborative pin boards for class brainstorming activities to long answer questions which allow pupils to convey their thoughts either through text or using the built in audio recorded.

In schools I have worked with that have adopted Nearpod, they have seen key uses for the tool across the curriculum beyond using the self paced lessons for catch up materials. A quick Nearpod presentation at the start of the topic captures that pre learning snapshot of pupil understanding, the questions pupils want to answer and the engagement to get pupils excited about a topic. Resources can then be manipulated in the Nearpod editor to meet the needs of the pupils based on this initial assessment. 

In a post home learning world, where there is still the very real possibility of national Lockdowns or isolating families, Nearpod allows the same content to be set for both home learners and the pupils participating live. Lockdown has brought inclusive remote technologies to the fore, Nearpod being one of these and to turn our back on these applications now that our pupils see them as a fundamental part of their toolkit would be folly. We must capitalise on the progress made in the implementation of key educational technologies across our schools and use them to help our students claim back the education stolen from them by the pandemic. Make these tools work for us so we can gain the best advantage for our pupils and help them progress further and aim higher. The pandemic has stolen part of this generation’s education, but technology has given us the tools to take it back and give students even more.

Embrace technology. Increase Engagement. Reclaim Education.

Philip Nottingham - Education Consultant

Philip is a well established educator and consultant, with over a decade of experience across all levels of education. He is passionate about bringing technology into the curriculum in an engaging and meaningful way. He is currently a consultant for hi-impact consultancy where he works with schools and educators to implement technology effectively. He is exploring the integration of virtual and mixed reality within education and can often be found experimenting with the latest VR/XR tools.

The post England’s Covid catch up plan for pupils appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

The Higher Colleges is renowned as an applied higher education institution, which continuously leverages cutting edge innovation and technology in its teaching and learning operations, including the large-scale adoption of iPads in 2012 for use in its Foundations program. As a result, over 5,000 iPads were distributed to students across the UAE, as part of HCT’s digital learning strategy and in order to support a paperless environment. To complement this ground-breaking approach, HCT faculty engaged various educational technology tools, such as Nearpod’s interactive presentation tool. As the use of iPads expanded to include a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) system, Nearpod continued to be a mainstay of the HCT’s technology-focused instruction, with its gold-level licenses gaining widespread application.

The Teaching with Technology (TWT) team, managed by Sarah Whittaker, surveyed the faculty on the preferred tools being implemented in the class, with Nearpod being the primary choice. As a result, in the fall of 2017 HCT opted to purchase a district license for all faculty to access. 

In order to enable the large-scale implementation of Nearpod by faculty in their classes, the TWT team provided support and several professional development opportunities, which incorporated both technical and pedagogical considerations. Since the acquisition and implementation of the Nearpod district license at HCT, over 2500 hours in Nearpod training have been delivered, with over 50 faculty members becoming Nearpod Certified Educators.

Nearpod has proved to be an invaluable tool since HCT’s  transition to fully online classes in March 2020. In September 2019, approximately 1000 Nearpod lessons were launched with over 19,000 students joining. Those numbers rose dramatically to over 3,000 lessons launched to just over 61,500 students in September 2020. Since March 2020, approximately 14,600 lessons have been launched by HCT instructors, providing engaging, online learning experiences to over 270,000 students. Even with the partial return to face-to-face classes at HCT, Nearpod continues to be a popular tool with both faculty and students. 

Nearpod has long been utilized by HCT instructors who seek to create and deliver engaging lessons for students, in both face-to-face learning and, increasingly, online environments. Being able to create interactive presentations that guide learners through an entire lesson ensures that active learning is happening in the class. 

Challenges:

• Transitioning from a traditional lecture-based teaching environment to a more interactive teaching strategy
• Addressing the educational technology needs of 16 campuses and multiple divisions
• Ensuring student attention and comprehension of course content, particularly in an online learning environment
• Assessing student learning needs on a regular basis

Solutions:

• Nearpod provided a tool that eased the transition for faculty who had been used to delivering lectures by way of PowerPoint, affording them the opportunity to provide interactive and engaging lessons for students while retaining the core of their content.
• Nearpod school libraries are useful for the HCT Faculties, bringing together faculty members from different campuses to share lessons that cover subjects.
• Nearpod provides ways for instructors to see which students are participating and whether or not they comprehend the delivered content.
• Instructors are able to see what students are doing within the platform, in real time, and provide immediate feedback. 
• Nearpod reports provide insight for teachers regarding student progress and open the door for contingency lesson planning. 

Keys to success:

• Providing relevant and timely professional development
• Allowing ease of access to the license and their Faculty’s (school) library
• Supporting instructors’ Nearpod Certified Educator applications 
• Offering technical support as required by instructors 
• Disseminating Nearpod updates in our monthly TWT newsletter
• Using and demonstrating Nearpod while providing other professional development training to faculty

Popular Nearpod features: 

• The Notes feature helps students stay on track and study after class without the instructor needing to re-share slides/activities.
• The student-paced mode allows instructors to track flipped classroom content. It also allows students who were absent to review the lesson and provides interactive revision of the lesson content.  
• Being able to add direct links in their Learning Management System, Blackboard, allows students to easily access the lesson and keeps the students’ names consistent in the reports.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE: Technology Partners’ Collaboration Moves with the Times and Trends appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Introduction: 

UCF Global supports the intensive language program and international students, scholars, and professionals on the University of Central Florida campus. Nearpod helps to build a bridge of understanding in the ESOL classroom by offering teachers the opportunity to identify knowledge gaps during class and incorporate activities that test quickly for vocabulary understanding. International students love the fun activities in Nearpod, while language teachers appreciate streamlined formative assessment that helps English language students succeed.  

Challenges: 

• Adapting learning model to a multicultural classroom 
• Identifying student learning gaps 
• Being able to provide immediate feedback for English language learners 

Solution: 

“Wherever building blocks are needed, Nearpod helps students get to the next level.” 

• Nearpod helps to identify student learning gaps, especially in grammar and vocabulary 
• Nearpod provides a flexible learning tool for a flipped classroom and classrooms with multilingual students from different learning styles 
• Unlike a video platform, Nearpod allows teachers to see who is actively engaged and who understands course content 

Results: 

• 16,000+ students engaged on Nearpod 
• 135 professors using Nearpod in the classroom 
• Students see Nearpod as, “gamification,” while teachers appreciate data for where to target teaching

“Nearpod is such a value in this time for higher ed.” – Christina Cavage, Curriculum and Assessment Manager, UCF Global 

Popular Nearpod features: 

• Draw It is a useful feature in a paperless classroom and is used for students to upload their homework 
• Matching Pairs aids vocabulary development 
• Integration with Canvas making Nearpod one click away for all students 
• Instructors were wary of Time to Climb in a higher education environment, but once students used it, they asked for it! International students are familiar with caricatures 

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Nearpod is a bridge in the multicultural ESL classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.