Cathy Yenca has had a one-to-one iPad initiative in her middle school math class for the past four years, and during that time has found her favorite digital tools and applications to facilitate learning through the devices.

One of her favorite applications is a Nearpod, and she provides her fellow peers with some tips on how to best use it in their classrooms through ASCD’s SmartBlogs.

“Nearpod is an interactive presentation and assessment tool. Teachers can use the platform to create presentations that include interactive elements – video, graphics and drawing boards – as well as assessment exercises, such as quizzes and polls,” Yenca says.

Yenca recommends using a Nearpod to bring static presentations to life. Using Nearpod’s open-ended question of quiz features, she says, helps to keep students interacting with the material.

“Use the tool’s open-ended question or quiz features to assess specific concepts and the poll function to gauge students’ opinions. Use ‘Draw It’ to elicit work samples. This feature lets you send every student to the ‘virtual board’ to work a problem.”

In order to facilitate discussion and let students know what other students are thinking, Yenca suggests allowing students to learn from their peers by using the app to project the pie graph that is generated from each a Nearpod quiz or send “ work samples to all students’ screens to facilitate discussion and authentic error analysis.”

She also praises the helpfulness of using a Nearpod’s template feature to add into classroom routine.

“For example, a Nearpod template for homework review might include one static slide with directions and classroom expectations; a ‘Draw It’ slide, on which students work a specific problem from the homework assignment; and a poll slide asking students to rank their current level of understanding of the topic at hand” she says.

Read her full list of tips here.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

10/21/2015