Nearpod: A one-stop-shop for meeting or lesson planning needs.

Priory Primary School, Dudley, England

Priory Primary School have signed up for the Nearpod Free Trial, giving them full access to the learning management system for the whole spring term. We spoke to Computer Lead, Ryan Adams, to determine what the school was expecting from the Nearpod Free Trial and whether Neaprod has met their expectations. 

Ryan explains:

Our Director of School Improvement signposted the Nearpod free trial to staff across the trust and asked us to provide feedback on the interactive learning platform. We participated in the trial to see if Nearpod could be rolled out throughout the trust to keep schools connected and provide an effective platform to share high-quality lesson interaction.

Structuring interactive lessons 

“I especially liked the interactive element; the quizzing and gamification are very important for keeping students engaged and motivated throughout the lesson.”

Our first impressions of Nearpod are great. It’s a very easy system to use

Any work that I have already produced on PowerPoint, I can upload to the platform and adapt it from there.

I have found that Nearpod provides a unique way to structure lessons and make them dynamic within a new platform. I especially liked the interactive element; the quizzing and gamification are very important for keeping students engaged and motivated throughout the lesson.

I’ve been using Nearpod for different subjects such as reading, and my students get genuinely excited when they know that they’re going to be carrying out a Nearpod session.

The feedback from my colleagues has been equally positive since they have been using Nearpod to create and conduct their lessons; now, I’m trying to emphasise the use of Nearpod for all staff because I want them to utilise the valuable benefits we’ve already seen from the platform,

As computing lead, I’m regularly showing my colleagues the fantastic benefits of Nearpod, and I want to make sure enough people are using it for us as the school to get the most out of the platform.

A solution for staff absence and shortages

“I feel Nearpod can play a crucial role in supporting learning across multiple schools.”

Nearpod could be a potentially great solution for staff shortages and retention issues across schools. With premade lessons both from Nearpod and teacher-made lessons, it could be easy for supply staff to carry out a lesson with short notice.

Again, I can see Nearpod playing a big part in supporting hybrid learning, being led by one teacher monitoring student activity at all times with Nearpod.

Like every new educational resource and EdTech solution, our staff will need suitable training as well as time to properly look at the platform and incorporate it into their daily teaching practice. Still, with pressure on all teachers, it’s not easy, but the benefits would be worthwhile.

We’ve had instances of students unable to attend school or missing significant school periods for non-COVID related reasons. Therefore, with Nearpod, teachers can keep pupils engaged with their lessons and the curriculum from home while monitoring their live progress and engagement in the learning.

Likewise, I feel Nearpod can play a crucial role in supporting learning across multiple schools.

Student approved

“The ‘Collaborate Board‘ makes engagement much easier for introverted students who don’t commonly put their hand up to answer questions or contribute to the conversation.”

The feedback from students has been incredibly positive. For example, in my reading groups, some students will literally cheer when I inform them we’ll be using Nearpod.

In addition, some students persistently ask me when we’re using Nearpod for the next lesson. Students are incredibly intuitive and digitally able; therefore, they pick up Nearpod’s user interface very quickly and know exactly what to do with it.

I make a lot of use of the quizzing and question tools within Nearpod. I’ve especially found benefits from the Collaborate Board, which students really enjoy using.

The ‘Collaborate Board’ makes engagement much easier for introverted students who don’t commonly put their hand up to answer questions or contribute to the conversation. I’ve never seen so much interaction from the few students who usually are too shy to engage. I see their comments appear with the Collaborate Board when I prompt a specific part of the discussion.

Collaboration is key

“The impact Nearpod is having on all students, including those who are more reluctant engagers, is powerful.”

The Collaborate Board allows students to quickly enter their answers up on the screen for all in the lesson to see; I’ve discovered that I can quickly identify misconceptions about certain topics or learning points. For example, we were talking about airships, and students’ answers on the science behind an airship made it evident that they weren’t aware of how airships worked at all. By making me aware of their current level of understanding, I quickly addressed this initial misconception to construct a more robust and richer lesson for students.

Initially, students assumed airships were inflated using a foot pump by one individual! With Nearpod, I was able to address this issue by providing the necessary illustrations, science and information around airships in the Nearpod lesson screen with ease. Within seconds, students could see different images of airships and the written facts around how they work in front of them.

Similarly, in a computing lesson on vlogging, I had several students informing me that I’d misspelt ‘blogging’. The live feedback via the Collaborate Board allowed me to stop the lesson and address students’ misconceptions in real-time.

Subsequently, I discussed their prerequisite understanding swiftly. Finally, I continued the task, knowing that all students had the necessary knowledge as we advanced.

The Collaborate Board really enables all students to contribute within the lesson and have their voices heard. The impact Nearpod is having on all students, including those who are more reluctant engagers, is powerful.

Valuable analytics for lessons and meetings

“Nearpod provides a platform for both staff and students to quickly get information into one place for the class teacher or presenter to see.”

Nearpod analytics fit in quite well with foundation subjects. Within our lesson structure for foundation subject areas, we have an entry quiz at the beginning of every lesson and an exit quiz or ticket at the end.

Using quizzing functions in Nearpod, we can label these entrance and exit quizzes, allowing us to see comparisons between the two. In addition, we can consequently see the evidence of learning that has taken place for each student in between.

Nearpod provides a platform for both staff and students to quickly get information into one place for the class teacher or presenter to see. For example, I provided evidence of how I’ve crafted lessons using quizzes. Subsequently, the assessment data that Nearpod provides is definitely something senior, and subject leaders can utilise.

Using Nearpod’s interactive and collaborative features alongside MS Teams for video conferencing would be extremely useful for whole-school or cross-school meetings.

Our senior leadership team have asked me what makes this different from other lesson management systems. I explain to them that, with Nearpod, everything is in one place.

I don’t need to click on different screens, as long as the teacher or presenter has a sequenced Nearpod session planned for their lesson or meeting. You can see everything you need to see at the click of a button, and you know where all the relevant information is.

Digital access to learning

“Nearpod allows staff to share their expertise in both lessons and meetings.”

Education has changed dramatically. What should have been an evolution of digital accessibility over the next ten years has happened in two.

We’re now a 1:1 device school; through funding from the DfE and the trust, we’re very fortunate that we’ve been accommodated so well with digital device access.

Nearpod allows staff to share their expertise in both lessons and meetings. It can save schools money by commissioning an expert one time only; for example, someone from a museum could plan and deliver their own bespoke lesson via Nearpod. The school could distribute that lesson to all schools in the trust.

Nearpod is a one-stop-shop for meeting or lesson planning needs.

To sign up for the Neaprod Full Access Free Trial, click here.