CTL 7016 1

Nearpod
Technology Presentation
Amy Li & Rosa Nazari

Getting Started
1. Go to https://nearpod.com/
2. Click “sign up for free” to create an account
3. Sign up as a teacher using email, Google, or Office 365

What is Nearpod?
Nearpod is an educational technology tool that allows teachers to make traditional slide-based
presentations more engaging by including a variety of interactive features. The platform allows
educators to create, download, and teach interactive lessons across all student devices. Teachers
can choose to upload existing PowerPoint’s, Google slides, PDF documents, and convert them into
an interactive Nearpod lesson. The interactive activities that could be added within lessons include
polls, quizzes, draw-its, open-ended questions, fill-in-the-blanks, 3D objects, and even virtual
reality. Alternatively, Nearpod provides access to thousands of lesson plans for grades K-12.

To initiate a Nearpod lesson, teachers launch a “live lesson” and students enter a lesson code from
their devices to access it. During a live lesson as the teacher advances through their dashboard,
the students’ lesson will also progress. Teachers can view individual responses to the assessment
activities from the presentation, and they will be saved and can be accessed later on. Teachers can
also launch student-paced lessons where students complete lessons from any location at any time.

Resources
Ø How Nearpod works:
https://youtu.be/STzYWOQqQWo

Ø How to create a Nearpod lesson:

https://youtu.be/y8xNQbggas0
Ø How to launch a Nearpod lesson:
https://youtu.be/4H5YjYusTpU
 CTL 7016 2

Benefits for Student Learning

1. Assessment for/as learning: Student responses from various interactive activities, such
as quizzes, open-ended questions and fill-in-the-blanks, can be used as assessments for and
as learning. This will allow the teacher to assess students’ understanding on specific
expectations and allow the teacher to make any modifications or clarifications
instantaneously. From these assessments, teachers can also learn how they might modify
learning activities to best suit the needs of the learners. Responses will be saved so
teachers can refer to them later on when lesson planning or grading evaluations.

2. Increased student engagement: Nearpod allows educators to make traditional

PowerPoint presentations more engaging and dynamic by including different interactive
activities such as polls, quizzes, draw-its, etc. These activities encourage students to have a
more active role within the lesson and their overall learning. It is likely that these activities
will create a more student-centered classroom and lead to increased student engagement.

3. Distance learning: Nearpod also has the option of facilitating student-paced lessons,
where lessons can be completed in any location at any time. This supports student learning,
as students might not always be able to attend class in-person for various reasons.
Additionally, this might be a useful tool for flipped classrooms.

Concerns with Nearpod

1. Technological access
a) Nearpod works ideally when each student has access to an electronic device. If
you’re expecting students to bring their own devices, this could present an equity
issue if not all students have access.
b) Could potentially use school laptops/computers instead - would need to sort out the
logistics of booking them, and giving students time to get and boot them up

2. Students are unable to independently move their slides

a) When students are watching the Nearpod slideshow, they are unable to
independently move the slides back and forth on their computers. This can be
frustrating for some students.
b) Could potentially also upload slides to Google Slides or Google Classroom, allowing
students to have a copy of just the slideshow to takes notes on/independently control
- however, this may still be frustrating for students
 CTL 7016 3

3. Teaching 21st century competencies

a) A concern that Nearpod raises is its effectiveness to incorporate 21st century
competencies, such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration, within lessons.
Though Nearpod is a tool that makes lectures more interactive, it is ultimately still
a lecture where the teacher is the “knower” of knowledge and guides the lesson.
b) Though there are suitable times to use lectures, it is important that learning
consists of student-centered activities so that learners are able to develop
communication and collaboration skills, and can take greater ownership of their
learning.

Tip for Classroom Use

1. Before using Nearpod, teacher should discuss online etiquette with class, and remind
students to only post appropriate responses for activities such as open-ended responses

2. After a session, click “Report” to view data on your students’ engagement in a particular
presentation. Reports can be accessed from the tab on the top left of the main screen, or by
clicking on the “...” in the right-hand corner of a specific presentation.