Software Review

Name of reviewer: Chelsea Bascuk

Name of the Website: Nearpod

Educational Product/Software Selected: Nearpod

Web Address to the Product/Software: https://nearpod.com/

Publisher: Renaissance Learning

Grade Level: Any

Provide a brief description of the product/software: Nearpod is a software that allows you to
customize a lesson delivered via slides. This software also allows for numerous types of
answers to be given via multiple choice options, drawings and open-ended questions
embedded throughout the lesson.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the product/software? This software is simple, user
friendly and to the point making it beneficial and applicable in a classroom setting. There
are no cons in my opinion.
Is the product/software easy for you and the students to use? The teacher creates the lesson
that can then be accessed individually for all students in the class via a code making it
simple to use.
Does the software serve its intended purpose, which is classroom use? In my opinion this
software does serve its intended purpose and can be used in the classroom or in a distance
learning situation.

Is the documentation for the product/software, such as technical support, instructions on how to
use the product, and hardware requirements presented clearly on the website? Nearpod has
customer service associates available via email and live chat. They also have many online
resources to help you get started and show you how to create lessons. Sample lessons are
shown in their lesson library as well.

Is the software adaptable to support specific accessibility needs of learners with disabilities?
Nearpod can be accessed via different types of devices which may be modified for use.

Does the software program give appropriate feedback to responses (assessment)? I believe these
lessons are stagnant and cannot be changed on an individual level. Grades for things like
open ended question and response are graded on a case-by-case basis while multiple choice
responses have fixed answers.

Can the skill levels be adjusted by the student/instructor? With Nearpod just one lesson is
given across the board. I suppose a teacher can create multiple lessons with varying levels
of difficulty and assign different codes to different children.

Software Review
Name of reviewer: Chelsea Bascuk

Name of the Website: ABCMouse

Educational Product/Software Selected: Magic Rainbow Traceables

Web Address to the Product/Software: https://www.abcmouse.com/abc/

Publisher: Age of Learning, Inc

Grade Level: Preschool to Lower Elementary

Provide a brief description of the product/software: Magic Rainbow Traceables is an

interactive lesson in which children learn to draw letters by tracing with fun rainbow pens.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the product/software? This software is simple and
easy to navigate. It is set up for just the basics. You go in alphabetical order and trace each
letter with the same style of marker. However, it is hard for children to train their hand
muscles to write the letters with their hands since they are using a mouse or finger to trace
instead.
Is the product/software easy for you and the students to use? Yes, the software is child and
user friendly. The teacher does not create or modify lessons.
Does the software serve its intended purpose, which is classroom use? In my opinion this
software does serve its intended purpose and can be used supplementally in the classroom
or in a distance learning situation as a reward or for practicing.

Is the documentation for the product/software, such as technical support, instructions on how to
use the product, and hardware requirements presented clearly on the website? ABCMouse has
an FAQ page and some resources but not much is needed seeing that the lessons are
premade and require no modifications.

Is the software adaptable to support specific accessibility needs of learners with disabilities?
ABCMouse and contained programs can be accessed via different types of devices which
may be modified for use.
Does the software program give appropriate feedback to responses (assessment)? Teachers are
able to see student progress via a monitoring feature but for the most part ABCMouse is a
learn as you go and at your own speed type of application.

Can the skill levels be adjusted by the student/instructor? ABCMouse levels can be raised or
lowered for each student by teachers with access to the classroom tools dashboard.