Nearpod is a student engagement platform. It is free, but it does have a premium version which you have to pay for. As a teacher, I am all about the free. So what makes Nearpod awesome? Teachers are able to cast the lesson to all of their students devices simultaneously. I like this because not every student can have preferential seating in the front of the class and lessons on SMART Boards/Promethean Boards can be hard to see if a student sits closer to the back of the class. You can also monitor your students’ progress throughout the lesson. Teachers can search the Nearpod library for other content created by fellow teachers. If you wish to create your own lesson, you can also import pretty much any kind of file to get started. You can also embed video and links to websites which is also a plus. In the times of Covid-19, you can also create virtual field trips for students. Nearpod works well with a variety of platforms as well. If you choose to subscribe, Nearpod’s Gold Subscription is $12/month.
Google Classroom
Yes, I know Google Classroom has been around for a long time, but I can’t sing it’s praises enough. I had always used Edmodo and Remind. I never used them to teach, I used them to post items students would need from class. When we migrated to online learning, I learned exactly how bad Edmodo and Remind are The platforms crashed constantly. I get it - you now have millions of teachers and students trying to log on to a platform. Guess what, Google Classroom never crashed. I swiftly transitioned to Classroom on the 2nd day of online learning. Where do I begin? It is free. If your school district or school uses the paid version (enterprise version - called G Suite) than teachers have access to even more stuff. Mine doesn’t so I have the plain jane version, but it is still great! The ease of use is superb. You need to sign up or have a gmail account in order to use Google Classroom. I would suggest you set one up just for school, because when students submit work, you receive notifications. You can create a Resource Library - where you can place frequently used items in your classroom. Unlike Edmodo which only allows you to pin one item to the top of the feed. If students need something they just have to go to the library without having to go back through old posts. You can post assignments, grade them online, legit forget dragging home a bag of papers! Need help? I watched this YoutTube tutorial to get started. https://youtu.be/rCNImsWUxZA it is made by the channel called Pocketful of Primary. She has all sorts of other videos about Google Classroom, but I would use this one to get you started! I posted a screen grab from one of my archived classes below.
