Using Nearpod Technology in the Classroom

Introduction

In my previous post "5 Great Tools for Teaching and Learning" I briefly discussed a tool named Nearpod which allows teachers/trainers to share presentations, polls, quizzes and activities directly to learners smart devices in a synchronous learning format. The learners follow the content on their smart device and respond to activities, quizzes and polls that are served up to them. The teacher/trainer get's real time reports on each individual in terms of responses and engagement. I felt this type of technology should be explored more in a training environment so I put it to practise in a real life training class.The three main reasons I wanted to use this technology was to:

1. Create greater learner engagement.
2. Monitor and assess learner knowledge.
3. Determine learner preferences with technology. 

Designing and Delivering the Lesson

The design of the lesson was relatively straight forward. I was able to import a pre-existing presentation into the tool to make it a Nearpod presentation (NPP). To get the benefits of this tool it was important to add all the activities that the tool offers. I added formative checkpoint quizzes throughout the presentation to gauge the learners knowledge. I added open questions and opinion polls to help facilitate class discussion. Learners can respond to the poll or open question while remaining anonymous to their fellow learners. I can share individual responses and create a discussion on those responses. This alleviates any embarrassment or shyness from responding to an open question. Every learner who responds provides their own opinion and responses can be selected randomly by the trainer to create a class discussion. I added web page links to the presentation to share important information directly from the internet. I was able to add a YouTube video that related to the topic to allow learners to review in their own time if they wished to do so. I added a series of survey questions at the end of the presentation to gather feedback from the learners on their experience using the tool. 

I delivered the module to two different groups who were going through new hire orientation training. The module duration was 3 hours which allowed ample time for the class to engage with the tool. While delivering the module I used a tablet to move through the Nearpod presentation while the learners used either their smartphone, tablet or computers. 

Results

Learners were surveyed at the end of the training. I have combined the results of both classes into one to give an overall view. There were 29 learners who went through the training (16 in the first session and 13 in the second session). All the results below come from the data available from the survey responses. The data required some manual editing due to some issues with the reporting. I had to manually mark open questions as either correct or incorrect. I also had to remove duplicate sessions when a learner changed device throughout the training. 

Devices Used

The figure below shows the breakdown of devices used throughout both sessions. 48% of learners used their smartphones, 45% used their computer at their desk and the remaining 7% used their personal tablet. In instances where a learner changed the device they were using I determined the device they used for the most amount of time. 

Device Preference

When learners were asked what device they would prefer to use in the future, interestingly only 11% of them said they prefer their smartphone. It was almost a straight split between a computer (44%) and a tablet (42%). I believe the reason for this is due to both devices having larger screens which make it easier to see the presentation and respond to open questions. Several learners mentioned on more than one occasion that the small screens on smartphones made it difficult to read and operate. 

Engagement

I wanted to determine if the use of technology allows for greater engagement from learners. For the purposes of these sessions I considered engagement as any time a learner responded to any of the activities that required input from their side such as responding to a quiz, opinion poll or open question. Overall 92% of the activities were responded to from the learners. This helps validate that engagement is high when using this technology. 

Formative Assessment

When looking at how often learners were correct in the quizzes and open questions responses you can see 82% of responses were correct, 11% were incorrect and 7% did not respond. 

Favourite Feature:

As mentioned Nearpod has several features and many have their own benefits. When learners were asked on their favourite feature 31% of the responses said their favourite feature was the quiz feature. The quizzes are valuable for the trainer as it provides insights into how the learners are performing. The learners enjoy being quizzed and receiving formative feedback on their responses. 

Improving Learning Experience

When learners were asked if they felt Nearpod technology improved their learning experience 86% agreed either completely or somewhat agreed with only 3.45% somewhat disagreeing. This shows a significant amount of learners who are in favour of this technology. One consideration is that the novelty of this tool may wear off if used often which may see lower results. 

Learners believe the tool improved their learning experience however when they were asked if they would like to use Nearpod in all classroom training just under 69% of the class agreed with the statement. A significant portion (17%) neither agreed nor disagreed which may suggest that this technology is dependant on the type of training intervention taking place. 

Conclusion

Overall the experience of using this tool was a positive one for me as a trainer and for the learners. There were some minor challenges while delivering the session which were mainly related to the tools reporting functionality and learners not being so keen on using the tool on their smartphone. I believe this type of technology can change the way we teach and learn in the classroom. I would love to see more features available in this type of tool to further improve learner engagement. So what do you think? Is this technology a game changer or a fad? Let me know your thoughts.