Introduction

For a long time, teachers have used devices like "iClickers" to allow them to put poll or quiz questions into their Powerpoints. These allowed students to input their choice in objective questions. Nearpod takes this concept and adds a lot of activity types to it while also allowing students to use their own laptop or mobile device instead of having to purchase an "iClicker." They're already taking their phones to your class, we might as well use them to engage our students and to aide in the assessment of learning.

Speaking of learning assessment, one of the best parts of the concept of Nearpod is that when you ask a question like "why is the sky blue?" in a regular class you get 1 student that speaks and gives their answer. If that's the right answer then you move on. So you have assessed that 1 of your 30 students understood that part of your lesson. With Nearpod all 30 students are answering the question and you're able to see those responses to ensure that all of your students understood that portion of the lesson. That information is so valuable to our teaching.

Making a Nearpod Lesson

In the sections below you'll find things that everyone must do (like activating Nearpod in your course) but also things that you only need to see if you want to use that feature (like Time to Climb).

Add Nearpod to Your Course

This video shows how to add Nearpod to your course and how to create a lesson.

You will add Nearpod to your Canvas course in the same way that you add Panopto Recordings to your course. Go to Settings and then click on the Navigation tab at the top of Settings. You will then find Nearpod in the bottom section. Click and drag it into the top section and then click Save at the bottom.

Accessing Nearpod From Your Course

Once you've added it to the course menu you can click on it and it should bring you to your Nearpod account. If it does not work, please email james.dannibale@wilson.edu so he can make sure you have a Nearpod account set up. This doesn't use our normal SSO system so James needs to add you manually.

Creating a Nearpod Lesson

Step 1: Click on the blue Create button. Then click Lessons.

Step 2: On the next screen you will see blue text that says "Untitled Lesson." Click on that text and rename your lesson.

Step 3, 4, 5...: Depending on what you want to do with your lesson, you will need to alternate between adding the following types of materials.

Slides, Web Content, Virtual Reality Tours, 3D models, PDF's, Open Ended Questions, Matching Pairs Activity, Quizzes, Draw It Activities, etc. Please see the video links below for how to add those items.

Add a Slide

Slides are very similar to Powerpoint Slides. In fact, you can even import Powerpoint slides as slides in a Nearpod.

This video link will show you how to import powerpoint slides.

This video link will show you how to add slides on your own.

Add Web Content

This would include Panopto videos, websites, articles, etc. This video link will show you how to add web content.

Add Nearpod 3D, Simulation, or Field Trip Content

Nearpod has a library of 3D objects you can manipulate like a model of the human body where you can zoom in and out of various pieces of anatomy. There are also simulations (although they are all designed for K-12), and what they call virtual field trips which are 360 degree photos of places around the world.

This video link will show you how to add 3D, Simulation and Field Trip content from Nearpod's library.

Add Quiz

A quiz is useful during your lesson because it gives you a very quick idea of if your students understand the concepts you just taught. It is tempting to always think of a quiz as a summative assessment at the end of a lesson; but I would say they're even more powerful for you mid-lesson as a formative assessment.

This video link will show you how to add Quizzes to your Nearpod Lesson.

Add Poll

Polls could be used for any number of things where you want to either get feedback from your students, possibly see how many students have experienced something, etc.

This video link will show you how to add a Poll go your Nearpod Lesson.

Add Matching Pairs

Matching pairs are just what you think they are. You can have your students match a word to a definition, or any other type of matching pairs you can think of. This can be good practice for students.

This video link will show you how to add Matching Pairs to a Nearpod Lesson.

Add Open-Ended Question And/Or Collaborate Board

I'm combining these two activities because they both involve open-ended responses. I'll say one thing about the collaborate boards separate from the video is that this is a very good way to allow participation for students with anxiety who may not feel comfortable raising their hands and vocalizing their thoughts. As you'll see in the video, your students would be able to type their questions or ideas onto the collaborate board and it's even anonymous (to other students) if you choose that setting. This is the video link to show how to add open-ended questions and collaborate boards in Nearpod.

Add a "Draw-It" Activity

Draw-it activities are pretty neat. You basically insert an image and your students annotate over the image to answer your question. For example, if you are teaching a lesson on identifying different types of bone fractures you could have various x-ray images and have your students identify the fracture types based on the images. This is the video link showing how to add a Draw-it activity in Nearpod.

Add "Time to Climb" Activity

Time to Climb is a gamified version of a quiz. Your students pick a little character and they answer questions. Whoever gets each answer correct the fastest moves up the mountain faster than the rest of the class. At the end of the quiz, one character is at the top of the mountain and is declared the winner. If you've used Kahoot, it's very similar to that. Here is the video link showing how to add Time to Climb to Nearpod.

Using a Nearpod Lesson You Already Created

You have 2 options for timing when using a Nearpod lesson with your students. You can have the students complete it in "Student-Paced" mode or you can have them join live all at the same time.

You also have 2 options for method of having students join the Nearpod. If you want the results to be tied to the Canvas Gradebook then you need to add it as an assignment. If you do not need it to be tied to the Canvas Gradebook then you can just add it as a link on a module.

This is the link for a video showing how to use a Nearpod lesson with it NOT tied to the Gradebook.

This is the link for a video showing how to use Nearpod WITH it tied to the Gradebook.

Other Helpful Resources

This link will take you to the recording of the full Nearpod training we got from the Nearpod Representative. The password for the recording is !n&58vBk
Nearpod Self Guided Resource Links
Nearpod's Vimeo Channel

Adam Cooke's video for how he uses Nearpod in his classes.