I have a personal challenge to use mainly free tools and resources that are licensed through the creative commons in my class. This allows me to openly share my resources and techniques. Nearpod is a new exception to this rule. It’s ability to allow me to quickly and easily add interaction and participation in my classes has inspired me to fork over the $.  When my students join me in a Nearpod. I push my media to their laptop or device. They can participate in the polls, quizzes, drawing activities, and discussions on their own screen.  They can see my slides and view the videos and websites as I cue them.

Its been interesting to watch their reactions to my controlling their screen. I don’t think they all like the intrusion into their “multitasking” habits. I love it, the reporting features are robust. I can see who has answered on the fly, if its correct and I can share anonymous responses by pushing them to the students screens. Here are some example screenshots of the back end. I do find it helpful to enter as a student on my iPad and present from the computer.

Its easy to use Edpuzzle to add quiz questions and crop short videos  form my students to watch independently. There is a google sign in options and data tracking. Edpuzzle is a free tool for educators.

Kahoot.it  is the latest tool in my virtual box of tricks. This is a fantastic way to engage absolutely every student in the class at one time.  It is an open source, super charged student response system. You can design multiple choice, true false, or open ended questions for students to respond to on their own device or computer. What makes this especially useful during a live video class is the fact that student can not see the question unless they look the teacher’s screen. The only thing the see are their choices for responding to the question. This prompts them to listen and look up before responding on their own device when they look down. With a lot of online tools my kids stare at their screens and forget to interact with everyone.

Like other systems, it scores the responses and displays instant feedback to the students. But here is the bonus fun, it scores them according to who answered the correct question first. Then it displays the leader board with the top 5 scores after each question. At the end of the game you can print a report.  You get a formative check of how well your students are doing on the questions posed. My students play anonymously and we don’t spend a lot of time logging in and remembering passwords.

You can also search a bank of public quizzes to duplicate and use as your own.This a free tool with no hook them into a premium account plot.

Since the first week I introduced this to my class, I have had at least one request a week to play Kahoot, “Can we play Kahoot today?

Teachers start at https://create.kahoot.it/

Students log in at Kahoot.it