Below are 3 quick-win resources for teachers looking for formative assessment tools that pair with online presentation tools: Pear Deck, Nearpod, and Quizizz.
Peardeck and Nearpod are available as Google Slides add-ons, while Quizziz is stand-alone. These are all free to use, although we do have the premium version of Peardeck available to use this school year. They all pair very well with learning management systems including Google Classroom and Canvas.
Peardeck
Pear Deck is a Google Slides Add-on that builds interaction and engagement in a lesson. Add questions, audio, embed websites, and more. It is as useful in a face-to-face learning environment as with remote learning. Pear Deck works on laptop or iPad, and is very user friendly.
How a teacher gets started:
Either create and build a Google Slides presentation or open one that is already built that you ‘own’. Select a slide and open up the Pear Deck Add-on (see image).
Post different prompts for your students on one or more Slides. Use Peardeck to record the responses. Once the presentation is ready, click on 'Start Lesson'. Select a lesson mode that fits your class, either Student-Paced Activity or Instructor-Pace Activity. In a hybrid class, Student-Paced is recommended.
*How to get a student started:
Instead of a teacher sharing a link to a Google Slide presentation, the teacher would share out a Pear Deck link or a presentation code. Students will navigate through the slides and complete the embedded tasks.
Select on of 3 ways to share your Pear Deck with your students:
1. Copy the Pear Deck link specific your presentation.
2. Connect it directly to your Google Classroom
3. Have your students navigate to joinpd.com and type in the given code.
Click here to learn more about using Pear Deck. Click here for learning opportunities brought to you by Central Rivers AEA.
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Nearpod
Nearpod is a Google Slides Add-on that builds interaction and engagement in a lesson.
Quickly add a formative assessment or one of many other features. Teachers will often be all-in with either Peardeck or Nearpod.
*How a teacher gets started:
Either create and build a Google Slides presentation or open one that is already built that you ‘own’. Post a prompt or question on any slide. Go to Add-Ons -> Nearpod -> Open Nearpod to open the tools. Select from a rich list of options. They can be added to any or all of your slides.
A large library of activities created by other teachers is available to borrow or inspire your own ideas.
It works great with robust learning management systems such as Canvas or Schoology, but also works well with Google Classroom. It is age-appropriate for our students in grades 3-12.
*How to get a student started:
Instead of sharing a link to the Google Slides document, the teacher will either share out a Nearpod weblink or a code that can be entered in the Nearpod iPad App. It works just as well in a web browser as the app.
Click here to learn more about using Nearpod.
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Quizizz
There are two big components to this resource.
First, create quick formative assessment activities either on your own or from a large library created by others teachers. This can include a classroom Poll, multiple choice question, checkbox list, fill-in-the-blank, or open-ended questions.
There is also a new Lesson feature that allows you to create slides with multimedia and other content, in a similar fashion as Google Slides, but without the need for an Add-on. Quizizz questions and other content can be quickly embedded. This looks very promising.
How a teacher gets started:
Click here to get started from their website. A Basic plan is free - Be wary though with younger learners. This will include some ads.
A large library of activities created by other teachers is available to borrow or inspire your own ideas.
How a student gets started:
Either open a weblink provided by the teacher or type a provided code into the iPad App or website.
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There are many other digital formative assessment resources available that can also work well in a remote learning environment. It can include Google Forms, Kahoot, Quizlet, Socrative, and more. Let me know if you have a different quick-win resource that you like to use in your classroom. I would love to get it added to this list.
