What else is out there that compares to Nearpod?
As a cloud based interactive presentation system, there are very few things that challenge Nearpod. Zaption and PowerPoint are two programs that many may consider instead of Nearpod. If you ask most teachers to give a presentation, they will probably go right to their trusty PowerPoint program. Some that may pride themselves as technologically "with-it' may even craft up a nice little pecha kucha. So how does PowerPoint compare to Nearpod? Not well.
Nearpod is very intuitive and user-friendly. To create a presentation, you just click "Create", then "Add Slide", and then input content, web content, or an activity with a couple clicks of the mouse. Next, repeat until your Nearpod presentation is complete and hit publish. Students are able to create their own Nearpod presentations after minor instruction on the program. In contrast, PowerPoint may be familiar for some due to its popularity, but the program is very complex to use. For instance, just creating a multiple choice quiz question involves creating the question page, and then hyperlinking each individual answer to an "incorrect" or "correct" page for that question. You must also create a hyperlink on the "correct" page that links to the next question and a hyperlink for the "incorrect" page that brings them back to the question they got wrong.
Accessibility is another area where PowerPoint is lacking when compared to Nearpod. In order for students to access a powerpoint presentation on their own device, first they must have PowerPoint installed, and next each individual device needs to download a copy of the presentation. This either means students must access third party software to download it, or they need to physically get it from a storage device like a thumb drive or disk. In contrast, Nearpod is a cloud-based program that allows anyone with web connectivity to gain access through a variety of devices. Because of this, most PowerPoint presentations end up being projected up on a screen as the instructor gives their presentation, tethered to their computer.
Since Nearpod is cloud-based, it's possible for it to have a great analytics package. When a student accesses a Nearpod presentation, they enter their name and then all of their work is tracked, automatically graded, and saved for future access by the instructor. It can even be saved at a later date by the instructor in a PDF format. PowerPoint has no similar analytic capability. Students may use a PowerPoint presentation as an instructional activity, but it cannot be readily used for assessment. Since powerpoint is not cloud based, student devices can not be synced to the instructor's device, and student responses cannot readily be shared. This makes PowerPoint much less of a collaborative tool than Nearpod is.
Zaption is a much more powerful educational tool than PowerPoint and compares well to Nearpod. Both Zaption and Nearpod are cloud-based programs. This enables students to access presentations from both programs with a variety of internet-capable devices. One nice thing from an educator's perspective is that students to not need to create accounts to access an interactive presentation from Zaption or Nearpod. When students go to a presentation, they create a username and go straight to work. It also allows them both to offer analytic packages to track and store student work. The analytics Zaption offers are much weaker than those from Nearpod, especially in the free versions of both programs. A student in Zaption may go back and change incorrect answers until they get the question right. Students cannot do this with Nearpod, where answers are locked once they are submitted. This makes Zaption activities much less valid as a means of assessment than Nearpod activities. Zaption also does not allow you to download student data in the free version. If you would like that option, you need to pay $89 annually. The free version of Nearpod allows you to download student data, but only in PDF format. If you upgrade to their Gold membership, Nearpod then allows you to download data in CSV format for easier data manipulation in a program such as Excel.
Nearpod is also a much more collaborative tool than Zaption. Nearpod live mode enables the instructor to sync student devices to his or her device during the presentation. This gives the instructor some valuable collaborative features that can enhance a dialogue. First, it allows the instructor to control the pace of the activity to keep everyone on the same topic and activity. While activities are being completed, the instructor has the power to share student responses with the class. This is not only a means of encouraging dialogue, and a powerful motivation tool, but it allows the instructor to have real-time access to student work so that the instructor may more efficiently direct feedback to those who need it.
It also enables teachers to better control seating arrangements to give more space to students who need it without removing them from a task. A teacher may place a student at their own space nearby, across the room, or even in a completely different area, such as the front office or a co-teacher's room, and that student may still participate in the activity while the teacher supervises his or her work. This ability also allows students to remotely participate in classroom instruction if they are home sick or injured, but with some additional work from the teacher.
The one area where Zaption shines over Nearpod is in assigning homework. To assign a Zaption tour as homework, it is as simple as providing students with a link to go to. Once there, the students work at their own pace until they complete the tour. The homework feature is not standard in the free "Silver" membership package. If you pay $12/month or $120/year to upgrade to a "Gold" membership through Nearpod, then you have the ability to give the students a PIN with which they can access a Nearpod presentation and complete it at their own pace. If you do not wish to purchase a Gold membership, there are two means of assigning Nearpod presentations as homework, but they both require the use of third-party software.
In order to give students access to a Nearpod presentation for homework, a teacher may choose to set up homework as a pre-scheduled session, or they may embed the presentation on a website. To set up a homework session, the teacher ans students must all sign on to computers at the same time, the teacher will start a live session and then send out the PIN through a third party software such as an email system, text message, or over a program like Skype. Once the students have the PIN, they can enter the live session remotely and the teacher can lead a presentation in real-time. While this may be very useful to teach "virtual classes" remotely, it requires a lot of coordination to pull off correctly.
The other option is to embed a Nearpod presentation into a third party html compatible software. As shown below, I have embedded a nearpod presentation on this page. In order to do this, a teacher clicks on their library and then selects a presentation. Instead of clicking "Live Session", they click "Share". This will pull up an embed option where the teacher can choose between three screen sizes, copy the html code, and then embed that code in a website, such as this. Zaption may also be embedded by using the code <iframe src="//www.zaption.com/tours/TOUR ID/iframe/embed" width="980" height="540"></iframe> and replacing "TOUR ID" with the identification numbers of the tour in the web address. If your intention is to embed a presentation, Nearpod makes it much easier to do than Zaption.
One area where Zaption and Nearpod both dramatically outshine PowerPoint is in their downloadable library of presentations. Both programs offer presentations for a wide variety of subject areas and curriculum to be downloaded and used. Zaption has the edge here, as nearly all of the tours in the Zaption "Gallery" are free. The majority of downloadable presentations from Nearpod cost $2.99 to use. Neither Zaption, nor Nearpod, have much content that is useful to a physical educator.
Much like with PowerPoint, one of the clear advantages Zaption has over Nearpod is the ability to program quizzes to automatically provide further instruction when a student answers a question. This enables the Zaption tour and Powerpoint presentation to provide differentiated feedback to students without the need for an instructor to provide it. This type of automatic feedback is desirable when using these programs as homework or alternative activities for those that cannot participate in class, due to an injury or illness. With nearpod, a student may see what questions he or she got wrong, but then the teacher must follow the quiz with a general slide covering all potential answers, leaving the student to figure it out on his or her own. The exception is if the teacher is leading a live session, in which the teacher would be the source of differentiated feedback.
As I researched and compared PowerPoint, Zaption, and Nearpod, I felt as though I was observing the evolution of the presentation through time. I began to wonder if I should also include a chalkboard with paper handouts, and cuneiform on clay tablets in my comparison. As we move up from PowerPoint, to Zaption, to Nearpod, presentations become more accessible, more interactive, more collaborative, and more valid as a means of assessment with better analytics. Currently, it appears that Nearpod stands above its peers and does not have much competition. It's only drawback come from the hefty pricetag for a Gold membership, that will most certainly be needed by teachers that wish to use this program regularly. For those that can afford the Gold membership to get increased storage, features, analytics, and live session class size, this program is a powerful way to push your classroom into the modern age of curriculum delivery.
Nearpod is very intuitive and user-friendly. To create a presentation, you just click "Create", then "Add Slide", and then input content, web content, or an activity with a couple clicks of the mouse. Next, repeat until your Nearpod presentation is complete and hit publish. Students are able to create their own Nearpod presentations after minor instruction on the program. In contrast, PowerPoint may be familiar for some due to its popularity, but the program is very complex to use. For instance, just creating a multiple choice quiz question involves creating the question page, and then hyperlinking each individual answer to an "incorrect" or "correct" page for that question. You must also create a hyperlink on the "correct" page that links to the next question and a hyperlink for the "incorrect" page that brings them back to the question they got wrong.
Accessibility is another area where PowerPoint is lacking when compared to Nearpod. In order for students to access a powerpoint presentation on their own device, first they must have PowerPoint installed, and next each individual device needs to download a copy of the presentation. This either means students must access third party software to download it, or they need to physically get it from a storage device like a thumb drive or disk. In contrast, Nearpod is a cloud-based program that allows anyone with web connectivity to gain access through a variety of devices. Because of this, most PowerPoint presentations end up being projected up on a screen as the instructor gives their presentation, tethered to their computer.
Since Nearpod is cloud-based, it's possible for it to have a great analytics package. When a student accesses a Nearpod presentation, they enter their name and then all of their work is tracked, automatically graded, and saved for future access by the instructor. It can even be saved at a later date by the instructor in a PDF format. PowerPoint has no similar analytic capability. Students may use a PowerPoint presentation as an instructional activity, but it cannot be readily used for assessment. Since powerpoint is not cloud based, student devices can not be synced to the instructor's device, and student responses cannot readily be shared. This makes PowerPoint much less of a collaborative tool than Nearpod is.
Zaption is a much more powerful educational tool than PowerPoint and compares well to Nearpod. Both Zaption and Nearpod are cloud-based programs. This enables students to access presentations from both programs with a variety of internet-capable devices. One nice thing from an educator's perspective is that students to not need to create accounts to access an interactive presentation from Zaption or Nearpod. When students go to a presentation, they create a username and go straight to work. It also allows them both to offer analytic packages to track and store student work. The analytics Zaption offers are much weaker than those from Nearpod, especially in the free versions of both programs. A student in Zaption may go back and change incorrect answers until they get the question right. Students cannot do this with Nearpod, where answers are locked once they are submitted. This makes Zaption activities much less valid as a means of assessment than Nearpod activities. Zaption also does not allow you to download student data in the free version. If you would like that option, you need to pay $89 annually. The free version of Nearpod allows you to download student data, but only in PDF format. If you upgrade to their Gold membership, Nearpod then allows you to download data in CSV format for easier data manipulation in a program such as Excel.
Nearpod is also a much more collaborative tool than Zaption. Nearpod live mode enables the instructor to sync student devices to his or her device during the presentation. This gives the instructor some valuable collaborative features that can enhance a dialogue. First, it allows the instructor to control the pace of the activity to keep everyone on the same topic and activity. While activities are being completed, the instructor has the power to share student responses with the class. This is not only a means of encouraging dialogue, and a powerful motivation tool, but it allows the instructor to have real-time access to student work so that the instructor may more efficiently direct feedback to those who need it.
It also enables teachers to better control seating arrangements to give more space to students who need it without removing them from a task. A teacher may place a student at their own space nearby, across the room, or even in a completely different area, such as the front office or a co-teacher's room, and that student may still participate in the activity while the teacher supervises his or her work. This ability also allows students to remotely participate in classroom instruction if they are home sick or injured, but with some additional work from the teacher.
The one area where Zaption shines over Nearpod is in assigning homework. To assign a Zaption tour as homework, it is as simple as providing students with a link to go to. Once there, the students work at their own pace until they complete the tour. The homework feature is not standard in the free "Silver" membership package. If you pay $12/month or $120/year to upgrade to a "Gold" membership through Nearpod, then you have the ability to give the students a PIN with which they can access a Nearpod presentation and complete it at their own pace. If you do not wish to purchase a Gold membership, there are two means of assigning Nearpod presentations as homework, but they both require the use of third-party software.
In order to give students access to a Nearpod presentation for homework, a teacher may choose to set up homework as a pre-scheduled session, or they may embed the presentation on a website. To set up a homework session, the teacher ans students must all sign on to computers at the same time, the teacher will start a live session and then send out the PIN through a third party software such as an email system, text message, or over a program like Skype. Once the students have the PIN, they can enter the live session remotely and the teacher can lead a presentation in real-time. While this may be very useful to teach "virtual classes" remotely, it requires a lot of coordination to pull off correctly.
The other option is to embed a Nearpod presentation into a third party html compatible software. As shown below, I have embedded a nearpod presentation on this page. In order to do this, a teacher clicks on their library and then selects a presentation. Instead of clicking "Live Session", they click "Share". This will pull up an embed option where the teacher can choose between three screen sizes, copy the html code, and then embed that code in a website, such as this. Zaption may also be embedded by using the code <iframe src="//www.zaption.com/tours/TOUR ID/iframe/embed" width="980" height="540"></iframe> and replacing "TOUR ID" with the identification numbers of the tour in the web address. If your intention is to embed a presentation, Nearpod makes it much easier to do than Zaption.
One area where Zaption and Nearpod both dramatically outshine PowerPoint is in their downloadable library of presentations. Both programs offer presentations for a wide variety of subject areas and curriculum to be downloaded and used. Zaption has the edge here, as nearly all of the tours in the Zaption "Gallery" are free. The majority of downloadable presentations from Nearpod cost $2.99 to use. Neither Zaption, nor Nearpod, have much content that is useful to a physical educator.
Much like with PowerPoint, one of the clear advantages Zaption has over Nearpod is the ability to program quizzes to automatically provide further instruction when a student answers a question. This enables the Zaption tour and Powerpoint presentation to provide differentiated feedback to students without the need for an instructor to provide it. This type of automatic feedback is desirable when using these programs as homework or alternative activities for those that cannot participate in class, due to an injury or illness. With nearpod, a student may see what questions he or she got wrong, but then the teacher must follow the quiz with a general slide covering all potential answers, leaving the student to figure it out on his or her own. The exception is if the teacher is leading a live session, in which the teacher would be the source of differentiated feedback.
As I researched and compared PowerPoint, Zaption, and Nearpod, I felt as though I was observing the evolution of the presentation through time. I began to wonder if I should also include a chalkboard with paper handouts, and cuneiform on clay tablets in my comparison. As we move up from PowerPoint, to Zaption, to Nearpod, presentations become more accessible, more interactive, more collaborative, and more valid as a means of assessment with better analytics. Currently, it appears that Nearpod stands above its peers and does not have much competition. It's only drawback come from the hefty pricetag for a Gold membership, that will most certainly be needed by teachers that wish to use this program regularly. For those that can afford the Gold membership to get increased storage, features, analytics, and live session class size, this program is a powerful way to push your classroom into the modern age of curriculum delivery.