Oh, you lost your cell phone and it's on vibrate?? As Beyoncé said- If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.

Dad joke alert! but a nice segue into this weeks blog looking at how a mobile can help in the world of ELT.

Oh hello, did you miss me? What and when was your first phone? Do you remember? Mine was the Nokia 232 (1994), it was the phone that Alicia Silverstone's (dream girl alert) character had in Clueless! before like everyone else in the 90s I 'upgraded' to the 3210. Back then it wasn't that common to have a phone, nowadays you would be hard pressed to find someone without a Mobile, with the cheapest smart phones available from as little as £29 in the UK. Of course, this can be somewhat of a drawback, how many times have you been teaching a class only to note some plucky upstart sniggering away at their mobile? More than once I dare say.  Yet, mobiles are not going away, like it or not- they are a part of every day life and will be for at least the foreseeable future.

So how can we utilise this to improve the classroom experience for these mobile wielding scamps? There are a number of tools/apps we can consider, Kahoot, which I blogged about some weeks ago can be used by the students to answer 'in class' quizzes amongst others, however I am going to focus this weeks review on  Nearpod

With a welcoming home page (shown below) and the bold claim 'However you teach, it's in Nearpod'

It's certainly setting it's stool out high right out the gate, but can it live up to it's own hype? let's find out!

I hit sign up as a teacher and was able to sign up via different ways- google log-in, office log in etc.

After completing a standard sign up process- this is my immediate home screen:

Whilst there are a fair amount of options to look through, it's pleasant enough on the eye. The Demo play through is an excellent initial introduction to some of the possibilities of Nearpod (displaying a teacher and student screen side by side) for an excellent preview of the different questions you can utilise- including multiple choice questions, polls, open ended questions and more. The whole preview is interactive as well (you can play the part of the student and the teacher to see how each screen interacts) in terms of an introduction to a tool, it's almost certainly the best I have seen. But don't just take my word for it- here is a very quick video showcasing the ease of creating a lesson for the first time:

Organisation and Layout

Nearpod is well organised and the layout is lovely, it's not a chore at all to  find what you are looking for and everything is logically staged when you click from screen to screen, no problems here. 5 Nik-knacks

Content and Features

I've already looked at some of the features available for each lesson you create above, but you can also incorporate google slides, send your students on a treasure hunt- all within the app- there really does seem to be endless possibilities. However, what I hadn't yet touched on was the content, with a wealth of ready made content you can utilise yourself, see the below screen shot for the content search screen with the ability to search by activities, publisher. subject lessons etc. This area also comes up trumps for Nearpod with 5 Nik-knacks

Ease of Use and Navigation

Well you don't need a sat nav to navigate near pod that's for sure. It's oh so simple to use, referring back to the above screenshot you can see the left hand column showing the different options you can tick/untick to utilise your search. It's another home run for Nearpod with 5 Nik-knacks

Target Audience 

Well, the target audience is obviously teachers, with an eye on the modern world.  This tool really seems like it could be essential to a modern day classroom. We know full well students are going to have phones on them (even if they are not supposed to) so we might as well use it to our advantage. That's what Nearpod sets out to do, and does it very well. 5 more Nik-knacks

Summary

Saving the best till last! 

This is my last 'official assessed blog' although I fully intend to keep blogging, so you can't get rid of me that easily google. 

I've always been a tech head, so it's likely little wonder I am raving about this tool, however I need to give it a fair and critical review- so are there any negatives to this tool?

Well- I have been looking solely at the free version- there is (like in life) a price to pay, should you want the upgraded version, however I believe the free version will work fine for most ELT lessons. However if you are interested here is the link to the pricing page:

Nearpod Price

Important to note here that it's not just one paid version- there is silver(free version) and then increasing prices for higher levels of features (Gold, Platinum etc)

Making a presentation from scratch on the Nearpod side can be time consuming. 

It's once again technology reliant, you need to a) have a smart phone and b) be connected to the Wi-Fi or data which again might not always be the case in the world of ELT.

However I feel these are minor issues, for what is in effect a fantastic free tool, certainly for me thus far the most impressive tool I have reviewed, so was there any doubt?? It's a mighty fine 5 Nik-knacks for this mighty fine tool.

So as Moira Rose once said when trying to use the internet : "There's nothing here but hot singles in my area"  

The hot singles might(definitely) still be there- but so to are a wealth of helpful tools, which I have reviewed over the last few weeks. I hope I have inspired you to try out a few of them in your classrooms or at the very least inspired you to watch some Schitt's Creek in your down time ;) but for now, I will bid you adieu, however fear not- your sea faring thespian will return.....