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ISTE 2023 recap from the Nearpod booth

Nearpod sessions

At the Nearpod booth, educators and attendees alike were immersed in an atmosphere of collaboration and creativity. Over a dozen PioNears led great demonstrations showcasing how they use Nearpod to engage, differentiate, and get real-time insights from students. Each demo concluded with a Nearpod fan-favorite, Time to Climb, and each winner left with a smile, some swag, and skills to bring back to the classroom.

Nearpod wasn’t just prevalent at the booth and in the conference agenda. Two sessions stood out to us:

• Janet Corder’s “Going Beyond the Basics of Nearpod” drew over 130 attendees, eager to take their Nearpod use to the next level
• Students from Andes International School in Puebla, Mexico, showcased how they use Nearpod to travel around the world right in their classroom
• Jason Clark was a hit in the Google Theater with his “Creating and Delivering Active Learning Experiences with Nearpod and Google” session. Attendees learned how to harness the power of Nearpod and Google to deliver transformative instruction that engages, challenges, and motivates students!

Nearpod won Best of Show!

Nearpod’s draw was palpable, so much so that we were recognized as Tech & Learning’s Best of Show awards at ISTELive 23. Judged by some of the most knowledgeable and tech-savvy educators, Tech & Learning showcases those products and businesses that demonstrate the most potential for transforming education. These professional users, editors, and judges evaluate products according to three criteria:

• ease of use, value
• uniqueness in the market
• proof that the product helped make teachers’ lives easier and supported student achievement

Nearpod, Flocabulary, and Nearpod Math Program all received “Best in Show” accolades for ISTE 2023.

Nearpod won the Common Sense Award!

For several years now, Common Sense has badged booths at ISTE 2023 as a Common Sense Selection for Learning if identified as a best-in-class resource and tool. These hand-picked selections are evaluated through their independent rating criteria and pedagogical rubric.

We believe properly resourced, well-prepared, passionate, and creative teachers make learning happen—not tech, tools, or resources.

Common Sense

For over 10 years, the seasoned Common Sense editorial learning team has reviewed new and existing products throughout the year by highlighting a Learning Rating, a Community Rating, and a Privacy Rating, plus teacher tricks and tips for each resource. Nearpod earned recognition as a Common Sense Selection for Learning again for 2023.

Poetry Slam

We brought the house down at the annual ISTE EdTech Poetry Slam, in collaboration with K-12 Learning, where 12 exceptional educators shared their original poetry with the community. Live beats provided by Flocabulary artists Mike Judd and Dizzy SenZe added an unforgettable musical dimension to the event. And it’s not a Flocabulary-sponsored event without some collaborative rhyme-writing via Lyric Lab, led by Ike Ramos and Merv Jenkins. Educators are masters at modeling how best to engage in learning, and seeing the community come together to support fellow educators and celebrate creativity was a real treat.

Join us for Camp Engage Back to School 2023

The learning doesn’t have to stop at ISTE 2023! Join us for Camp Engage, a FREE virtual professional development opportunity for all educators, on July 26-28! Get access to more than 30 interactive and informative sessions—you’ll come away supercharged for the school year ahead!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post ISTE 2023 Recap appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Research shows students who are given a choice in their instruction are more motivated, self-confident, high achieving, and find the learning process to be more meaningful and engaging. Creating the space for students to learn and elevate AAPI voices and stories is important in the fight for racial justice.

Nearpod received hundreds of well-researched submissions from students in grades K-12, and we’re excited to announce that this year’s contest winner is…

Sadie, 11th grade, from Livingston, New Jersey!

AAPI historical figure: Anna May Wong

As our contest winner, Sadie will work with Nearpod’s Content team to transform her script into a “Just A Minute” Nearpod Original video.

Sadie’s winning script about Anna May Wong

“Born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905, Anna May Wong is considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood. She acted in over 60 films in her career but is most known for her role in 1932’s Shanghai Express opposite Marlene Dietrich. In 1951, Wong became the first Asian American to star in a US television show, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong. And in 1960, she was the first Asian American woman to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Wong was also a fashion and style icon known for her flapper style that incorporated traditional Chinese designs.

Though Wong gained significant popularity in the US and internationally, she still faced discrimination and xenophobia in Hollywood. Throughout her career, she was mostly cast only in supporting roles, many of which played on Asian stereotypes. She had trouble getting lead roles due to anti-miscegenation laws, which prohibited interracial couples from appearing on screen. Despite the racism and discrimination she faced, Anna May Wong carved out a long and successful career and remains a role model for many Asian American actors.

Where do you see the legacy of Anna May Wong today?”

Stay tuned to see Sadie’s script come to life with an Interactive Video about the first Chinese American film star.

Explore past winning entries

If you’re looking for more ways to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, here are a few places to look:

• Learn about Nearpod’s 2022 student winner: Savannah!
• Teach the Just a Minute video from 2022’s winning script on Kalpana Chawla
• View the script-writing lesson video and AAPI Nearpod lessons linked on the contest page

Thank you to everyone that submitted an entry. The learning should not stop when Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month ends. These themes and topics can enrich cross-curricular learning all year round. That’s why we’ve updated the contest page so you can access the script-writing lesson at any time.

To stay involved in the Nearpod community, please join our Educator Facebook Group and our certification program.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Student contest winner: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2023 appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

For us at Nearpod, this week was all about celebrating teachers. We had our PioNears ambassadors leading Nearpod and Flocabulary demos at the booth, we showcased creative educators in the Edtech Poetry Slam event, and welcomed all attendees to escape the New Orleans heat with some free cold brew every day. As an ISTE attendee Jennifer Martin said, Nearpod truly knows the “way to a professional educator’s heart.”

ISTE 2022 recap from the Nearpod booth

If you were part of the #NotAtISTE crew, here are some highlights that might be meaningful to you:

The learning was nonstop at Booth #1654

One of the everyday observations from our booth visitors was how memorable and applicable these presentations were, and that’s because of the power of Nearpod. At all hours, groups of teachers circled around our booth to participate in ongoing demos, led by either Nearpod team members or PioNears. Whether playing Time to Climb trivia or illustrating a Draw-It, teachers weren’t passively learning about Nearpod. They were engaged.

Many teachers with whom I spoke expressed that they were looking for ways to weave Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into their instruction. PioNear, Janet Corder, began her session with a Mr. Potato Head check-in Draw-It, modeling one of the many ways Nearpod can help facilitate SEL.

And guess what? The learning doesn’t have to stop at ISTE. In just a few weeks, you can join Nearpod staff, PioNears, and fellow educators at our FREE virtual conference, Camp Engage! For 3 days, you’ll have access to innovative and informative presentations about how to use Nearpod and Flocabulary to bring joy into your classrooms for back-to-school. And, of course, there will be tons of time to connect, play games, celebrate, and, yes – win swag!

Did you know? Nearpod won Best of Show!

Every year at ISTE, a Tech & Learning panel recognizes the ed-tech products transforming education in schools worldwide for their Tech & Learning Best of Show awards. They explicitly judge the “value, quality, ease of use, and versatility.” This year, Nearpod, Flocabulary, AND Nearpod Math won this title! 

And the accolades don’t stop there. Nearpod also received the highly regarded Common Sense Selections for Learning seal. This seal recognizes “best-in-class media resources and tools that facilitate great learning experiences for students and educators.”

Spotlight on: Teacher voice

One of the most impactful experiences I had during the week was outside the convention center. In partnership with K-12 Leaders, Flocabulary co-hosted an Ed Tech Poetry Slam where 12 incredible educators spoke their truths.  Let me tell you, by the end of the night, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

Ultimately, Dr. Amy Jackson was crowned victorious.  Her poem highlighted the struggles she’s experienced being a woman of color in a leadership position in education. My hands hurt from all the applause.

I’d be remiss not to mention another huge Flocabulary highlight from the week – a live recording of our newly launched Flocabulary podcast: The Flocast! Our co-hosts Tee and Bri spoke with Nearpod PioNear Leticia Citizen and Grammy-nominated producer Kevin Khao Cates during these live recordings at our booth.

Reunited, and it felt so good!

One of the reasons Nearpod stands out among its competitors, in my opinion, is the magic of our community. This was palpable at ISTE. Throughout the week, Nearpod PioNears and Certified Educators took every opportunity to come together, not just at the Nearpod booth. Some of the most impactful moments at ISTE occur during hallway run-ins, casual happy hours, and networking sessions with your PLN.

ISTE was a potent reminder of how genuine the connections in the Nearpod community are – even when made virtually! If you are itching for more opportunities to connect with educators so that you can have these kinds of IRL encounters, please explore what the Nearpod community has to offer!

ISTELive 22 was more than just a conference. It was a reminder that no matter what uphill battles the educators in our community are facing, they will remain steadfast on their dedication to quality and impactful education. I leave every ed tech event with a renewed sense of awe and admiration for the folks we aim to support at Nearpod.

I will speak on our whole organization’s behalf in saying that we are constantly humbled by the enthusiasm and love we feel from the Nearpod community. We can’t wait to build on the strong connections we started to form at ISTELive as we enter the new school year!

Interested in reading more about this topic? Check out this blog post: Camp Engage: Virtual Professional Development for Teachers

Lindsay Rothfeld

Lindsay Rothfeld is the Sr. Manager, Community at Nearpod. Lindsay began her career in ed tech as Flocabulary’s community manager back in 2018 and has loved every minute of it. If you’ve seen posts on social media that mention PioNears, Nearpod/Flocabulary Certified Educators, or Camp Engage, then you’ve seen the result of Lindsay’s work. She is grateful for the incredible relationships she’s built with educators across the globe and would love to connect with anyone interested in getting more involved with Nearpod’s community!

The post ISTE 2022 Recap appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

This means that if you’re one of the top 10 Silver teachers to launch the most lessons during these dates, Nearpod will donate a Site License to your school! View all of the amazing features available with a School Site License.

Not only can you unlock all of Nearpod’s features, your fellow teachers and administrators can also! That’s the power of a Nearpod School License.

Keep reading to see our Challenge FAQ and learn tips and tricks for entering.

Challenge FAQ

What is it?

It’s a contest for teachers who have a Silver (free) Nearpod account. Participants will launch Nearpod lessons each week for a chance to win weekly prizes and/or a Nearpod license for their school. Read the Terms and Conditions here.

When does the contest take place?

Monday September 20,2021 – Sunday October 24,2021

Who can enter?

This contest is only for teachers in the United States who currently have a Nearpod Silver account or sign up for a Nearpod Silver Account. You are automatically entered into our challenge if you have a Nearpod Silver account.

What is the prize(s)?

For the grand prize, Nearpod is donating 1 School License to the winning teacher’s respective school  on behalf of each of the 10 winning teachers. Each of the 10 winners will also receive a Nearpod swag pack.

There will also be weekly Nearpod swag packs given away to the top Silver teacher that week.

How can I enter/participate?

If you have a Silver account, you’re automatically entered in the challenge. You can participate by launching Nearpod lessons you’ve created, edited, and/or downloaded from our lesson library. Launching a lesson means hosting the lesson with Live Participation and/or Student-Paced. Learn how to launch a lesson.

If you have any other questions, please reach out to contest@nearpod.com.

You may be an expert when it comes to leveraging the power of Nearpod in your classroom, but it’s important to recognize all the different ways you can infuse Nearpod into your practice to enter. Here are some tips and tricks for how to get there by expanding your idea of how Nearpod can support your instruction!

Making the most out of your Nearpod experience during the challenge

Teaching is about imparting skills and information into learners through a variety of means, but great teachers all have something in common- they are continually assessing and reflecting on whether students have grasped the concepts at hand. Nearpod provides the means to do just that in so many different environments and technology landscapes, all while ensuring the learning experiences are engaging, accessible, and inclusive for students. Let’s review a few of my favorite ways to infuse Nearpod into your instructional practice, and keep in mind each of these will make you eligible for entry into our contest!

As a former HS social studies teacher, I leaned heavily on the lecture format to deliver information about events in US and World History. I prided myself on being the most enthusiastic and captivating orator I could possibly be and yet the evaluative feedback I got was always the same, “We’d like to hear the students more.” They were right. I found Nearpod’s platform and immediately recognized its ability to transform my lectures into interactive experiences where the content I delivered was all that more engaging and I was consistently injecting formative assessments in a variety of ways for students to demonstrate comprehension. 

Simple ways to get started on creating your own Nearpod lessons

With Nearpod, you can make slides-based lessons interactive and gather data on student understanding.

You can make any lesson interactive by searching Nearpod’s lesson library for pre-made lessons according to standards, subjects, and grade levels. You can also create your own slide-based lesson with interactive formative assessment features. 

Transforming one of your lectures is as easy as uploading an existing PPT or Google Slides presentation into Nearpod and infusing dynamic media and activities at strategic points, or modifying Nearpod’s pre-made lessons from the lesson library to fit your classroom. 

Some ideas include:

1. Add a poll or a VR field trip at the beginning of class to spark discussion or real world connection
2. Insert Draw Its, Open Ended Questions, or a Collaborate Board to let students make their voices heard throughout the experience
3. Embed a Quiz at the end to serve as an exit ticket

These 4-5 additions to my existing lesson transformed it from a passive to active learning experience for my students and I was more informed along the way because of it. 

Interactive Video: Choose a pre-made video lesson, or create your own in minutes

On Interactive Video, you can create active video experiences in any lesson while checking for student understanding using built-in questions. Another aspect of my teaching practice involved sharing videos with students as a means to flip the classroom ahead of a discussion or after a lecture to extend their learning. My Government students adored Craig from Crash Course Government, and yet I always found sharing these videos to be too passive of an experience. 

With Nearpod, I could make these videos interactive by injecting questions into strategic parts of the video just like I could with my lectures. 11 minutes is a long time to sit and watch, but by answering multiple choice or open-ended questions throughout the video I could ensure students would be paying attention and applying what they learned throughout. 

When I used this strategy to flip the classroom, the data would give me confidence that students understood a given concept like Separation of Powers ahead of committing an entire period to a debate on the subject. What’s even better was that Nearpod has a library of thousands of these videos with questions already written including some incredible Nearpod Originals, so I didn’t have to start from scratch.

Here are a few teacher favorites! Use these video lessons as is, modify them, or use them as inspiration to create your own:

1. Nearpod Originals (K-12 ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Life Skills)
2. Crash Course (8-12 Math, Science, Social Studies) 
3. PBS Kids (K-5 ELA, Social Studies, SEL, Health, Technology)
4. BBC Worldwide  (3-12 Social Studies, Science, Life Skills, Technology)
5. TED-Ed (6-12 ELA, Science, Social Studies)

Choose from standards-aligned activities and gamification lessons, or create your own in minutes

An additional way I encourage teachers to unleash the power of Nearpod is by injecting some gamification activities into the classroom experience. Nearpod’s gamification and activities include Time to Climb, Draw It, and Matching Pairs.

At the end of an especially rigorous week, I would make a 10-question Time to Climb trivia quiz and let my students duke it out for who would sit atop the mountain as the master of that week’s knowledge base. This fun routine became a staple of my classroom’s culture and Nearpod made it so easy by offering a huge library just like with video or letting me convert existing quizzes into Time to Climb with the click of a button.

Use these activities as is, modify them, or use them as inspiration to create your own:

1. Draw It Activities (K-12 ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Life Skills)
2. Matching Pairs Activities (K-12 ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Tech & Other)
3. Time to Climb Activities (K-12 ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Life Skills)

Any of the above strategies- turning a lecture into an interactive experience, flipping the classroom with interactive video, or injecting gamification with Time to Climb- are easy ways to dip your toe in the water of Nearpod and understand the power of the platform. The best part though, is that doing any of the above will automatically enter you in our contest!

Don’t forget to use these tips and tricks as a guide for when you’re creating, downloading, and launching lessons. Good luck, teachers!

If you’re looking for resources to provide your administrators about Nearpod and/or looking for alternative ways to fund a Gold or platinum license, click below!

Adam Franklin

Adam is a Learning Experience Designer at Nearpod. He previously taught High School History teacher in Houston, Texas where he also served as the Social Studies Department Chair. Adam is currently in charge of the quality control of Nearpod’s learning experiences. He is also the manager of the Digital Citizenship and Literacy program.

The post Bring Nearpod to Your School Challenge appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

To show our gratitude, here’s what we’re doing… 

We’re giving away 50k in Gold Licenses!

If you are a Silver user…this one’s for you! Teach with Nearpod as many times as you can during November. Each week, we will look at the 140 teachers that have taught the most lessons and email you with your NEW Gold license! That’s it! 

View official Terms and Conditions here.

Win a $5 Starbucks gift card, $50 Uber Eats gift card, OR a $100 gift card! 

Each week, we will post a question to retweet/share and respond to on a different social media account of ours (on Twitter, Instagram and the Educator Facebook Group. Winners will be randomly selected. Each week, 25 winners will receive a $5 Starbucks gift card, 4 winners will receive a $50 Uber Eats gift card, and 2 winners will receive a $100 gift card!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Month of Giving appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

How Virtual Spirit Week Will Work:

monday

Monday

Student Version:

Ask your students to write a lyric about how they are social distancing to compile in a class song! Use this or this Flocab rhyming lesson and social distancing video to get them thinking!

Tuesday

#NearpodWednesday

Thursday

It’s time for some fun! Take a picture of your must-have virtual teaching resource and tag us using #NearpodSpritWeek. We also want you to be able to run a virtual spirit week in your classroom! Click the editable Google Slides Template below so that you can launch #NearpodSpiritWeek in your own virtual classroom!

Student Version: Create a show and tell type experience in your next virtual meeting together. Students share one items that they love during this remote learning time. To manage the responses, use our Flipgrid integration with Nearpod for them to submit!

Friday

We’re ending Nearpod spirit week in true tech style…with some MEMES! Let’s make others laugh and smile today by sharing our favorite memes or creating our own and tagging #NearpodSpiritWeek!

Student Version: Allow your students to create a meme about distance learning!

Run #NearpodSpiritWeek in your Class!

We know that it’s important now more than ever keep connections strong with your students. We’ve created a customizable Google Slides template that can be used with the Nearpod Google Add-On so that you replicate this in your own classrooms!

We hope this is a fun and exciting way to shake up your week and creates an opportunity for you to continue to strengthen relationships with your students…wherever they are!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Participate in #NearpodSpiritWeek! appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Thinking about attending #NearpodTransform? Here are just a few reasons why you CAN’T miss it!

#1 Ft. Lauderdale in February. Need we say more?

#2 You can get continuing education credit! We’ll send you a certificate for 10 completed instructional hours after the event. Just email transformconference@nearpod.com.

#3 All of your meals , drinks and networking events are included in the registration fee of only $185.

#4 Get up close and personal with Nearpod leadership, including the founders. You’ll even have a chance to meet with our product team and provide your feedback on what we should build next!

#5 Get your school/district to sponsor you using our justification letter template.

#6 There is something for everyone – teachers and administrators, Nearpod experts and novices. Take a look at the agenda at nearpod.com/transform.

#7 Hear from Governor Beverly E. Perdue, the first female Governor of North Carolina and Founder & Chair of digiLEARN.

Register today – space is limited!

Click the button below  for more information about #NearpodTransform

Learn More

[wpcdt-countdown id=”8691″]

“Sea” you there!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post #NearpodTransform: 7 Reasons not to miss the boat! appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

On Feb 23-25, Nearpod hosted our 3rd annual PioNear Summit in sunny Hollywood Beach, FL. We were thrilled to welcome a packed room of passionate edtech enthusiasts from around the world. Some came from as far as the Middle East! We spent a weekend of community building and professional development.

This year’s summit was all about transformation. Conversations focused on questions like:

• How do we harness technology to transform the way teaching looks in the classroom?
• How do we ensure we are preparing students for the world that awaits them?
• How can we provide easy-to-use digital resources to more teachers and students?

Watch the brief video that brings together the best moments of this inspirational weekend.

Mass rock, paper, scissors contest.

Some of our favorite Summit moments included:

• Nearpod VP of Content Jennie Kristoffersen’s discussion about how we must bridge the gap between active and passive use of technology in the classroom
• A behind the scenes look at how the Nearpod product platform is evolving with CTO John Eckerd and Head of Product Sebastian Feldman
• A Next level VR demonstration by PioNear and VR enthusiast, Steve Bambury
• Indisputable evidence that educators can sing (and dance) at Plug-IN Karaoke

PioNear Experience

See what the PioNears had to say about their Summit experience.

Willingness of NEARPOD to bring motivated educators together to share and learn. Connections from the community of learners makes me a better educator and trainer. Can’t wait to try all the new curriculum and instructional options. #pionearsummit #nearpodbuzz

— jsrothenberger (@jsrothenberger) February 25, 2018

Day1 complete: it amazes me how hands on @nearpod is. I am so excited to see the content development team focus on preparing students for their future- college, Ctc etc. Ultimately, it is so apparent why nearpod continues to excel -they truly care! #nearpodbuzz #pionearsummit

— Courtney Kofeldt (@CourtneyKofeldt) February 24, 2018

My takeaway from the #pionearsummit today was the awesome work @nearpod is doing to to increase #innovation in the classroom. Making it possible to engage students in new and creative ways. #nearpodbuzz

— greg macer (@mrmacer) February 24, 2018

Takeaway for the day: @nearpod is constantly involving and improving but the best part is tchrs and ss are always at the center of the purpose and process! I ? #pionearsummit @moffatteach #nearpodbuzz pic.twitter.com/oSp0u0INU6

— Crystal Trotter (@CrystalTrotter) February 24, 2018

Read Crystal Trotter’s full experience at the PioNear Summit here.

Read Gabriel Carillo’s experience at the PioNear Summit here.

You can read the rest of the social media buzz using #PioNearSummit.

Nearpod Team Experience

The PioNear Summit was an opportunity for Nearpod employees to connect with PioNears. Nearpod keeps teachers at the center of everything we do and the Summit weekend was an outlet for employees to connect at a deeper level with Nearpod’s most avid fans.

The insight shared by the PioNears stretched my mind, allowing me to see how Nearpod can be used in ways I never imagined. Together, we bounced ideas off one other and cultivated a space of creativity which also strengthened our community. Together, we reflected on how we are transforming education and how we can continue to do so.

Valeria, Customer Success Manager

Nearpod keeps teachers at the center of everything they do. The PioNear Summit is just one example of this mission and collaboration. As a former district math coordinator, I am proud to work for a company with such a strong teacher focus.

Jennie, VP of Content Strategy 

The PioNear Summit was a tremendously inspirational and energizing experience. The passion PioNears have for education and technology is infectious!

Inga, Senior Director of Marketing

Thank you PioNears!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post PioNear Summit 2018 appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Rachel Thomas and Steven Lamb are elementary school teachers in Albuquerque Public Schools and Nearpod PioNears. They regularly connect their classrooms using digital tools and recently spoke about their collaboration at a TEDx event. Their reflection on their TEDx experience was originally posted on their blog here.

TEDx events personify “ideas worth spreading”, and redefining education through the use of technological tools is one of those ideas. As educators, we want to survive in the classroom as much as we want our students to be successful. We crave moments that inspire and reinvigorate why we chose education as a profession. Technology is one of those pieces.

Experiencing the value of the TEDx coaching sessions is a moment where big ideas turn into refined, focused message. Being our second TEDxABQ Education Talk, we felt we had much more to share. Steven and I discussed, considered, bantered, stressed, created, and finally came to the one idea worth spreading. Technology embodies creativity, it fosters engagement, enlightenment, and imagination.

There are a plethora of tools at our disposal and it can become terribly overwhelming when looking for what can change the culture of a classroom. Rather than attempting to implement them all, it is always best to focus on the most impactful resource. One such tool is Nearpod.

When cultivating our message, we knew that this interactive program could demonstrate what we could not accurately communicate. Open-ended questioning, polls, fill-in-the-blanks, drawing, quizzes, and a litany of other features demonstrate how Nearpod IS creativity. But not only for the students, but for the teachers as well. Hence, in a room of 300 individuals, we launched a Nearpod lesson for our audience to interact with a traditionally observation-only event. Interactive technology plus a live TEDx Talk? What could have been complete chaos, became an opportunity to learn from our peers. We first asked what they think of when they hear the term “educational technology”

Secondly, we asked the audience what the TEDxABQ Education event meant to them:

In the end, we asked a few hundred people to use a technology with which they had not had prior training. They were able to express their opinion, individuality, and creativity in seconds for all to experience.

Technology + Interactivity + Creativity + Imagination = Nearpod.

Nearpod is an idea worth spreading.

Until the official publishing of the Talk, please feel free to visit the LIVE STREAM at 1hr2min.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post TEDxABQ Education 2017 & Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Collaborative Magic

Before the event started people coordinated rideshares and airport meet-ups to get to the hotel. Despite never meeting in person, the community was strengthening before the event even began. We all came as strangers, but wanted to make sure no one felt that way.

During breaks and meals, I constantly heard chatter about “What do you do? How do you do it? What tools do you use? Will you share with me?”  Of course there were social conversations because everyone was making genuine connections, but the majority of the weekend was spent discussing professional goals and our shared passion for helping other educators and students.

Read PioNear Hope Elliott‘s own recap of our summit on her blog The Techie Teacher here.

Team Building

The PioNears are an amazing group of educators who spent a good portion of the weekend working together in teams. Many of the activities were very fun and easily replicated in classrooms. Visit PioNear Amy Roediger’s blog A Lever and a Place to Stand to learn 8 activities for spicing up your next lesson, professional development, training, or workshop.

Focus on Professional Development and SEL

So many interactive, hands-on, out of the seat, avant-garde activities happening that it was a challenge to write this blog during the Summit before it ended up as old news. To have a tech company celebrate educators and show them that they are the most important piece of their company is so refreshing. It was immediately clear that all the attendees are completely comfortable and cognizant that the SEL influences education in ways that affect children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. I’m reminded of a quote from Nobel Laureate, James Heckman, the greatest returns on education investments are “from nurturing children’s non-cognitive skills, giving them social, emotional and behavioral benefits that lead to success later in life…”

Read PioNear Jayne Clare‘s own recap of the summit on the Teacher’s With Apps blog here.

A Global Community

The best part of the conference was the collegiality in the group, connecting with some amazing people and the informal conversations around learning. Participants came not only from North America, but the Netherlands, Denmark, Serbia and the UK.  It was a wonderful weekend of community building and hearing about the exciting developments happening in the upcoming year that continue to help teachers create engaging and rich learning environments with and for their students.

Read PioNear Vickie Morgado‘s own recap of the summit on the Global Connections Blog here.

Start with Why

Like Simon Sinek says, “Start with the why.” Nearpod knows its “why,” so they brought educators together from all over the world to learn, grow, and connect with each other. It knows that educators are at the heart of shifting the education paradigm and that its product can help make that shift happen.

What the summit really accomplished was the strengthening of a community of educators who work all over the world to advance digital pedagogy for student improvement. Informal conversations, an un-conference, and “Spark” sessions throughout the weekend allowed educators to connect through authentic discourse, and to share ideas and best practices.

Read PioNear Mason‘s own recap of the summit on his blog Ed Tech Mason here.

We are proud of the work that the PioNear community is doing in classrooms and schools around the world, and it was an incredible experience to bring everyone together to make the community even stronger. We plan to grow the community even more in 2017 so if you’re interested in becoming a PioNear, we encourage you to learn more and apply at https://nearpod.com/pionears.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post PioNear Summit 2017 appeared first on Nearpod Blog.