Friday, March 31, 2023

Nearpod

 

            The educational application Nearpod has been gaining traction in recent years because of its intriguing approach to learning. This application provides many features that are beneficial to teachers and students. There are interactive polls and activities that can be built into slideshows that let students participate in the lesson in a unique and interesting way. Different lessons are provided by the platform, which you can edit and adjust to fit your class’s specific needs. These features also provide the teacher with necessary feedback that they can use to improve their lesson. The usage of gamified lessons also helps to keep student engagement and makes learning more interesting for them. 

The drawbacks of this application may not be obvious immediately, as there is so much potential for creating an exciting environment that fosters learning. However, there are some limitations. Teachers who use Nearpod independently from their organization do not have access to all its features. Nearpod Programs is the paid subscription that is used schoolwide to help develop lessons and enhance learning. This program is not available to teachers with independent accounts or school districts who cannot pay for it. It can prevent students from getting high quality lessons they deserve. Despite this, the base features of Nearpod are still useful and helpful to independent teachers and their classes.

Through the many diverse features Nearpod provides, teachers could use this platform to create lesson plans. Nearpod has partnerships with renowned learning websites like PhET and LearnZillion, which provide many different learning resources to enhance lessons. Interactive activities like labs, VR experiences, and gamified lessons can help students gain knowledge they can bring with them everywhere for the rest of their lives. 

Sunday, March 26, 2023

AR in the Classroom

Augmented Reality, also known as AR, is a special type of technology that blends digital software with real world experiences. This technology is used in the classroom to enhance lesson plans. Elements 4D is an AR app that lets students create complex chemical reactions and see the aftermath from the comfort of their own classroom. 
Teachers who use Elements 4D print out templates provided by the app that represent different elements on the periodic table. The templates fold into boxes that the students then use alongside the in app camera to create different chemical reactions. The app also includes written and visual explanations when a chemical reaction occurs. 
This app could be useful in a lesson plan for a middle school or high school chemistry class. Elements 4D provides a way to explore the trends in the periodic table, identify the different types of chemical bonds, and allows students to test those reactions themselves. It could be a useful tool when paired with teacher instruction. 

Friday, March 10, 2023

My Bitmoji Classroom

My desired subject and age group to teach is 7th grade algebra or geometry, and I designed my bitmoji classroom with this in mind.

I am also a huge fan of motivational posters and funny jokes, which will definitely make their way into my own classroom in real life one day as well! 

This was a very fun project! I may develop my design further in the future. 


Signing off for now, 
Ms. Harrison

Student Participation Online

    In a situation where students are either not motivated or anxious to participate, it can be difficult to know what to do to encourage ...