Using Nearpod In The Classroom

 Nearpod is a virtual learning tool that can be used to help design interactive lessons such as quizzes, polls, videos, collaborate boards, and more.  Nearpod has many benefits, including 22,000+  pre-made standards-aligned lessons, videos, and activities for all K-12 subjects, featuring trusted publishers.  You can also create your own slide-based lessons or videos with embedded interactive activities and assessments.  Students can follow along on their own devices while the teacher has access to their responses in real time.  Nearpod can also help increase student engagement and participation, students can feel comfortable responding to questions by answering digitally while the teacher encourages class discussion.

However, Nearpod also has some limitations.  Nearpod is technology dependent and students don't always have access to their own laptops/tablets, and technology has a tendency to fail sometimes.  Another drawback of Nearpod is the paid features, not everything in the program is made available for free, if you want access to more features you need to pay a yearly subscription which ranges from $120-$349.  Some of the better features such as student-paced lessons, individual student reports, and access to thousands of ready to teach Nearpod lessons can only be used once you pay hundreds of dollars.  Nearpod's slideshow functionality has also been described as subpar and it's recommended that you upload Google slides or PowerPoint slides into Nearpod instead of using their template.

There are many ways for teachers to implement Nearpod into their lesson plans whether in the classroom or virtually.  First you can use Nearpod as a simple presentation delivery method like PowerPoint.  Nearpod can also be used to distribute student resources like images or worksheets to the whole class.  Teachers can use the app to do live formative assessments and see students' responses and check for their understanding in real time.  Teachers can also use Nearpod to have students participate in interactive games and activities to add interest and excitement to everyday learning.  Students can also use Nearpod to assess themselves using the "poll" feature.

VR as an education tool

 The VR educational tool I looked into was the VR Lessons by ThingLink app.  This app allows you to visit multiple destinations around the world.  The app will show you a 360° view of whichever place you pick to visit.  Each destination also has links embedded in the images that will take you to different websites with information and facts about each place.  The app also has audio available for people who struggle to read well.

This tool is tailored more for primary school children because it's easy to use and doesn't include any super difficult concepts.  The idea for this tool is to allow people, like young children, to visit places around the world that they normally wouldn't be able to visit.  Teachers would also use this app to help teach their young students about the different ecosystems around the world.  It probably wouldn't be used by secondary school students because the information would most likely already be known.

This tool can benefit individuals by teaching them about environments they're not likely to experience at home.  It can also benefit teachers by helping them save time from having to design their own lessons from scratch when going over these subjects in class.  This VR tool can also help students get familiar with using a VR lesson so that they're more prepared for if they participate in more VR lessons in the future.  Lastly, this app can help parents save money from having to go on expensive trips their kids might want to take, instead just take a VR tour.

My Bitmoji Classroom

 I would like to teach at either the high school or middle school level but preferably high school.  I also don't know what subject I would like to teach but I know I don't want to teach english.