Last week, Amy Cavendar wrote about using Google Forms for polling. I agree with the general direction of moving away from “clickers” that need dedicated hardware and instead using software that allows students to use their own mobile devices (phones, tablets, laptops) to respond. However, I use polling often in my classes and workshops I give to faculty, and I prefer NearPod. It is by no means the only good tool with a free option (e.g. Socrative). I give a workshop on technology-enhanced learning, and faculty consistently finish that workshop wanting to learn to use NearPod (and ignore all the other tools and pedagogies I mention in the workshop itself! Process over content, I tell you!). It’s so simple to set up that many of them figure out how to use it on their own, or just need a quick orientation to get them started.
Here’s why I recommend NearPod to others (I’m here going to compare mainly to Google Forms).
It has a quiz option
Lots of instructors, particularly in the sciences, want to use personal response systems to have students answer multiple choice questions with correct and incorrect answers, rather than just poll for opinion. When displaying results, NearPod can show correct/incorrect answers, and connect them to the student who answered. Because Google Forms is mainly made for surveys, this functionality does not exist.
It allows you to create the entire presentation in the same place
NearPod can be used to create an entire presentation with occasional questions interspersed, so the instructor does not have to switch between PowerPoint and NearPod all the time (I often use NearPod several times throughout a presentation, not just beginning or end of a class or workshop).
Logging on is very simple
For students to respond to a Google form, you would need to either send them the link in advance somewhere, or create a shortlink for them to use. NearPod is simpler. Each time you run what is called a “live session” it creates a short PIN code on the fly, which is only 6 characters, and which participants/students enter upon going to NearPod.com or using the app on their phone/iPad
You can create and edit polls/quizzes from your tablet
I often need to make small changes to a presentation just before I run it, and I do so during my commute to work, where I have my phone and tablet but not my laptop. NearPod allows you to edit on your iPad, but Google Forms has no iPad app.
Run NearPod from tablet or PC
You can easily run NearPod from a tablet or PC. I run it from a PC when I want students to see the results on the screen (e.g. when we are brainstorming something using open-ended answers) or from tablet when I don’t want them to see each other’s results immediately (you can later project the answers to everyone so it appears on their screens.
NearPod Reporting
NearPod is not amazing at reporting. You do get to see the results immediately on the screen you are running NearPod from (which can be a screen students see, or your iPad which they would not see). You can also download a pdf report later, but I would much prefer an excel type report (the kind Google Forms does) for complex things. As it is, I usually use NearPod for simple things that don’t require much manipulation.
NearPod Limitations
NearPod is not perfect. There is a limit to how many respondents you can get with the free version (30) but there are paid versions. I got a free upgrade (which allows up to 50 respondents) when I invited 5 friends to join and they accepted. NearPod also doesn’t do everything for everyone: A professor tells me it has limited maths functionality, which can be a limitation for some science courses.
But I Love Google Forms...
I love Google Forms for a lot of things - for surveys, particularly when I do collaborative research and several of us need to edit the questions or manipulate the answers; I also like it for sign-up forms and I love the “email notifications” option you can get for results. But it is not my go-to tool for polling in class.
What do you use for class polling? Tell us in the comments.
flickr photo by Laurie Sullivan shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license