Flipped Learning with Nearpod

Indirect or Direct?

Recently, I have been trying to get my Year 12 confident with pronouns (direct and indirect object pronouns).  Anyone who teaches French will know that these can be complicated for some pupils and it can be tricky to teach.  Thinking that I really needed to get my pupils to work at their own pace and take their time over exercises testing their (hopefully) new-found knowledge I decided to put together some lessons using Nearpod.  Nearpod is an online tool that allows you to create inspiring and engaging lessons and provide you with 'real-time feedback and post-session reports'.  This last term I was able to benefit from the ability to embed videos from YouTube for free (normally, you would have to upgrade to be able to use Web Content) and over a suite of Nearpod lessons I started each different grammatical point with a video.  Of course, if I had made the video myself, there would have been no problem in simply uploading that from a number of different sources (eg dropbox, googledrive, or my computer's hard drive) and embedding it in the Nearpod lesson.   I was then able to create a number of different activities from open ended questions, to quizzes and from memory tests to filling in the blanks.  There is even now a collaborative page where pupils can work together and there is a draw function.  This latter I have seen used effectively in a Chinese lesson where there was a need for pupils to write Chinese characters. 
I could have set these tasks to be completed out of the classroom but on this occasion I chose the "student-paced" option which allowed students to do the work at their own pace and importantly, it allowed me to go around and help each pupil work on areas they found more complex.  If I had chosen a "live lesson" I would have been in control and students would not have been able to go back and check the video or other useful information provided at the start of the Nearpod lesson.
Of course there are many benefits to a live lesson as well.  Once students have tackled some questions the teacher can share students' work with the rest of the class. The opportunity therefore to promote discussion and collaboration is greatly enhanced via tools such as Nearpod and the ensuing progress that students are able to make is also further improved. 
Analytics are also available as you can see below.  Such fast, easily accessed information on your students' progress is to be highly valued and makes tools such as these vital in this day and age when time is of the essence.

Sadly, my trial period which enabled me to use the student-paced lesson is now at an end.  Nonetheless, I shall continue to use the live lesson feature and having attended the ATI17 conference which is all about 'pushing the boundaries of technology in education' I have been reminded of a number of other great tools that have similar functions.  More on these in my next blog...
What tools do you like to use that enable you to differentiate in this way and that provide you with great detailed feedback from your pupils?  Let me know in the comments box below.