Integrative, interactive slides

I really like Pear Deck and find new ways to utilize it every time. I love that I can add voiceover for hearing impaired students, let the students go through a deck at their own pace, and see their answers in real time. I am still discovering new uses, and I love it!

Pros

I love that I can use slides more effectively by making them more interactive. Google Slides are already so easy to use, and having a simple add-on that lets me ask questions and see the answers in real time makes Slides even more useful for learning. My favorite feature is the ability for students to answer questions by adding a drawing. I love seeing their creativity, and they have so much fun that they forget they're learning.

Cons

I understand that they need to make money off of their product, but it is frustrating that they hide certain features behind a paywall. To have students be able to draw an answer, you must be a premium user. I think it would be more productive to have the tiers be more substantial. Drawing seems like such a small (but my favorite, most useful) feature to hide behind the paywall.

Great way to connect with students!

Positive!

Pros

As a teacher it is nice to be able to connect with students in class in a remote way. Students can add there thoughts, opinions, and ideas to a class discussion without necessarily needing to speak. Gives even the shyest student a voice.

Cons

Not completely user friendly. Takes a few times to figure out how to use and implement.

Easy to the Eyes

It was great at first but in the later part of using it, I noticed that lesser and lesser of my students are showing work. I think more of them will be engaged if at the end of the lesson, I will have a grade that reflects how much they did and it can be pushed to their gradebook so that they are aware that it is important to do their notes.

Pros

The color and how it presented is fun, warm and light to the eyes. Students and teacher like the features because it looks fun. It has templates for checking which is awesome. Teacher dashboard is really great and very easy to use for every class.

Cons

I hope I can combine 2 options in the same slide. Like drawing and quiz . I hope the when I do quiz like question, I can put in the key so that I can see real time who missed it and who got it.

Good, with room for improvement

I use it daily because my first graders find it user friendly.

Pros

Pear Deck allows a teacher to see her students’ work in real-time and therefore make better instructional decisions. Pear Deck allows students to write on slides, answer multiple-choice questions, and drag up to five shapes.

Cons

This software could improve by allowing teachers to upload their own draggables and allow more than five draggables on a slide. Additionally, the customer service is very limited. I’ve had a student unable to access the slides for a couple of weeks now. Waiting to hear back from Pear Deck because my school’s technical support has not found a solution on their end. Additionally, I’ve google my student’s problem and haven’t found a solution. I am tech savvy.

Pear Deck for Virtual Learning

I use Pear Deck to teach virtually, create collaborate small groups and give meaningful assignments where the users can respond. I can record their responses or save them in order to give them feedback. I use it daily as so many of my students are virtual learners.

Pros

Peardeck allows me to interact with my audience in a genuine and authentic way. Through Pear Deck, I can create a presentation and ask a collaborative question, poll the audience or have them complete an assignment. Their individual responses are collected and easily visable. I can offer real time fedback and know immediately their progress and thinking. It is easy to convert a prevvious presentation or Google slide into Pear Deck in a matter of minutes. Users can add the Pear Deck app and log on. I can have it as I live session or can save it to go back and review individual responses.

Cons

A drawback that I have encountered is that individuals must put their name when they respond. If not, the presenter will not know from whom the responses are coming from. I always have to remind my audience about this.