Nearpod raises $9.2m expanding mobile phone use in classrooms

Interactive classroom tool Nearpod has raised almost $9.2m to fund its project enabling teachers to adopt a 'best practice' approach to mobile phone usage in their classrooms. The idea behind this is that teachers will use mobile phones or other mobile devices as a form of personalised learning, delivering interactive lessons that their students will understand and instantly connect with. They will be able to determine if a student understands the lesson or whether they require additional help., making best use of their limited time. By using Nearpod a student can progress through a lesson at the teacher's pace whilst enjoying the interactive element; however, this one-to-one approach has a downside in that children from poorer backgrounds may be unable to afford this technology thereby placing them at a disadvantage.

Nearpod has raised $9.2 million to fund its journey to help teachers best use mobile technology in the classroom. After all, if you can’t beat them, join them, right?

"The lessons feel like interactive stories, projects or mobile games, typically. But they give teachers a view on students’ mastery or struggles with particular topics,” said TechCrunch.com.

"Giving teachers the power of real-time assessment in class helps them choose how to focus their scant time with their students, and what content to present their students next, one by one or as a collective.”

In other words, it helps teachers achieve a highly-desired form of personalized learning.

Nearpod is already being used in thousands of classrooms. Earlier in the year, science teacher Joanna Beck wrote a post for ASCD Smartbrief about how she successfully uses Nearpod for virtual field trips in the classroom.

"Nearpod ensures students move through a lesson at the teacher’s pace. By the end of the lesson, the teacher can print reports to analyze student data. Consider using Nearpod Virtual Field Trips to engage students in your next lesson,” Beck said.

Of course, with any edtech comes a downside. Nearpod’s reliance on either one-to-one initiatives or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programs has the potential to further put disadvantaged children and districts at a disadvantage.

Compromising student data, however, is not a concern for this edtech tool.

"Due to privacy concerns, Nearpod doesn’t store data on students for longer-term analysis,” Techcrunch.com said.

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Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

5/10/2016