Linlan Huang, Yau Wan and Clive Holtham
Interactive technologies receive increasing attention in face-to-face lectures in the post-covid context (Sousa, Campos, and Matos 2021; Rapanta et al. 2021). Much use of technology in higher education to augment physical classroom activity has historically evolved via “ad hoc” tools, for example, hands-up voting or clickers superseded by polling software; flip chart and other paper-based activities superseded by the shared whiteboard and shared online sticky notes (Dianati et al. 2020; Shuker and Burton 2021). All these are typically separate web-based apps. However, a new genre of in-classroom technology has evolved through tools such as Peardeck, Nearpod and Wooclap, which replace ad hoc technologies, including PowerPoint, in a fully integrated “platform” which is easy and seamless to design and use by both faculty and learners via phones, tablets or laptops (Wang and Chia 2022; Hakami 2020). An extensive menu of interactions can be drawn on to alter the balance between teacher- and student-generated content in a workshop environment (Burton 2019).
The proposed workshop draws together lessons learnt in the last two years by Bayes faculty involved in piloting the use of Nearpod for business education. Our use of Nearpod has been presented and recognised in three premier international conferences for education, including MOBTS, IATED and LTSE. The primary aim has been to address the post-pandemic problem of learners less well-adapted to physical classroom learning, which has been faced by business lecturers and educators in other disciplines (Neuwirth, Jović, and Mukherji 2021; Gregg and Shin 2021). We argue that by adopting the integrated platform of interactive activities such as Nearpod, educators will likely increase student engagement in post-covid classrooms. In addition, an equally important aim has been to impact the respective contributions between the teacher and student, especially for experienced postgraduates and in professional development.
The workshop has been co-designed and co-authored with a Bayes postgraduate student, who will also lead in the day’s facilitation. Participants need to be advised to have a smartphone, tablet or laptop to participate fully. In this session, we will introduce the use of Nearpod in face-to-face classrooms as a synchronous learning experience. Participants will have the opportunity to collaborate and engage with a range of interactive activities at student-pace and teacher’s pace, respectively. In particular, we will explore these questions:
· What could have been done differently for physical classrooms before and after Covid-19?
· How does Nearpod make a difference to face-to-face and synchronous classes?
· What may be potential barriers and reluctance to change for the use of Nearpod?
· How does using Nearpod facilitate group work and partnership between teachers and students? The workshop will involve:
· Setting the scene 5 minutes
· Introduction to the technology 5 minutes
· A series of approximately 6 activities (5 minutes each) which demonstrate how an integrated technology platform can beneficially reorientate the relative contributions of teachers and learners in a physical classroom.
· Discussion 20 minutes, primarily oral but also including technology use.
· Please make sure to bring a device that can access the internet, ideally tablet or laptop though a smartphone will do.
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Dianati, Seb, The University of Queensland, Australia, Mai Nguyen, Phung Dao, Noriko Iwashita, Claudia Vasquez, Manchester Metropolitan University, England, Manchester Metropolitan University, England, The University of Queensland, Australia, and The University of Queensland, Australia. 2020. “Student Perceptions of Technological Tools for Flipped Instruction: The Case of Padlet, Kahoot! And Cirrus.” Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice 17 (5): 52–66.
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