Using the computer software named “ nearpod” to teach online english 12 on VNPT system at le loi high school during covid 19 epidemic

Using technological tools to share, display and assess information is extremely common.Any English teacher would identify various tools that they have to use in their teaching depending

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

I Reasons for the study

As long as English is still the language of science, technology, international business, research and academic publication, strategies on how to teach and learn the English language effectively continue to be a subject of great interest among English teachers and learners and perhaps effective English learning and teaching strategies will remain a popular topic of discussion It is the fact that Teachers are always looking for ways to help students enhance their academic achievement as well as ways to increase their level of learning Teachers has considered technology as an excellent way for them Technology becomes a part of English Language Teaching Learning during the 1900 Since then, its use in ELT classrooms has undergone tremendous changes Initially what started with the use of cassette recorders and television has been replaced with a more sophisticated variety of audio-viasual aids being used in ELT classes such as projectors, laptop, interactive smart board, smart phones, etc English teachers in the 21st century are not lacking for technological tools that claim

to boost students learning The role of information and communication technology in our lives is very clear particularly in the lives of students where it combines both playing and learning It helps to develop curiosity, observation and experimentation

in students It is quite clear that students are very interested in technology and need to experience it different tools, apps and service Using technological tools to share, display and assess information is extremely common.Any English teacher would identify various tools that they have to use in their teaching depending on the level of the students, learning outcomes and course outline Technology and its varied tools were used to supplement teaching and provide a rich and enhanced learning experience to the language learners There are many programs and applications in the current market that the teachers can choose to teacher for the students Nearpod is a web based application that is more interesting, adaptable and accessible to high school students Teachers can use it to develop both their mental and cognitive abilities It is gaining importance due to its positive effect on the growth of students’ memories, thinks, skills and imagination

The year 2020 brought revolutionary changes in teaching learning as a consequencesof spread of corona virus in the form of COVID- 19 which compelled the teachers, educators and students to adapt themselves to a very new and highly innovative method of teaching learning in the form of e-learning or online learning Web based technology like Nearpod has been absolutely essential since the start of COVID-19

As a teacher of English I am well aware that I need to redesign and arrange online teaching schedule and contents that students could meet at me as the supervisor and also to teach students online in order to meet teaching requirements

Having applied “ Nearpod” software to teach English 12 at Le Loi high school during the COVID-19 epidemic on VNPT systems in 2020 sucessfully, I decided to choose the topic

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“ Using the computer software named “ Nearpod” to teach online English 12

on VNPT system at Le Loi high school during Covid 19 Epidemic ” for my

experienced innovation

Of course, this study can’t be perfect in limited time Therefore, I hope that the colleagues’ contribution will make it more perfect

II Aim of the research

The aim of this study are:

- To give out a brief overview on Nearpod created by information teachnology

- To discuss the best way to teach English 12

- To give some lectures samples to teach English 12 by using Nearpod

- To design some activities with Nearpod to teach some units of English 12 during COVID- 19 epidemic

- To propose some suggestions and recommendations to attract students’ attention in learning English

III Research method

- Drew from experience of my teaching

- Consulted many documents especially methods of study

- Asked colleagues’ experience

- Surfed the Internet for further study

IV Scope of the study

The study was going to be investigated at Le Loi high school for mix- level students Due to the limitation of time, only two classes 12A1 and 12A6 were asked to participate in the study during the COVID- 19

V New features in the study’s result:

In my innovation, students use mobible phone, tablets and Ipads accessed to the Internet and the teachers totally control their students’ learning I assure that Nearpod apps is rather new to the teachers and students particularly ones at my local community At my school, I am the first one to apply Nearpod in designing activities

to students for 2 years I found it effective to engage students in my lessons This helps

my students to develop the ability of using language

PART B: MAIN CONTENT

Nearpod is a free shared presentation and assessment tool The app’s concept is simple A teacher can create presentations (similar to PowerPoints), which can include quizzes, polls, videos, images, drawing boards, web content, and more The interactive presentation is then shared with students on their devices

With Nearpod you can make every lesson interactive Launch lessons the students can’t wait to join in with collaborative engaging activities like virtual reality simulation and gamified quizzes As the teacher you’ll always know where your students with Nearpod’s formative assessments including polls, open-ended questions, draw-Its and more Get started with what you already have Upload any of your favourite resources- PPTs, Google Slides and Videos including directly from YouTube and then add in media and formative assessment in a few clicks and now you can ask questions directly into videos to make them interactive Get started even faster with our library of pre- made lessons and videos built- in partnership with some of your favourite brands

2 Overview application of Nearpod software

Nearpod is an online students engagement platform and accessible with internet connection that is a great resource that teachers can use in class to help students learn because it allows the teacher to give students questions like open-ended ones where the students type the response or the answers can be published in drawings where students can actually draw on Nearpod to show their work in writing or drawing if they need to Nearpod allow all the students to come together in one classroom and each one is in their own personal pace where the teacher can give them feedback on their answer It also allows students to see others’ responses on these online board as well Nearpod can also show how many people are good at things and need work on another thing in polls, where the teacher can ask questions like “ How well do you understand these topics?” Nearpod also has fun games like “ time to climb” where the students choose

an animal and each question that they get right they climb the mountain higher and higher Nearpod has been a great experience as the teacher can share videos, questions and polls with the whole class so everyone is interested in and focused

Students can view their learning materials during their lecture using the web browser

or the free Nearpod app using their own electronic devices like smart phones, tablets and laptops Lecturers are able to share their presentation slides with their students by providing an unique code at the start of the session Once the student gain access, the students will be able to see the presentation in the student’s individual screen The lecturer will have control over the pace of presentation Students can only able to view the slide until the lecturer chose to display and the students are restricted from

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accessing subsequent slides The lecturer can view the number of students who are active during the teaching session This enable the lecturer to monitor the student engagement and understand the learning progress through the online activities prepared using the software Formative assessment activities like quizzes, polls, drawing function, collaborate and open ended questions can be added to Nearpod presentations This allow students to interact with the contents and the lecturer can view the response from each student for a particular activity Then the lecturer can choose to discuss further or give formative feedback Table below show the comparison of traditional teaching and interactive teaching using Nearpod

Table: A comparison of traditional Teaching and Nearpod Interactive teaching

Component Traditional teaching Nearpod Interactive Teaching

Materials and

Preparation

- Large class of 40 students, having their own learning materials

- The lecture uses PowerPoint slide and visualize to explain topics

- Large class of 40 students, having their own electronic devices (e.g smart phone, tablet, laptop)

- The lecturer create a presentation using Nearpod app

- Quizzes, polls, drawing function, collaborate and open ended questions are added to Nearpod presentations

During Lecture - Students listen to the

lecture’s explanation and take note whenever necessary

- Lecture will not be able

to know if students are participating in solving questions

- Students follow the lecture that is shown on the device and cannot move beyond the page they are on

- Students take part in the activity that is shown in the page(e.g poll, collaborate, open ended questions, drawing function)

After lecture - Usually no activity or

quiz given upon completion of lecture

- A quiz is used to test the students’ understanding on the topic being taught

- Answers are submitted and quiz are graded immediately

- Lecture go through the quiz questions with students and gives immediate feedback

3 Steps for implementation on Nearpod

Step 1 Navigate to the Nearpod website & Sign Up

Type www.nearpod.com into your preferred browser This will bring you to the Nearpod homepage, where you can sign up for an account In the top right corner of

the webpage click the button that says “Sign Up for Free”

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Step 2 Sign-up for a Nearpod account

You can sign up for a Nearpod account for free using your email address or linking

through Google or Office 365 The sign-in instructions will ask you to determine what

tier of subscription you need Once you have included your sign in details, you can

log-in to the Nearpod interface

Step 3 Log in to the Nearpod interface

Once you have logged in, you will be taken to your personal interface This is where

you can create and locate new or existing lessons you have created

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Step 4 Create a new lesson

In the middle of the page, click on “Create your own” and then select if you would like

to create in “Google Slides” or “Lesson in Nearpod” For this demonstration, we will follow the “Lesson in Nearpod” selection

Step 5 Add content

Now it’s time for you to add content You can do this by uploading an existing file (PPT, PDF etc.) or by creating slides within Nearpod Both have pros and cons, but it

is assumed you likely have pre-built slides at this point, so this demonstration will follow uploading files To do so, click on “Upload Files” and select where you wish to pull your file from (computer, Google Drive, Drop box, Box or One Drive)

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Step 6 Add an activity

Once you have your base content slides created (whether an upload or via Nearpod), you can begin adding the engaging activities To do so, click on any button that says

“Add Slide”

Then select “Add Activity”

A list of the available activities will appear below the menu Depending on your subscription level, some of these activities may not be available to you There is also a thin white chevron arrow to the right of the activities to see more options Select an activity (for this demonstration, select Quiz)

Step 7 Create your quiz content

You will be taken to a window that will ask you to fill in the quiz content, including the question, answer options, a reference (optional) and whether you want a timer You will need to indicate which answer option is correct by selecting one of the checkmarks beside the option

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When you have finished creating your quiz, click on “Save” in the bottom right

Step 8 Preview your presentation

Once you have all of your Nearpod activities created, you can choose to move them to the appropriate location within your presentation Do this by clicking and dragging the tile representing each activity on the screen You will likely want to preview your presentation prior to showing it to students To do so, click on “Preview” next to the

“Save & Exit” button in the bottom right

Step 9 Present

Your presentation is now ready for students To present it, hover on the chosen lesson

in your personal interface and select “Live Lesson” (to present it live) or “Student Paced” (to give students access on their own)

4 Classification of Nearpod activities

There are two ways of building a presentation Firstly, an entirely new presentation can

be started from scratch with the function called ‘new presentation’ Creating slides in Nearpod is similar to the ones created using PowerPoint Images, audio, video, web content, pdf, etc can be added as a content in the slides Secondly, an existing PowerPoint presentation slides can be imported into Nearpod The software publishes the slide as image, thus no further changes in the text is allowed The lecturer can embed video clips on the topic so that the content of the clip can be used for a discussion Once the presentation slides are ready, activities which are formative assessment can be incorporated Activities that are available in Nearpod software are quizzes, polls, drawing function, collaborate and open ended questions that can be used as formative assessment

During a session, lectures can be delivered via Nearpod After the lecture, quiz or multiple choice questions can be given to assess students’ understanding on the lecture topic With nearpod, there is no after grading done by the lecturer as the grading for each student in the class instantly done by the software Even the whole class data is generated instantly Each quiz question can be discussed in the class as formative feedback This allow lecturer to address any issues raised requiring clarification There

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are many activities that designed in this apps Fig 1 shows a screenshot of quiz activity

Figure 1 Quiz Activity Screenshot

Open ended questions can be posed during session to allow students to think and answer Open ended formative assessment strategies allow students to think for themselves and can strengthen student’s critical thinking skills From the answers given by the students, lecturer can decide to share some of the answers and bring in more thought discussions for students Fig 2 shows an example of screenshot for open ended activity

Figure 2 Open Ended Question Activity Screenshot

Collaborate activity on the other hand make students engage in discussion in real time Usually students will not participate openly to answer or discuss any questions Most

of the time the students do not feel confident or feel shy to be heard out loud One reason is they are worried if their answer or opinion seems wrong to others Using Nearpod software gives them the freedom to give answer or opinion as they do not have to talk in front of others This way interaction is established Students also have opportunity to view other students’ post as the post will be on the slides wall This can

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create more thinking and discussion among students All students can participate and can embed images and links within the discussion Fig 3 show screenshot of collaborate activity

Figure 3 Collaborate Activity Screenshot

A drawing activity gives opportunity for student to actively participate by drawing and submitting sketch Sometimes understanding of mechanisms, diagram and mathematical can be expressed through drawing If it is hard to draw, students have option to find picture from the internet and post it or they can manually draw answers, snap a picture and upload it Fig 4 shows the screenshot of draw it activity

Usage of polls allow students to self-assess their own learning with true or false questions, or to gauge misconceptions This will be favorable for the lecturer to see how the response from students for the poll questions is Fig 5 is the screenshot of poll activity The lecturer may choose to share polling responses or examples of submissions from the

drawing tool or open-ended questions, thereby providing instant feedback on learning

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Figure 5 Poll Activity Screenshot

Fig 6 shows the student participation in class After the session, the lecturer can view a detailed report of all student interaction during the lecture The report can be obtained

as a PDF document as well Student paced session are available for students who wants to view the lecture after the session Students will be provided with a separate pin and they can access the material at their own time A PDF document of the lecture

also can be obtained

5 Launching the lesson on Nearpod

when you are at your library, the Nearpod you just create you see the Live lesson and student pace option

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When we click “Live Lesson”, it will open a new screen with directions and a code for students to join we can control the presentation from your laptop or phone (using their app) and as you click to the next slide, the screens on students’ phones will also change

You will see a waiting screen where student names will show up as they sign in Then you can click on the arrow on the right to move to the next slide

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6 Distinguish Live Lesson vs Student Paced

There are two modes the teacher can display the presentations, as a live lesson or student paced Using a live lesson allow the teacher to control everything The teacher control movements of the slides so students cannot go ahead and complete activities without hearing the information first This allows the teacher to set the pace of the classroom so that the teacher can stop and chat about the subject matter I really like this mode for the introduction of a topic

Students- paced allows students to work independently on the presentation They can

go at their own pace This is great as a review of information or to differentiate learning for students that need extra help on a topic

7 Nearpod Add-on for Google Slides

We can embedded our favorite Nearpod activities directly within your Google Slides presentations We even have the ability to collaborate with others

Open a Google Slides presentation and go to Add-ons →get Add- ons→type Nearpod

in the research box→Click + Free→Choose your Google account→Click Allow

With the Nearpod Add-on, we can:

- Embedded our favorite Nearpod activities and features directly within Google Slides -Leverage the flexible and robust powers of Google Slides to create beautiful and engaging lessons

- Collaborate with colleagues when creating lessons

8 Edit the Nearpod Lesson

From Nearpod:

Step 1: Hover over the lesson thumbnail within My Library

Step 2: Click “Edit” (you will be redirected to Google Slides)

Step 3: Open the Nearpod Add-on

Step 4: Confirm that you’d like to edit your lesson

Step 5: Go to the slide that you’d like to edit

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Step 6: If the slide is a Nearpod activity or feature, click “Edit this slide” and begin editing

9 Collaborate on a Nearpod Lesson

Within Google Slides

Step 1: Click “File”

Step 2: Click “Share”

Step 3: Enter the email address(es) of the user(s) you’d like to collaborate with (Tip: ensure the recipients have editing rights!)

Reminder: Click “Save & Go to Nearpod” to ensure you have the latest version of the lesson before launching it with your students!

10 Share a Nearpod Lesson

From Nearpod:

Step 1: Go to My Library

Step 2: Hover over the lesson thumbnail

Step 3: Click on the three dots

Step 4: Click “Share”

Please note: Through this method will share the “Nearpod version” of the lesson Recipients of the lesson will only be able to edit the lesson in Nearpod Any edits you make to your lesson will not impact the lesson that the recipient has access to

From Google Slides:

Step 1: Click “File”

Step 2: Click “Share”

Step 3: Enter the email address(es) of the user(s) you’d like to share your presentation with (Please check if you’re allowing the recipient to edit or view! Editing will enable the ability to “collaborate.”)

11 Introduction of VNPT system learning

As COVID- 19 escalated, online study expanded, more and more people adapt to using these E- learning applications VNPT is one of the most effective systems that all high schools in Nghe An province use during Covid- 19 VNPT- Learning is an online learning solution belonging to VnEdu, the smart education system developed by VNPT This is a creative solution with many attractive online study modules, allowing

to conduct online training anytime, anywhere and on any devices

The supporting and developing teams all over the country are the reasons behind VNPT E-Learning’s popularity This advantage has quickly helped numerous schools

in provinces and cities to successfully approach and operate VNPT E-Learning recently VNPT E-Learning has also become the first online educational system to help schools sustain training, learning as well as guarantee the time and the training

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program during this period when students have to stop going to school for the sake of the common fight against the disease With an organized and sufficient set of the Ministry of Education’s contents for students from primary school to university

Using VNPT system during Covid- 19 helps me to embed Nearpod software in my lessons that makes students more interested in learning

II Practical background

1 The reality of applying Nearpod in teaching English 12 at Le Loi High school

Le Loi high school is located in Tan Ky mountainous district Although there are a lot

of difficulties in their lives, parents always pay attention to children’s learning They have been aware of importance of learning English, which is a big advantage for teacher here Furthermore, almost all of the teachers at my school have tried their best

in innovating old teaching methods to improve the quality in teaching English In order

to make our students interested in learning English is a big challenge that every teacher

of English at my school would really like to achieve students usually feel inconfident

of their knowledge of English They face many problems in remembering new words, grammar structures, skills They also have little background knowledge, grammar and vocabulary The students are aware of the importance of learning English However, they find it difficult to learn without the assistance of their teachers and teaching aids

as well Last year I taught 12th grade , both honors and standard classes One problem

I have in both types of classes is the reluctance of girls to participate in open discussion in the classroom They will respond when called on, but very seldom want

to raise a hand as a volunteer Boys on the other hand often blurt out impulsively and fill the air with answers, opinions, and candor My first Nearpod was created by my 12th grade partner in Unit 11- Books It asked students to answer all the questions related to this topic using the activities designed by Nearpod With Nearpod, everyone

in the class could respond privately and I could post responses to share with the class anonymously Girls voices were heard as well as my boys and the students had the ability to take credit or not Discussions became richer and more interesting

Being a language teacher, I feel challenged and necessary to innovate my teaching method and explore new, effective of teaching that meet the expectation of students I have learnt about some amazing educational apps that increased students engagement and make my lesson more fun One of the most interactive and engaging tools I used was called Nearpod I have been really fascinated by this apps I have been taught many activities through this apps since last year when the Covid-19 broke out in Vietnam and in the world and remote learning took over it was a blessing to be able to use, it made student feel like I was right there with them and we continued with our lessons but most importantly continued with the relationships that we had built and were able to build new relationships using the platform Hence, I choose the topic

“Using the computer software named “ Nearpod” to teach online English 12 on VNPT system at Le Loi high school during Covid 19 Epidemic” with the desire of sharing some experiences with my colleagues so as to improve the spirit of learning

Education of Education and Training The tittles of the 16 units and all the lessons

were mainly skill- based in five types namely reading, speaking, listing, writing and

language focus

However, During Covid 19 the teachers were encouraged to teach from Unit 11 to Unit 14 and mainly focused on review grammatical points to review for students Here are some examples and facts of using Nearpod in teaching and learning English during Covid 19

2.1 Material preparation

+ the Teacher:

In order to use Nearpod software , teachers have to prepare carefully the following things before teaching:

- Verify that the teacher and students have WIFI internet access for all devices

- Be sure that all students have already installed the Nearpod Apps

- Lunch the Nearpod apps on the computer/I pad and log in your user name and password

- From within your library, tap on the presentation you wish to launch and then tap on

“ lunch”

- preparing Projector that helps students follow their flow of learning

- Providing students with the CODE that corresponds to the presentation and have them type it into the students CODE entry field The PIN can be found on the top- left area of the Teacher’s Nearpod screen

- Preparing lesson plan before hand

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2.2 General procedure of playing games:

It is really necessary for teacher to pay attention to the following procedure before starting A Nearpod because they are important factors to help you carry out the activities successfully:

- Asking students for interest

- Introducing the activity

- Giving instructions and setting the rules

- Modeling

- Checking understanding to get feedback from students

- Shouting "start''

- Monitoring the game

- Evaluating and declaring the winner of the game

2.3 Samples of using Nearpod created by information technology to teach English 12 on VNPT system

2.3.1 Sample of Unit 11- books(reading)

Activity 1: Matching pairs

Position: This game is often used in pre-reading stage

Aim: Help students remember the new words- they are going to check vocabulary Participants: students can access the Internet at that time

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Result illustration

Activity 2: Quiz

Position: This game is often used in while-reading stage

Aim: Help students understand the content of the reading passage in text book

Participants: students can access the Internet at that time

Procedure: students use the mobile phones or I pads to answer in a time and follow the

result on their screen, they know where they are standing

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Result (some images captured from the teacher’s screen)

Activity 3: Collaborate activity

Position: This game is often used in post- reading stage

Aim: Help students produce their product

Participants: students can access the Internet at that time

Procedure: students use the mobile phones or I pads to answer in a time and follow the

result on their screen, they know where they are standing

Result (some images captured from the teacher’s screen)

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Activity 4: Time to climb

Position: This game is often used in post-reading stage

Aim: Help students understand the kind of book

Participants: 8 students can access the Internet at that time

Procedure: students use the mobile phones or I pads to answer in a time and follow the

result on their screen, they know where they are standing

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Result (some images captured from the teacher’s screen)

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2.3.2 Sample of Unit 11- books(Speaking)

Activity 1: Matching pairs

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Position: This game is often used in pre-reading stage

Aim: Help students remember know some works in English

Participants: students can access the Internet at that time

Procedure:

Result (some images captured from the teacher’s screen)

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Activity 2: Collaborate activity

Position: This game is often used in post- reading stage

Aim: Help students produce their product

Participants: 8 students can access the Internet at that time

Procedure: students use the mobile phones or I pads to answer in a time and follow the

result on their screen, they know where they are standing

Result (some images captured from the teacher’s screen)