Pear Deck

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.

Pros

PearDeck allows me to help my digital learners immediately. If they are not understanding a concept I am able to see where they are making their mistakes and help them correct it. I've used PearDeck in the classroom and teaching digitally and in both cases it is so easy to use and deliver lessons. Students can easily access PearDeck and with the paid version I can see who is working on the lesson and who is not yet in.

Cons

My one request would be that the add audio pop up, is always blocking the pages that you are trying to record from which makes it difficult to remember what was on that page.

Pros

Pear Deck provides a great way to make presentations more interactive and allows students to interact directly within the slideshow. With a Google Classroom and Google Drive integration, including it in the presentation is easy and seamless.

Cons

One of the most appealing features of Pear Deck is the ability to create draggable elements on the slides. Unfortunately, the appearance of these draggable elements is severely limited and is also only available for a fixed number of elements.

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.

Pros

Online learning is HARD. Pear Deck makes is much easier, and is one of my favorite platforms for e-learning so far. It has great features, particularly the ability to save student results as evidence of learning. I truly love it!

Cons

It took me a while to figure out how to use it seamlessly. It's got a lot of great features and isn't necessarily difficult to figure out, but require time and focus to do so.