With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic we faced the reality of having to teach asynchronous, hybrid, or large but socially distant in-person classes. These teaching modalities made it difficult for many students to actively engage in class experiences and limited the number of student voices. In the summer months leading up to the start of the Fall 2020 semester we sought new technologies that could overcome these barriers and enable us to still offer an engaging classroom experience for UNC students. Our search led us to a software program called Pear Deck.
Pear Deck is a program that enables instructors to enhance their Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations by creating questions embedded in the presentation that students can respond to and receive feedback on. There is a free version of it available, though we both elected to pay for the enhanced version that unlocked a number of useful features, including the ability to embed audio slides into the presentation. The presentations are created and live in the cloud with students accessing the enhanced presentations on a laptop, tablet, or smart phone device. Instructors have the option of leaving presentations open in the cloud for students to be able to access the presentations any time they want.
Students love interacting with Pear Deck
We both conducted surveys of students using Pear Deck and found that they almost unanimously recommended that we keep using it. In one survey of a 100-level course, 97% of students agreed or strongly agreed that Pear Deck enhanced their educational experience in the course. A sample of the responses from students included comments like these:
Pear Deck was great because I was able to follow along with the presentation better and being able to interact with the presentation was great.
I think this class was better at keeping students engaged than in other courses that present information with lectures. Most students tend to stop paying attention when the teacher just keeps talking and reading off slides. Pear Deck was mostly pictures and videos to keep the students engaged. It also had some slides that required you to participate that I honestly thought were fun. Pear Deck did make this course better because I enjoyed following along the slides and wasn't bored by listening to a teacher lecture and read off slides.
Every student in the class was highly engaged and Pear Deck not only was fun, but easy to use and encouraged me to get easy points!
We found many positives from using Pear Deck
- Increased full student engagement, not just “a few voices” in the room. All students had the opportunity (and indeed the expectation) that they answer the embedded questions.
- Shy or more introverted students who might be hesitant to speak up in class or ask a question, now had a more comfortable means of participating. Pear Deck enabled students to “back channel” questions to the instructor.
- Worked very well for asynchronous lessons. With the audio clip feature, we could embed lecture material and instructions for activities in the presentation. Students completing the lesson asynchronously would be privy to all of the important lesson material and be able to complete the in-class activities.
- Great for giving feedback. Pear Deck enables the instructor to leave feedback to individual student responses (including during class itself), which students will be able to access if they return to the presentation.
- Worked well for hybrid teaching. For classes that are simultaneously in person and on zoom, Pear Deck enables each student to follow along with and answer questions within the same presentation. Regardless of whether students are in person or at home on zoom, they will all link into the same presentation.
- Students can return to material and see their responses and any feedback from the instructor. Because the presentation and the student responses to questions live in the cloud, students are able to access the presentation all semester long, making it helpful when studying for exams.
- Great accessibility for students. Pear Deck can be accessed by any web enabled device, so students don’t need to own or bring a laptop to class. They can use their smart phones or tablets as well.
- It’s free for students! They are provided an access code or a hyperlink for the presentation and use their UNC login and password.
- Great tool for formative assessment. Instructors can use a separate device to monitor how students are responding to particular questions. This can provide real time formative data for the instructor on how well students are understanding key class concepts. Additionally, instructors through this other device can choose to display specific student responses (all anonymously) to the whole class. This creates opportunities for instructors to ensure that different student voices and points of view are being explored.
- Accommodation/Modification for some learners. One plus about Pear Deck is that students have the presentation on their own screens in addition to the big screen being used in class. Instructor can control the pacing of the slideshow to keep everyone on track.
- Makes it easy for instructors to track student attendance and participation. Instructors can always return to the presentation and see exactly who was logged in as well as who did or did not respond to specific questions.
Like all tools, Pear Deck presents some drawbacks
Anyone wanting to implement Pear Deck into their teaching toolbox should be aware of the following drawbacks:
- Although a free version is available, Pear Deck functions best with a subscription which, as of the writing of this article, is $150 a year.
- Some features are not fully functional even with the paid subscription. This is something that needs to be addressed by the makers of Pear Deck. We found that linking websites through the Pear Deck feature did not work a majority of the time. Additionally, the “drag a number” feature is not intuitive, and the parameters need to be defined for the feature to work.
- Like any technology, the connection feature can also be a drawback. If the instructor chooses to record their lessons using that feature on Pear Deck, students may not feel that they need to attend class. If teaching in a hybrid manner, Pear Deck allows students in both environments to participate, but may stifle discussion in chat rooms or face to face as students can rely on the textbox chat instead of actual engagement.
- To implement Pear Deck well as an instructor, two screens are needed. Professor Haberman was able to utilize this well by using the classroom computer and his personal iPad. Professor Langley-Cook had trouble using her laptop and the classroom computer and relied on the projection screen as the second screen, which often led to clunky transitions and difficulty reading the student responses from the podium.
- In a two-year period where many lessons have been conducted through and with screens, screen fatigue might be exacerbated by using Pear Deck. Additionally, as more incoming students arrive at UNC having experienced Pear Deck or a similar technology in prior schooling, the novelty will wear off and students may become bored with it.
Despite some drawbacks we recommend Pear Deck for any instructors at any level! It’s a fun and easy way to enhance your teaching. Before you begin your class, give the learning modules a try and set up a few practice sessions with friends or colleagues so you feel more comfortable with the platform on day one. Students will benefit from the novelty as well as the utility. Expect a bit of a learning curve for you and for students, but one that is not hard to surmount. Over-all we feel that the implementation of Pear Deck will help with energy, assessment, and student engagement.
Ready to get started?
Check out our quick how-to-Pear Deck document. PearDeck.com also has several tutorial videos to help you supplement your slideshows and class activities.
If you are interested in trying Pear Deck during the Spring 2022 semester (and gathering some student data and sharing that with campus) CETL has three small grants to cover the subscription cost. Submit a grant application by October 10th. As part of the grant, you will be invited to a training and practice session during the last two weeks of fall semester. All UNC instructors, including part-time and graduate student instructors, are eligible to apply.
