Allow Me To Reintroduce You! 

5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About

Pear Deck!

I recently got a new car. Honestly I wasn't that excited about it because I was very happy with my 2012 vehicle that had 120,000 miles on it. I knew the ins and outs of that car and didn't really see the need to get a more current version. When some concerning warning lights came on, and then my neighbor hit my car on the street and put a great big dent in the door, I couldn't deny that it was time to make a change. When I test drove new cars I was amazed by how many new features there were. There were things I had never thought of but were clearly very thoughtfully added, many for safety and ease of driving. When I decided on my new car, it took me a little bit to adjust to all the new bells and whistles. I was annoyed and missed my old car. This lasted for about a week. Now I'm thrilled that I drive a vehicle that has the latest features. 

This little story has a point. There are edtech tools that we know and love. We get used to using them a certain way and don't really bother to open up and look at new features of think of new ways of using them. For a product that we pay for everyone to have a premium license, we really should be using it to its fullest.

That is why I'm excited to reintroduce you to Pear Deck and to formally introduce you to Pear Start.

What you may not know about the current version of Pear Deck:

1. There is now a graded and a practice mode. Here's the difference- graded mode will lock in students answers for auto-grading, while practice mode allows students to go back and change and resubmit answers, allowing for multiple attempts. You can always change the mode in the dashboard. 

2. New! Instant Insights automatically analyzes student responses from your Pear Deck session and highlights key takeaways. You also then have an option to create learning pathways for students who need reteaching and students who could use an extension activity, all with the touch of a button. 

Understanding by Topic: AI-generated groupings of concepts students struggled with.

Understanding by Student: A snapshot of how each student performed across all questions.

Engagement Signals: Identification of students who skipped questions or didn’t respond.

3. Content Converter- Transform boring worksheets into Pear Deck interactive lessons.  Upload a pdf, presentation, worksheet, or other document into the content creator and watch it generate a whole new Pear Deck interactive slide deck lesson. Amazing!

4. Auto Grading And Polls:  Choice and number slides now allow you to add one or more correct answers for auto-grading. You can also add a poll question. This is a wonderful option for getting a pulse on where students are in their learning. It can also provide valuable feedback to you as you are making instructional decisions.

5. New! Pear Start AI tool. This is the newest AI tool from Pear Deck Learning. It's a library of AI tools designed for teachers. The tools will look familiar to you and the list of options is too long to list, you just need to go and take a look. 

Once you click on a tool, enter the information about your learners, goals, standards, etc. Pear Start will create an entire lesson for you. And then you can have it create a Pear Deck interactive slide deck for you!

If you want to learn more, here is an introductory video on getting acquainted with Pear Start. 

Ready to take Pear Deck for a new spin? Let me know if you want a copilot!