Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ The Benefits of Using Pear Deck in the Classroom

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I followed a prompt from Miguel Guhlin to this article. The article was unclear and didn't directly link to the Pear Deck home page, but I found it and tried it out. I think it's quite a good idea - it's an add-on to Google Slides that creates versions of the slides students can access to interact by typing messages, drawing faces, answering polls, and more. The teacher can see and optionally share the results. But the marketing feels, well, skeevy, and does not fill me with confidence. You can't really learn about it from the website; you need to watch this video. I tried to set up an account and got Google's famous 'something went wrong' error message. Same when I tried to add it as an add-on in Slides. So it doesn't work in Firefox; it did, however, work in Chrome. So I went to set it up, but before it would allow me access to the free account I had to enter my school name and postal code to 'get started' on the premium account. I tried it, and found it added an unasked-for 'How do you feel' question at the start of the presentation. All of this feels wrong to me. So while it seems like a great product, my own experience is unsettling.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 28, 2024 3:58 p.m.

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