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Image from peardeck.com
Students enrolled in the Health Science Education I course through the Area 31 Career Center are in the midst of preparing for their Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) certification with the Indiana Department of Health. This process involves reviewing their entire year of learning and preparing for how that knowledge will be assessed by the state. Instructor Lesia Douglas has implemented a new technology tool called Pear Deck to help her student prepare for the exam. Pear Deck allows Ms. Douglas to add interactive elements to her slide deck presentations. When asked to reflect on why she uses the tool, she replied simply, “It helps me be a better and more adaptive teacher.” Ms. Douglas reported that she is seeing formative assessment data in real time, that helps her make adjustments to her instruction immediately. If the whole class is struggling, she can immediately go back and reteach that section of the lesson. It also ensures that the introverted student doesn't get lost in the shuffle because they don’t like to speak up during class. It is also easier to identify the small handful of students that she needs to check in with and do small group remediation with the next day.
Ms. Douglas reported that since she started using the tool, she has been more mindful of other best practices in teaching. She does a better job of remembering the “10-minute rule”. She can put interactive elements into her presentation that force the students to reflect and use the information they just learned. This helps transfer it into long term memory before moving on to the next chunk of information. Using the platform's social/emotional learning slides, she is able to check in on their emotional states in a safe environment. Students are able to communicate what type of day they are having at the start of the lesson without fear of another student overhearing what they're sharing. This informs her of students she may need to pull aside and have a private conversation with in her office or when the student’s take one of their learning breaks.
Students have been overwhelmingly excited by the use of this new tool. After each lesson, a copy of the slide presentation, their interactive responses, and best answers are available in their Google Drive folder. This allows students to review the material and see sample test questions as they continue to prepare for their CNA exam. When asked if they wanted her to keep using Pear Deck for their review lessons, every single student indicated they loved this classroom tool. It helps them be more attentive to lectures and gives them more opportunities to immediately practice their key terms and ideas on practice questions that mirror the state CNA exam.
Written by Dennis Lindley, Area 31 Career Center iTEC Teacher