Introduction to Peardeck

Peardeck allows instructors to get creative with how students are engaging with their lecture material. From simple student response questions to more complex drawing and reflective responses, Peardeck functions directly within your PowerPoint slides by providing a short code for students to join from any web-based device. Whether you are teaching face-to-face or offering the lecture asynchronously online, instructors will have access to the student response data in order to make informed decisions about their instruction. Check out some additional ways to use Peardeck:   

• Design, assign, and deliver lessons with interactive content  
• Build new, or adapt existing, lessons with instructionally effective templates 
• Choose between instructor or student-paced mode 
• Use real-time formative assessments to adjust instruction and monitor student participation 
• Prompt critical thinking and empathy through discussion and debate  
• Drive metacognition with real-time feedback 
• Use the new audio feature to guide pronunciation of challenging words, for courses such as medical terminology.  
• Check out more Cool Things You Can Do from Peardeck 

Peardeck’s design is driven by instructional strategies proven to positively impact student learning. Many of these strategies stem from peer-reviewed research within learning sciences.  

• Active Learning. Engage students in the learning process by offering interactive prompts between sharing content. Using the anonymous response system, instructors can share the responses to facilitate rich discussions with students.  
• Formative Assessment. When responses are shared, students receive real-time feedback into their learning, which allows ample time for processing. It can also prompt the instructor to make quick adaptations to their instruction to meet the needs of students in the moment. This will allow the instructor to see aggregate responses to get a pulse of where students are at as well as manage student responses post class-session to see who needs additional support.  
• Retrieval Practice. There are four question types available for instructors including agree/disagree, free response with short or long text, multiple choice with true or false, or drawing questions/responses in a free space. By integrating Peardeck into a PowerPoint presentation, it allows students to retrieve information and recall what they are learning in the moment. Retrieval practice is related to active learning in that students are prompted to actively think about and process information they have previously learned in a low-stakes environment.  
• Deeper Learning. The premade templates from Peardeck prompt instructors to offer opportunities during their class session to develop critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills. The interactive response types built into Peardeck make it easy for teachers to change how students are prompted to answer or process their thoughts.  

2.5 Star –

Peardeck ranks 2.5/5 stars for accessibility. To learn more about the accessibility review, contact otl@du.edu. 

• Partially Supports Text to Speech (TTS) such as NVDA, Jaws, or Voiceover 
• Partially Supports Speech to Text (STT) such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking or Voice Dictation 
• Partially Supports Alternative Input Experience/Keyboard Navigation  
• Partially Supports Screen Magnification and Color Contrast 
• Developing Dedication to Accessibility and Content Creator Experience 

This technology is not included with the University of Denver. Faculty, staff, and students may need to purchase a subscription. The technology may offer educational pricing with an “.edu” email address. Free trials or free accounts may also be available through the technology website. 

• The University of Denver does not directly provide technical support. The Office of Teaching and Learning may consult on pedagogy. 
• For technical support from Peardeck, check out their Support Webpage. 

Javed, Y., Odhabi, H. (2018). Active learning in classrooms using online tools: evaluating Peardeck for students’ engagement. Fifth HCT Information Technology Trends (ITT). pp. 126-131, https://doi.org/10.1109/CTIT.2018.8649515.    

Mache, J., Tan, N., Shoemaker, G., Weiss, R. (2017). Pear deck: an interactive classroom response system to encourage student engagement. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges. 33, 1 (156–158).  

To learn more about the Peardeck Logic Model, view their web-based PDF here.