Nearpod vs. Skyward Student Management System

Nearpod works great in any classroom, but the presentation must be projected or each student must have access to a internet connected device.

Incentivized

Skyward SMS is well suited as a Student Management System for anyone who wants to drive their organization based on data. The capabilities of using the fields available as well as adding our own custom forms make data collection extremely easy. Reporting abilities take that data and allow us to make sense of what has been collected

Incentivized

• Provide timely and individualized feedback.
• Allow for the teacher to check for understanding, for the entire class, in one view.
• Present an array of different interactive lesson items, at the fingertips of every student.

Incentivized

• Skyward does well with managing the students' information. It was easy to find a student's schedule, grades, behavior record, or family information because it was all separated out.
• Another strength is the system’s way of requesting time off. All of the steps are laid out in a organized manner, and you can check the status of the request with one click.
• Skyward also pairs well with other applications. Whenever I need a substitute for a class, Skyward links me to Aesop (the absence software) and allows me to put in the request. When I’m done, Skyward updates automatically with that information.

Incentivized

• The notes feature in Nearpod sometimes has bugs that can be bothersome.
• The free version of Nearpod is limited, and missing some of my most favored features.
• Becoming proficient at lesson creation outside of Google Slides can take some time until you have mastered the learning curve.

Incentivized

• Skyward's reporting can get confusing so it would be nice if it was cleaner and possibly came with some common reports other schools use too.
• Skyward's GUI is out of date and needs a refresher.
• Skyward can have compatibility issues after an update.

Incentivized

Goal is to continue our subscription for the 2019-2020 school year

Incentivized

It is the system I am most comfortable with, so having to learn a new system outweighs any problems I have with Skyward.

Incentivized

While there is some learning curve to fully understand and know how to lead a lesson with Nearpod, once mastered successfully, Nearpod lessons are simple to create and deliver. When leading a lesson, it is relatively simple to see how everyone in the class performs and how well they participate and understand.

Incentivized

It takes some time to get used to navigating the features and layers, but once you know your way around it, it's pretty good.

Incentivized

The support staff for Nearpod is top-notch. I have not had technical issues, but I did have a concern about my bill and they reached out to me nearly immediately to address the problem. I was very satisfied with how they handled the interaction from beginning to end. They did a great job.

Incentivized

Overall great job, issues were taken care of. People in support do care.

Incentivized

Yes, I was part of the implementation team.

Incentivized

Outside of Miro, Nearpod is my favorite program for leading a lesson. If I am presenting, and not requiring my students to perform any activities, then I really like Miro for presentations. If I have a large class, then I still prefer Nearpod to all others. Additionally, the more certain I am of what I want to do when, the more I like using Nearpod for lessons.

Incentivized

Skyward is used differently at our school than GoGuardian. GoGuardian is used to monitor student use of technology during school hours, and Skyward is used to track student data such as attendance, uniform, tardy arrivals, grades, and behavior. Overall, Skyward's interface is more user-friendly than GoGuardian. GoGuardian requires even more clicking around to find what you are looking for

Incentivized

• Nearpod has a positive impact on my students because they learn while using technology vs. traditional method.
• My students' scores have improved ever since I've started implementing the consistent use of Nearpod.
• I cherish the fact that the teacher is in control but the activities are all student centered and fully engages them.

Incentivized

• I believe that we have had a great Return on our Investment as we have been using this software at a district-wide level for several years now and it keeps being an effective management software system for our students and families.

Incentivized