From Level-Up to AI-Driven: A Comparison of Interactive Lesson Slides Tools
By Wenjing Huang, Chinese Teacher, George School
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.69732/DZJL2340
Introduction
Today there are numerous technological teaching tools available to assist educators in interacting with students and generating interactive lessons for in-person, online, or blended learning. Some examples are PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote, Nearpod, Pear Deck, Mentimeter, Canva, Genially, Kahoot, etc. These tools empower users to create presentations with engaging elements (such as open-ended questions, multiple choice questions, drawing, polling, word clouds, etc.) that go beyond adding text, bullet points, images, videos, or animations for the audience. This article compares four such tools: Pear Deck, Nearpod, Mentimenter, and a newcomer powered by AI, Curipod. The features and pricing mentioned in this article are current as of July 2024.
Pear Deck
Pear Deck can be found at https://www.peardeck.com/, and is an app that is used through Google Slides using the add-on tab.
It is easy to use by converting existing PowerPoint or Google Slides presentations to Pear Deck lessons. You can read more about it in our Tech Highlight on Pear Deck.
Here are the question types available in Pear Deck:
- Text
- Choice
- Number
- Website
- Draw (in the paid plan)
- Draggable (in the paid plan)
- Add Audio to Slide (only available on Google Apps for Education)
The cost is:
| Plans | Price | Features |
| Teacher Free | $0 | 4 question types to design lessons
Access to templates Control the pace of class Students answer anonymously |
| Teacher Premium | $149/year | All free plan features
7 question types to design lessons View students’ responses with their names |
| Schools and Districts | Custom | All premium features
Access to district library Efficacy reports for teachers and admins LMS integration with Canvas and Schoology |
Nearpod
Nearpod can be found at https://nearpod.com/. Nearpod has a website, apps, and an Add-on in Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Nearpod is a user-friendly tool that educators can use by importing their existing slides from Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations onto their Nearpod lessons. You can read more about it in our Tech Highlight on Nearpod.
Here is a list of its interactive content and activities offered in its free account (with 100 MB storage). Each interactive content or activity created is added or saved as a Nearpod slide.
- Interactive Content
- Video
- Web content
- BBC video
- Nearpod 3D
- Simulation
- VR Field trip
- Interactive Activities
- Quiz
- Draw it
- Fill in the blank
- Memory test
- Time to climb
- Matching pairs
- Collaborate board
- Poll
- Open-ended question
- Drag and drop (in paid plans)
The cost is:
| Plans | Prices | Features |
| Silver | $0 with 100 MB storage | 40 students can join per lesson
9 question types |
| Gold | $159/year with 1 GB storage | All silver plan features
75 students can join per lesson 10 question types A Google Slides add-on |
| Platinum | $397/year with 5 GB storage | All gold plan features
90 students can join per lesson |
| Schools and Districts | Custom with unlimited storage | All gold plan features
250 students can join per lesson LMS integrations Teachers co-edit, co-teach lessons Advanced collaborative boards |
Mentimeter
Mentimeter is located at https://www.mentimeter.com/. Currently, it is only available as a Microsoft PowerPoint Add-on.
Users can create an unlimited number of presentations using its content slides, with all interactive question types and templates in the free plan. Importing presentations is only available in paid plans, where users can import in two ways: upload a PDF, PowerPoint, or Keynote file, or connect Google Slides or PowerPoint with Menti (all animations and effects will run as usual). You can read more about it in our Tech Highlight on Mentimeter.
Here is a list of the interactive content and questions offered in a free Mentimeter account.
- Multiple choice (can set up as one or more options as correct answers)
- Word cloud
- Open ended
- Scales
- Ranking
- Q&A (for participants to ask questions)
- Guess the number
- 100 points
- 2X2 Grid
- Pin on image
- Quiz: select answer
- Quiz: type answer
- Quick Form (in pro plan)
The cost for educators is:
| Plans | Prices | Features |
| Free | $0 | 50 participants per month (can exceed this limit once per month)
12 question types |
| Basic | $8.99 per presenter/month | All free plan features
Unlimited participants per month Import slides from other tools and export results to excel |
| Pro | $14.99 per presenter/month | All basic plan features
13 question types Create team templates Edit presentations with colleagues or specific team members |
| Campus | Custom | All pro plan features
Single sign-on |
Curipod
Curipod can be found at https://curipod.com/. You can read more about it in our Tech Highlight on Curipod.
The current cost of Curipod is:
| Plans | Prices | Features |
| Basic | $0 | 6 question types
Unlimited participants Unlimited presentations 1 lesson translation per month |
| School and District | $3999 per school | All basic plan features
Unlimited translations Premium content included (Test Prep, ELA Immersive Package, Bilingual ESL/ELL, which are related to non-world languages subject areas) Customized rubrics for AI feedback Premium AI templates. |
In summary, the following chart provides a detailed comparison of Pear Deck, Nearpod, Mentimeter, and Curipod. If you have been considering working with one of these tools to level up your online, hybrid, or face-to-face lessons, you can refer to the chart to explore each tool’s unique advantages and features.
| Pear Deck | Nearpod | Mentimeter | Curipod | |
| Creating accounts | Sign in with Google, Microsoft, Clever | Sign in with Google, Microsoft, Clever, ClassLink, or a school email with password | Sign in with Google, Microsoft, Facebook, an email with password | Sign in with Google, Clever, Feide, ClassLink, or an email with password |
| Add-ons | Pear Deck for Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint Add-ons | Nearpod Add-on for Google Slides (available only to users with paid plans) | Mentimeter for PowerPoint Add-on | No |
| Devices | Macs, PCs, Chromebooks, iPads, iPhones, and Android (slides can only be edited on a computer) | Macs, PCs, Chromebooks, iPads, iPhones, and Android | Macs, PCs, Chromebooks, iPads, iPhones, and Android | Work on any device with an internet connection |
| Sharing with participants | joinpd.com with a code, or a link | join.nearpod.com with a code, or a link | menti.com with a code, a link, or a QR code | curi.live with a pin, or a QR code |
| Number of participants | Unlimited in free and paid plans | Free plan: 40 students per lesson
$159/year plan: 75 students per lesson $397/year plan: 90 students per lesson Schools & districts plan: 250 students per lesson |
Free plan: 50 participants per month (can exceed this limit once per month)
All paid plans: unlimited participants per month |
Unlimited in free and paid plans |
| Anonymous participation | Yes (student names are always anonymous in the free plan) | Yes (can hide student names in free and paid plans) | Yes (always anonymous) | Yes, can turn on the feature of “require real names” for participants when they join. |
| Synchronous or asynchronous lessons | Yes (available starting from free plan) | Yes (available starting from free plan) | Mostly synchronous, but can be used as an asynchronous survey tool to allow voters to answer questions at their own pace by setting the presentation to Survey mode | Only synchronous lessons |
| Interactive features | 7 Question Types:
Text Choice Number Website Draw (in paid plans) Draggable (in paid plans) Add audio to slide (in paid plans) |
11 Question Types:
Open-Ended Question Poll Collaborate Board
Quiz Draw It Fill in the Blanks Memory Test Matching Pairs Time to Climb Drag & Drop (in paid plans) |
12 Question Types:
Multiple Choice Open Ended Ranking Guess the Number Word Cloud Scales Q&A 100 points 2X2 Grid Pin on Image Quiz Quick Form (in Pro plan) |
6 Question Types (with time duration option)
Open question Drawings Poll Word cloud AI feedback AI whiteboard |
| Locks & timer for synchronous lessons | Can use “Lock/Unlock Screens” on each slide | Can add a timer in a quiz, open-ended question, matching pairs, or poll (choose the time frame to last from 15 seconds up to 99 minutes and 45 seconds in each drop down) | No locks or timers | Can freeze each slide, can add plus and minus 30 seconds for each interactive activity |
| Accessing post-session reports | Yes, in free plan | Yes, in free plan | Yes, called “view results” in free plan | Yes, in free plan |
| Integrations | Google Slides, PowerPoint | Google Slides, PowerPoint | Google Slides, PowerPoint, Miro | Can upload Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote presentations, PDF |
| Unlimited presentations/storage | N/A (presentations are basically created in Google Slides) | Only for schools & districts plan | Yes, in free plan | Yes, in free plan |
| Sharing presentations | Directly share a Google Slides presentation | Yes, by entering emails or through a link. For editors, the link generates an editable copy to add in their own Nearpod library | Yes, by entering emails or through a link. For editors, it can be shared with “anyone in your team”, or “selected individuals” (available in Pro plan) | Can share a link with students and teachers, download as PDF, or share on social media |
| Accessibility | Follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), has Immersive Reader on each Pear Deck slide | Follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), has Immersive Reader on each Nearpod slide | Working on improvements regarding accessibility (details about accessibility) | Follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) |
| Personal student information | COPPA compliant | FERPA & COPPA compliant | EU General Data Protection Regulation
compliant |
FERPA & COPPA compliant |
| AI feature | Has AI feature in Pear Assessment (another product of Pear Deck Learning) | No | Has a Beta AI feature to generate a Mentimeter’s AI presentation | Yes, to generate content, then modify the slides |
| Others | Can add new prompt, turn on student-paced during a synchronous presentation | Has Nearpod+Zoom integration where teachers have all the functionality of Zoom and Nearpod and students join a Zoom and Nearpod lesson at the same time through a single link | Has the Mentimeter for Zoom app for Zoom host to deliver interactive presentations | In the free plan, teachers can add a new activity during a live lesson, control and review all AI output before it is received by students |
Conclusion
Pear Deck, Nearpod, and Mentimeter have become indispensable tools for language educators, each offering unique features that enhance interactive learning. Pear Deck facilitates work for educators who use Google Slides. Nearpod stands out with its comprehensive interactive activities and Virtual Reality (VR) features. Mentimeter shines with its unlimited presentations storage and word cloud generation. As these tools continue to support dynamic teaching, the new AI-powered tool Curipod offers an exciting advancement. By integrating AI as a means to generate lesson content, it allows educators to effortlessly create personalized and adaptive slides. Educators are encouraged to try all of these tools to experience their potential in transforming lesson delivery.