Highlights: Innovations and Enhancements in Pear Deck Learning
Welcome to Pear Deck Learning, a leap forward in our ongoing mission to empower students to reach their full potential while simplifying and streamlining the experience for educators. Our commitment to this mission has driven the evolution of our suite of educational tools, enhancing the way educators and students interact with technology in the learning environment.
Pear Deck Learning is the culmination of this journey, bringing together a harmonized collection of products, each with its own unique contribution to the educational process. This ecosystem includes Pear Deck, Pear Deck Tutor (formerly TutorMe), Pear Practice (formerly Giant Steps), and Pear Assessment (formerly Edulastic). Each of these has undergone enhancements, particularly in allowing for seamless switching between applications, thereby creating a more cohesive and efficient user experience.
What’s new in Pear Deck Learning
We’re rolling out exciting new features and updates across Pear Deck Learning. These additions are part of our continuous effort to improve and adapt to the needs of educators and students. Let's take a look at what's new and how these improvements can contribute to a more effective learning environment.
Pear Deck Learning
Easily switch between products
A new app switcher and account page allows users to easily switch between Pear Deck Learning products without needing to re-authenticate between each product.You can find the product switcher behind a navigation item in the top left of your page.
Pear Practice
A new game map for independent practice
Pear Practice is not only a place for engaging group learning experiences, but also a place where students can independently practice material tailored to them. To facilitate independent practice that’s engaging for students, we release seasonal themed maps which students can progress through as they practice what they’ve learned. As students play, they can unlock experience points (XP) and unique items to personalize their avatars.
In January, we released a new seasonal game map called Pear Planet - a space themed map with three zones to explore and over a hundred possible unique items students can unlock for their avatars.
Student practice on Pear Planet will be counted under the “Total Independent Practice Sessions” on the teacher dashboard and their accuracy scores will be reflected in the Class Accuracy reports.
Improved standards search accuracy
We've enhanced the search functionality for standards-aligned content in Pear Practice. Now, you don't have to input the entire standard name, such as “CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.6”. Instead, simply typing the abbreviated form like “L.6.6” will yield the same search results. This improvement streamlines the process of finding and aligning content with specific educational standards, making it more straightforward and efficient.
Pear Assessment
School and District Common Assessment Enhancements
Recently, we released the ability for schools and districts to distinguish a common assessment as either a school or district common assessment. This enhancement grants administrators enhanced control over test settings tailored to each type of assessment. Furthermore, when searching for assessments, both District and School common assessments are now conveniently accessible in a multi-select dropdown. The test type dropdown has been updated to this multi-select format, with the default selection for school administrators set to “Common + School Common.”
ICYMI: Add test sections and audio enhancement
We recently made a few updates to our test settings that allow assessment authors more configuration options. Now, authors can create and configure sections on tests and record or upload audio to questions. Read more about these updates here.
Pear Deck
New collection of ready-to-teach lessons to celebrate Black History Month
We have introduced a collection of ready-to-teach lessons in Pear Deck’s Content Orchard to commemorate Black History Month. This collection is a result of collaboration between EVERFI and Pear Deck Learning’s African-American/Black Employee Resource Groups. The new content offers educators templates for seamlessly integrating essential concepts into their curriculum. Prioritizing active engagement, these lessons aim to enhance understanding and celebrate the diverse tapestry of Black History.
Explore the full collection of Pear Deck templates.
Stay informed on future updates
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