Pear Deck Expands Mission To Increase Student Engagement With New Microsoft Partnership

IOWA CITY, Iowa, June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Growing edtech startup Pear Deck™ announces a partnership with Microsoft Education, including new product integrations to PowerPoint Online and Teams, allowing more teachers to increase student engagement in their classroom every day.

Today, Pear Deck is used in one out of every three schools in the United States with extensions installed by millions of users. Pear Deck's growth has been powered by educators and students using Google Apps for Education. After noticing a significant number of teachers converting PowerPoint lessons to use Pear Deck, the team worked with Microsoft to expand the platform's functionality to work with PowerPoint Online and Teams.

In 2014, educators and Pear Deck co-founders Michal Eynon-Lynch, Riley Eynon-Lynch, Dan Sweeney, and Anthony Showalter came together to envision a world where teachers could break through the barriers to student participation and transform student devices from distractions into tools to foster connection and learning.

"As educators, we know that 100% student engagement is the holy grail for teachers. Our mission has always been to help teachers connect meaningfully with students, both to increase comprehension and to foster a sense of inclusion in the learning environment," says Riley Eynon-Lynch, Pear Deck CEO.

Pear Deck's premise is simple: Teachers using PowerPoint or Google Slides can add interactive questions in presentations and send it straight to student devices for real-time participation. As students engage with Pear Deck, teachers can see their responses on their own devices, enabling them to assess comprehension in real time.

"We're excited to offer our Microsoft Education community a powerful tool that many of them already know and love. Teachers using Office 365 apps and Teams will now be able to use Pear Deck to create active learning opportunities with a seamless integration," says Eran Megiddo, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product and Education at Microsoft.

Delivering solutions for the future of learning
Pear Deck's model keeps student-teacher connections at the center of the learning experience. Microsoft's Class of 2030 global research found that students want skilled, trusted teachers who know them personally. Only 51% of teachers in the 2030 survey said they have strong, individual relationships with their students, and only 34% of students agreed.

Pear Deck has demonstrated the power to give teachers and students a way to connect and build trust on a daily basis. Data from Pear Deck's current user base reveals that on the average question in any presentation, 83% of students in the classroom engage with the learning material. In addition, 95% of students are engaged sometime during a Pear Deck presentation.

"A partnership with Pear Deck was an easy choice given the alignment of our missions — student engagement is at the heart of our education initiatives, and it's something that Pear Deck has fostered for nearly a third of classrooms across the country already," says Anthony Salcito, Vice President, Worldwide Education at Microsoft.

To showcase the addition of Pear Deck to its Education Partners, Microsoft will host Pear Deck at their booth #2900 at ISTE 2019 in Philadelphia, June 24-26.

For more information, please visit www.peardeck.com/microsoft.

About Pear Deck™
Pear Deck was founded by educators on a mission to help teachers create powerful learning moments for every student, every day. Pear Deck's powerful student engagement platform is used by 1 out of 3 schools in the United States to foster connections with learners of every age and ability. Backed by investors focused on solving major global problems in education, Pear Deck designs technology that is inclusive, accessible, and promotes equitable engagement in the classroom. To learn more about Pear Deck, visit www.peardeck.com.

SOURCE Pear Deck