App 9: Poll Everywhere

11 December 2015

What is Poll Everywhere?

Poll Everywhere is a polling app and website which can be used in the classroom.  The presenter uses the app to create questions which are presented on the screen at the front of the room.  The audience responds using the app and results are displayed live on screen.

With this two-way conversation, the presenter gets a clear picture of how well the class has understood a topic, and everyone in the audience has a fair chance of answering and checking their understanding, or of asking a question themselves.

There is a variety of question types to choose from allowing a rich range of questions and responses to be generated, and it’s possible to split the class into teams to add an element of competition, too!

 

Presenters can use the app to:

• Create and present questions ‘on demand’ in a presentation or lecture
• Remotely control the presentation (PowerPoint required)
• Select which question is displayed on the audience’s devices
• Moderate answers before they are displayed on screen

Participants can use the app to:

• Respond to questions posed by the presenter and see their responses displayed live on screen alongside responses from others in the class
• Answers are anonymous so the presenter can’t see which responses you made, but they get an overall sense of how the group is progressing

Ideas for use in education

1. Challenge students to set and present some questions themselves
2. Encourage critical thinking with peer instruction
3. Pinpoint what students need: ask diagnostic questions at the start of a new topic
4. Encourage reflection and reinforce learning: Ask reflective questions at the start or end of a lecture
5. Enliven a sleepy class with a short quiz or team competition
6. Facilitate peer feedback in student presentations
7. Evaluate answers in a revision class
8. Publish a question on twitter and ask for responses from experts and professional bodies

More details can be found in our guide 8 ways to use Poll Everywhere

Presenters: How to get started with presenting

• Sign up for an account at polleverywhere.com  It’s free for up to 40 responses per question, or your organisation may have paid for an account which allows unlimited responses.
• Create some questions to stimulate thinking.  Questions which explore common misconceptions are a good place to start.
• Optionally, you can add the questions to your PowerPoint presentation if you install the Poll Ev Presenter Add-in on to your computer.
• Customise your unique ID so students can respond to your questions
• Present the questions in class through a web browser or PowerPoint

Audience: How to respond in a presentation

• Download the app onto your smartphone or tablet
• In the lecture, open the app and enter your tutor’s unique ID
• As questions are displayed on your device, answer them and see the results appear on the classroom screen
• Ask your tutor if you can present some questions too!

Activity

Poll Everywhere is also available for your computer on the Poll Everywhere website

1. Download the app
2. Open the app and tap I’m participating
   
   

   Open the app and tap I’m participating

   
   

3. Join UWL12Apps
   

   Join UWL12Apps

4. The question will be displayed on your device.  Type in and submit your response.  You can respond more than once if you wish.
5. Check out what other people said:

What do you think?

Is this app useful for you? How do you use it? Do you know of an app that does the same thing but better? Any tips for us? Share your ideas by leaving a reply below, or tweet us @UWL12apps or use the hashtag #UWL12apps

Author

Written by Anna Armstrong, Academic Developer in Technology Enhanced Learning at the University of West London

 

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12 Apps of Christmas by the University of West London is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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