Poll Everywhere
What is it?
Poll Everywhere is a great site that allows students to respond anonymously to questions using their cell phones. Essentially, instead of using clickers in your classroom, students can simply use their cell phones. This site is a convenient way to get your students to participate in the class discussions or questions.
How to use this site
Signing up
This site is very user friendly! Go to: http://www.polleverywhere.com/ and click "signup" at the top right hand corner, (see the picture to the left). To sign up all your need is your email, and this email will then become your username. This is the free version of this site. The free version allows up to 32 people to poll in at once. I have found that this version is enough for what I use it for in the classroom.
Creating your polls:
Once you have signed into the site, it will go through a quick tutorial with you showing how to make a poll, (this is great, don't skip this part!) Now that you are set up, you can begin to make poll questions. On the top left corner, click "Create poll". Type in your question at the top. Then, you can chose to make the question open ended, so the students can type in an answer; or, in multiple choice format. You can make polls ahead of time and log into the site later to use them with your class. It also stores all your polls and the responses, which can be nice to see improvement if you give the same question again later in the course. Once you have created a poll, go to my polls and you can edit your poll. You can decide how many times students can respond and how long the poll will last for.
How students respond:
Each poll question has a number and each response has a number. For instance, if the poll number is 12345 and the response number for the multiple choice question you want is 24680, you would put 12345 in the area to send the message and 24680 in the message box.
As students vote the graph moves in real time. When you are in My Polls, at the top you can click: Download as .PPTX or .PPT and a PowerPoint presentation will pop up that outlines exactly how to vote on Poll Everywhere. This is a great, fast way to show your students how to use this site.
Finishing up your poll:
When students are finished responding to the question, on the right hand side click Stop Poll. You can then click Summary Table or Response History to show you a summary of the results.
Neat Settings:
In My Polls at the top you can hit: Group, which then makes categories for your polls. I have a category for each class that I teach; this helps me stay organized. Also, when you click on a poll you have created, move your pointer finger over to the right side of the poll and 3 boxes will pop up. The top box will allow you to adjust the visual settings; for example, you can change the font and color, or you can make the responses into a graph style. If you click on the second box, Show Chart, it will allow you to hide the responses until the poll in finished; if you don`t
want students voting with the majority this is a great option. To show the results at the end hit the same box. If you click on the third box, it will make the poll full screen on your computer.
Here are some great resources to get you started:
http://kulowiectech.blogspot.ca/2011/05/polleverywhere-advice-questioning.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZWM2-4Jf4k
This site is very user friendly! Go to: http://www.polleverywhere.com/ and click "signup" at the top right hand corner, (see the picture to the left). To sign up all your need is your email, and this email will then become your username. This is the free version of this site. The free version allows up to 32 people to poll in at once. I have found that this version is enough for what I use it for in the classroom.
Creating your polls:
Once you have signed into the site, it will go through a quick tutorial with you showing how to make a poll, (this is great, don't skip this part!) Now that you are set up, you can begin to make poll questions. On the top left corner, click "Create poll". Type in your question at the top. Then, you can chose to make the question open ended, so the students can type in an answer; or, in multiple choice format. You can make polls ahead of time and log into the site later to use them with your class. It also stores all your polls and the responses, which can be nice to see improvement if you give the same question again later in the course. Once you have created a poll, go to my polls and you can edit your poll. You can decide how many times students can respond and how long the poll will last for.
How students respond:
Each poll question has a number and each response has a number. For instance, if the poll number is 12345 and the response number for the multiple choice question you want is 24680, you would put 12345 in the area to send the message and 24680 in the message box.
As students vote the graph moves in real time. When you are in My Polls, at the top you can click: Download as .PPTX or .PPT and a PowerPoint presentation will pop up that outlines exactly how to vote on Poll Everywhere. This is a great, fast way to show your students how to use this site.
Finishing up your poll:
When students are finished responding to the question, on the right hand side click Stop Poll. You can then click Summary Table or Response History to show you a summary of the results.
Neat Settings:
In My Polls at the top you can hit: Group, which then makes categories for your polls. I have a category for each class that I teach; this helps me stay organized. Also, when you click on a poll you have created, move your pointer finger over to the right side of the poll and 3 boxes will pop up. The top box will allow you to adjust the visual settings; for example, you can change the font and color, or you can make the responses into a graph style. If you click on the second box, Show Chart, it will allow you to hide the responses until the poll in finished; if you don`t
want students voting with the majority this is a great option. To show the results at the end hit the same box. If you click on the third box, it will make the poll full screen on your computer.
Here are some great resources to get you started:
http://kulowiectech.blogspot.ca/2011/05/polleverywhere-advice-questioning.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZWM2-4Jf4k
Why should you use this website?
Poll Everywhere is a great tool to get all your students involved in class discussions. It is anonymous, quick and students love to use it.
- increases student participating
- shy students are more likely to get involved
- discuss sensitive material
- elicit diverse opinions when there is no correct answer
- have students join the discussion to open ended questions
- grabbing students with thought-provoking questions at the beginning of
class
- remind students about homework assignments
- quickly assess your class
- increases student participating
- shy students are more likely to get involved
- discuss sensitive material
- elicit diverse opinions when there is no correct answer
- have students join the discussion to open ended questions
- grabbing students with thought-provoking questions at the beginning of
class
- remind students about homework assignments
- quickly assess your class
Examples from my classroom
I use Poll Everywhere in my classes all the time. I often ask my students questions at the beginning of class to review the previous day's lesson. Hitting Show Chart to hide the responses until the poll is finished gives better results because the students cannot vote with the majority.
I also use Poll Everywhere to ask open ended questions where the students can type in a response. For instance, I will ask the students if they have any questions about the material. For students who are too shy to ask in class, this is a great option. Students can anonymously ask a questions and I will answer it without having to know who asked the question.
I have also given poll questions to discuss sensitive material that the students may not want to raise their hand to answer. For instance, when I started the unit about evolution in biology 20, I first had a discussion with my students about beliefs. To get an idea about the classes beliefs on evolution I asked if they believed in evolution or not. After this vote we discussed that in this course we must know about evolution but we do not have to believe in it. Students were told they have the right to believe in what they like and they cannot judge another person for what they believe in.
I also use Poll Everywhere to ask open ended questions where the students can type in a response. For instance, I will ask the students if they have any questions about the material. For students who are too shy to ask in class, this is a great option. Students can anonymously ask a questions and I will answer it without having to know who asked the question.
I have also given poll questions to discuss sensitive material that the students may not want to raise their hand to answer. For instance, when I started the unit about evolution in biology 20, I first had a discussion with my students about beliefs. To get an idea about the classes beliefs on evolution I asked if they believed in evolution or not. After this vote we discussed that in this course we must know about evolution but we do not have to believe in it. Students were told they have the right to believe in what they like and they cannot judge another person for what they believe in.
Possible disadvantages and how to overcome them
What if your students don't have a cell phone? Or, it costs your students to send text messages?
Students can still send in votes to Poll Everywhere even if they don`t have a cell phone. You can send in votes from a computer as well. If you school or classroom has lap tops, student can easily vote. The PowerPoint that you can download on this site about sending in polls, guides students how to votes from their phones, and computers vie PollEv.com and Twitter.
Or, I let students share their phones. If a person with a phone will let another peer in the class use their phone to vote this also solves the problem. I will bring my phone to class to let students borrow it to send in a text message.
Now the students have their phones out, does this create distractions?
Of course you cannot control what the students are doing on their phones once there out in the classroom. I feel that the best way to control this is to outline the rules, expectations and consequences before beginning to vote on Poll Everywhere. In my class, students must have their phones turned off and put away at all times, unless I ask them to bring them out. If students cannot follow this rule, the phones are taken away for the class and put on my desk. Students love using Poll Everywhere so I have found that they follow the cell phone rules because they want to continue using Poll Everywhere!
Students can still send in votes to Poll Everywhere even if they don`t have a cell phone. You can send in votes from a computer as well. If you school or classroom has lap tops, student can easily vote. The PowerPoint that you can download on this site about sending in polls, guides students how to votes from their phones, and computers vie PollEv.com and Twitter.
Or, I let students share their phones. If a person with a phone will let another peer in the class use their phone to vote this also solves the problem. I will bring my phone to class to let students borrow it to send in a text message.
Now the students have their phones out, does this create distractions?
Of course you cannot control what the students are doing on their phones once there out in the classroom. I feel that the best way to control this is to outline the rules, expectations and consequences before beginning to vote on Poll Everywhere. In my class, students must have their phones turned off and put away at all times, unless I ask them to bring them out. If students cannot follow this rule, the phones are taken away for the class and put on my desk. Students love using Poll Everywhere so I have found that they follow the cell phone rules because they want to continue using Poll Everywhere!
Resources
"Four Scary Good Ed Tech Sites | Edutopia." K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work | Edutopia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/scary-good-ed-tech-sites-nicholas-provenzano>.
"Handouts & Tips - November Learning." Home - November Learning. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.
<http://novemberlearning.com/resources/handouts/real-time-assessment-with-poll-everywhere/>.
"The History 2.0 Classroom: Polleverywhere - Advice & Questioning Strategies." The History 2.0 Classroom. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.
<http://kulowiectech.blogspot.ca/2011/05/polleverywhere-advice-questioning.html>.
"Handouts & Tips - November Learning." Home - November Learning. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.
<http://novemberlearning.com/resources/handouts/real-time-assessment-with-poll-everywhere/>.
"The History 2.0 Classroom: Polleverywhere - Advice & Questioning Strategies." The History 2.0 Classroom. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.
<http://kulowiectech.blogspot.ca/2011/05/polleverywhere-advice-questioning.html>.