Community reviews for Poll Everywhere

It was a good website just a little difficult getting started.

You've likely used an audience response system, or “clickers,” in your classroom before. Managing that class set of devices, sharing the devices with other classrooms, and building lessons with the device software can be a headache. Luckily, web-based applications have replaced the need for class sets of “clickers.” Now, students can use any mobile device or computer to access a dynamic student response system environment. Teachers can easily create activities and assessments to use with student response apps, like Poll Everywhere. Poll Everywhere has come a long way. From being mainly a SMS text-based polling tool to being a robust tool for visualizing responses from students and the entire audience, Poll Everywhere is a solid web app. As it has developed over time, it also continues to evolve. The nice thing about Poll Everywhere's continual improvement is that they make new features available to try out using Labs before they go live on the system. While the tool has some great features, such as the ability to quickly generate a word cloud of open-ended question responses, the tool really only has viable use in on-the-spot polling. Though that isn't a bad thing, it limits the use of the tool to formative assessment and not summative assessment, such as quizzes. Additionally, the types of questions that teachers can ask are on the lower end of depth-of-knowledge; however, with the proper application, the tool can allow the teacher to quickly take students from a simple recall question to a synthesis or evaluation experience. Poll Everywhere might be the most accessible of the student response system apps, as it allows for a web-based interface and SMS text responding to polls. That means that practically every mobile device out there should be able to interact with this app. A great choice for the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom. Finally, an appealing feature is Poll Everywhere's integration with PowerPoint for displaying polls and results in sequence with your other presentation slides. This gives the teacher or presenter a streamlined way of teaching and assessing all at once.

It is an engaging quick way to check for understanding and to use as a discussion starter based upon class opinions or results. The prep time to build a poll is also minimal. However, the free version does not break down individual student data long term which would be useful to determine student growth over time.

Formative assessment in a 1:1 environment via multiple surveys, pictoral representations, or free response questions is super easy with PollEv. It creates opportunities for easy exit slips, formative assessments, CFU's, TPSs, idea starters, vocab associations, or just as a conversation starters in professional development environments for adults.

Best for whole class discussion starters, or tickets out the door.

I like it because it allows me to see when students understand a concept. I also use it to poll the students on current events and issues with teenagers that they would not normally discuss openly in class.

PollEverywhere is a great tool for things like anticipatory set, establishing prior knowledge, summarizing, or surveying an audience. My middle school kids love it because they can use technology to participate, essentially in the same way you would with a clicker response system, but using technology that already exists in the classroom (cellphones, computers, etc.) I loved it because I got a quick idea of a broad array of opinions. Additionally, it's a really great method to get all students participating, even the ones who may be too shy to speak up otherwise. Kids often assume that everyone thinks like them OR that they're the only one that thinks something. This method allows them to see where they stand in comparison to others in reality, without actually raising their hand in class. While there are many other tools that allow for this (like Twitter, etc.), this allows them to do so without the headaches of creating usernames, passwords, etc. I think it could definitely serve as a teaching tool to help kids consider the opinions of others as valid points of view, and working as a class to model that it's possible to disagree with an opinion in a rational manner (something my students need lots of practice with!) One issue I ran into was making sure kids put the right code in, when submitting their answer (for poll or multiple choice questions), but the short answers work great! The only other issue I have occasionally run in to is kids submitting inappropriate answers, on short answer questions. Depending on one's purpose in using it, you could just make sure not to display the results on the screen, at least temporarily, or have certain kids that you know may be a problem submit their answer on paper to you, and you could enter it online.

I have used Poll everywhere for in class questions for the past couple of years. It is really easy to have students each answer a question using their cell phone, a computer, or a tablet. Every student gets to answer and it is a lot of fun for the students. They really enjoy seeing the immediate nature of the responses. It is a wonderful way to have a polling system in the classroom using the technology students already have versus buying an expensive student answer system.

To assess students before leaving the classroom, students can text to a number provided and it's a perfect way to gauge understanding anonymously and quickly. You can also use it throughout class to assess understanding. It is very easy to use and anyone with a phone can use it - does not need to be a smartphone. It can also be used for opinion polls, which allows students to see the results for the class. It's nice because it's quick feedback, which allows me to gauge my teaching. Honestly, I can't think of anything to complain about using this site.

A good way to solicit "just in time" input from everyone in your class...