Poll Everywhere is no longer a supported application at Spelman College. We are excited to introduce you to free options that you can use in class to gather student responses to questions that check for understanding. All products contained here are excellent tools to capture feedback through formative assessment. Depending on your use of the product, it could be used to capture responses as well. Either way, these tools provide a quick and easy way to capture feedback on the direction you take teaching and learning in your classroom.
Student Response Systems
Plickers is a revolutionary system that uses paper clickers to capture each student’s answer. All students can be included in this activity regardless of the personal technology they own. You only need 1 iPhone, iPad, or Android device and a plicker for each student to gather information from the entire class. It provides automatic feedback that can be displayed to the class as an aid to guide discussion or for you to elaborate on misconceptions that are discovered. Each response card is designed so that other students cannot see the letter that is being held upright, which helps to ensure authentic responses from each student. You can use the data gathered from a plickers session to guide instruction and enrichment activities for each student. If you are interested in implementing this technology, watch this tutorial on how it works.
Socrative provides you with instant insight into student understanding using its platform and mobile app. Students need a wifi enabled device in order to participate in this activity. With Socrative you can capture student responses to previously created questions, or questions that you make up on the spot. It is easy to use and allows you to aggregate the results quickly to post for student viewing. You can capture an exact response or allow students to enter free response to questions asked. To see Socrative in action, view a quick demonstration on how easy it is to use.
Turning Technology clickers are special clicker devices that can be given to all students in the classroom or you can ask students to download the appropriate app to their personal device to interact with the assessment session. They work similarly to the other two response systems in that it captures student understanding of the concepts in real time that can be displayed to the class to guide instruction. Clickers can be loaned from the Instructional Technology and Design Services team by contacting x5400 or emailing mitservice@spelman.edu.
To see handheld clickers in action, watch this video.
Pedagogical Ideas for Incorporating Student Response Systems
- Warm-up discussion: an activity to elicit student engagement early in the class to guide the day’s discussion.
- Exit Ticket: an activity to check for understanding of the main concepts of the class session.
- Peer Instruction: students respond to questions asked. Depending on the way the data falls, you can have students discuss the problem with their neighbors for a short period of time. Ask the same question to the class again – it should result in more students getting the correct answer.
Click here to read more about student response systems as well as view Educause’s “Best Practices for Implementing Clickers in the Classroom.”