So, you write a question in the poll (ex. "If Santa loaded up his sleigh tonight, would you get coal or presents? answers: Coal, Presents). The website will generate a nice graphic, with your question and responses. It will tell your audience to sent a text to #22333. The responses are numerical, too (so to choose "Coal" you'd enter the number next to coal in the subject area of the text).
You'll see immediate, anonymous results.
You can also have people answer the poll by using a website, rather than texting with a cell phone.
Example
Take my poll:
- if you have a cell phone click here
- if you don't, answer the question online here
- have a question up as students are coming into class...take the 'temperature' of your class about a current event or a topic they've read or prepared...
- poll your office mates on where to go for lunch during finals week
Other things:
You can create an account (free) and create multiple questions and save them together. There are also paid licenses which allow you to put keywords into the responses, meaning your respondents would text the word "coal" instead of the numerical value associated with the answer in the free version.
I am trying to reduce the amount of time my students have their phones out in classes..however, i think this has some merit & would be interested in trying it
ReplyDeleteI first read about this in the Gazette. One of the HS teachers in a marketing class at Kennedy (I believe) uses it. Her thought is that students have their phones and they're engaged with their phones, so she's trying to harness that engagement in her class. Her tactic is to have the students use their phones to answer the questions, then set them on their desks until they're needed again.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't appear to work with Iwireless, which doesn't support short numbers.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I would use polling since more detailed feedback is so easy to obtain from Survey Monkey. But it might be fun as a teacher to get audience participation with polling during a lecture.
ReplyDeleteI probably wouldn't use this for work, but it might come in handy at home.
ReplyDeleteI used this with our first year students in service-learning seminar and with a student leadership presentation, they loved it. I passed the information along to my Dad who teaches Music at another college. He began to incorporate it into his lectures to help lead discussions. It has been very affective for him. Although, I am not a fan of student cell phone usage in class. It is an effect means to get their attention and get them involved in the process. Remember, to use it for free, you can only have 30 student text. If you classroom is larger, you may need to split them into various groups.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a great idea. So good, in fact, that the College should support it by buying all the faculty iPhones with data plans. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSelf-serving interest aside, I guess I'm still tentative about encouraging cell-phone use in the classroom, considering the number of times I've asked to students to 'put it away' b/c they've been texting during class. However, outside of class it might be a fun/effective way to get quick responses from students.
Maybe this is an unrealistic question considering the day and age, but what if you have a few students’ with-out phones? It would seem to exclude those who aren't quite technologically savvy.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand if there is a small event (like a club meeting) threatened by something like weather a quick, can you make it?, can help determine whether to cancel or not without much hassle.
What a cool feature and the response is calcuated very quickly. The poll is now 50% - 50%. :)
ReplyDelete@Sara - Poll Everywhere also creates a web poll for non-cell phone users (so student would need an internet connection). This is also an option for people that have a cell phone but either no text plan or a pay-for-every-text type plan.
ReplyDeleteI like it but don't think that I would use it much. Amazed at how fast it worked!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification Lisa.
ReplyDeleteWe used this for service-learning seminars - it was a great way to get the students more engaged! They definitely seemed to like it!
ReplyDeleteSorry - Guess I'm even more of a luddite than Dan. Maybe for a class of 100 - 150. But for a class of 10 - 15? I want students to forget the technology and actually participate in class using good ole interpersonal communication.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the use of technology here, but it's not something that applies to my life right now. I'm impressed enough to tell others about this feature.
ReplyDeleteI am all for student engagement in the classroom and really like the idea of replacing clicker technology which is very nice, but pricey and sometimes cumbersome. The struggle is really with getting the kids to turn off their cell phones and put them away during class. I actually have a statement in my syllabus to that effect. I do like the idea of using this at meetings where input is valuable. I also like that it is free for groups of less than 30.
ReplyDelete