Poll Everywhere is approved for academic use and is integrated with Canvas.

What is Poll Everywhere?

Poll Everywhere is a web-based polling tool. It allows instructors to ask questions quickly and for students to respond to the questions using their computer or mobile device. Instructors can ask a variety of question types, including multiple choice, clickable images, open ended, and others. Poll Everywhere could be described as clickers, a student response system, a classroom response system, and/or an audience response system.

What is the purpose of Poll Everywhere?

Poll Everywhere’s primary purpose is to gather assessment information easily on how the full class is doing. This includes:

  • pre-assessments before teaching a topic.
  • quick comprehension checks during or after teaching a topic.
  • gathering feedback on the process of learning (e.g., what’s one question you still have?).

Better learning occurs when:

  • students have the opportunity to discuss and justify their choices with peers.
  • questions require application of the content being learned in class.
  • questions occur throughout class time rather than only at the beginning or end.

Why use Poll Everywhere?

Use Poll Everywhere to get a better sense of how the entire class is doing at the moment; rather than getting feedback only from the students that are willing to speak in class or waiting for an exam to realise where students are struggling. Information gathered from using Poll Everywhere should inform your next steps in teaching (e.g., Do you need to do another example or to approach the topic in a different way?).

Using Poll Everywhere also helps students self-assess how they are doing and identify topics where they need to focus their attention.

Learning Technology Ecosystem (LTE) Principles

Poll Everywhere most directly address these LTE goals:

Active and social - Learning is a process of meaning-making, constructed through learning with others, and as a part of an intentional, deliberate system within a course and across experiences. 

Best Practices

DO

DON'T

 Use during synchronous classes.

 Ask only fact-based / recall questions. You may use these sparingly, but it shouldn’t be your only use.

 Ask questions that clearly identify gaps or conceptual difficulties.

 Use only for tracking attendance.

 Use polling to help students self-assess where they need to focus their studying.

 Use for high-stakes assessment.

 Use polling to inform your teaching.

(e.g., what’s working and what needs revision)

Allow students to discuss and justify their answers.

 

Support for Poll Everywhere

Technical Support

(Why isn't this working?)

Vendor Supported

Self-supported 

Training Support

(How do I learn to use this tool?)

Vendor Supported

Self-supported 

Teaching Support

(How do I teach with this tool?)

Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning Supported
  • Email GMCTL for one-to-one consultations and related workshops.

Tool Evaluation

Technologies are evaluated based on their alignment with the Learning Technologies Ecosystem Principles.  Click to see explanations of each principle and a justification of the rating. You can also view a complete blank rubric to see more details or read about the assessment process.

Learning must be found easily at any time, and all learners and teachers have equitable access, regardless of culture, language, ability etc. 
More Information

Rating: Works well

  •  Accessibility Standards
    • Poll Everywhere accessibility and legal guidelines by limiting usability in other ways.
    • Features preference specific types of users.  
  • Cost of Use for USask Students
    • All aspects of Poll Everywhere are free for students.
    • Requires typical equipment that students and instructors are likely to have access to.
  • Platform/Device
    • Users can effectively utilize Poll Everywhere with any standard, up-to-date device and/or browser.
    • Can be clunky when presenting with mac. 
  • Offline Access:
    • There is no offline access for Poll Everywhere.

Learning is a process of meaning-making, constructed through learning with others, and as a part of an intentional, deliberate system within a course and across experiences.
More Information

Rating: Works well

  • Collaboration:
    • Poll Everywhere is designed to support both asynchronous and synchronous opportunities for communication, interactivity, and transfer of meaning between users. 
    • When students are given the opportunity to discuss their ideas, collaboration and sharing of ideas will occur.
  • Sharing:
    • Poll Everywhere allows for download, transfer, and reposting, so sharing and/or reuse is possible but is not a key part of the functionality. 
    • Questions can be publicly shared to gather responses on, but the presenter shares question banks to specific people.

Learning is most effective when systems are designed to help learners find, create, and/or repurpose significant content for the value of themselves and others.
More Information

Rating: Serious concerns

  • Creating:
    • The tool only allows for consuming content by students. 
    • Students can request presenting access, but do not have it automatically.

Learners create and control spaces for learning, understanding and retaining ownership, and purposefully choosing how and when they share.
More Information

Rating: Moderate concerns

  • Archiving, saving, and exporting data:
    • There are limitations to archiving, saving, or importing/exporting content or activity data.  (Possible for educators, but not students)
  • Data privacy and ownership: 
    • Users maintain ownership and copyright of their intellectual property/data.
    • The user can keep data private and decide if / how data is to be shared. 
  • Sign Up/Sign In:
    • Use of Poll Everywhere does not require the creation of an external account, additional login or integration, so no personal user information is collected and shared. 
  •  
  • Customization: 
    • Limited aspects of Poll Everywhere can be customized to suit the classroom context and learning outcomes.

Learners need to work in a system that is fluid and requires a minimum number of steps in systems that are intuitive and integrated.
More Information

Rating: Moderate concerns

  • Interface: 
    • Poll Everywhere interface is easy to use for instructors and students.
    • There are no personalization options. 
  • Additional Downloads: 
    • Poll Everywhere uses a browser extension or software that requires a download and/or user permission to run. 
  • Functionality: 
    • Poll Everywhere is designed to offer all the key functions associated with its purpose effectively. 
    • There is little to no functional difference between the mobile and the desktop version, regardless of the device used to access it.

Learners exist in accessible networks, and connect to the experiences, concepts, people, and ideas that they need.
More Information

Rating: Works well

  • Scale:
    • The tool can be scaled to accommodate any size class with the flexibility to create smaller sub-groups or communities of practice. 
  • Engagement:
    • Instructors who want to provide active learning opportunities, multiple methods of feedback, and responses to student learning behaviors get good information and easy channels to interact. 
    • Designed for feedback, but interaction depends on users, not build into tech.

Learning and feedback are iterative, and assessment comes from multiple sources, including self, peers, teachers, and outside experts.
More Information

Rating: Works well

  • Feedback:
    • Students can provide feedback, but not receive it.
  • Engagement: 
    • Instructors who want to provide active learning opportunities and responses to student learning behaviors get good information and easy channels to interact. 
    • Primary recommended tool for polling at USask.
    • Allows outside users.