Faculty Guides – Poll Everywhere
Poll Everywhere provides faculty with many different types of polls, including Multiple choice, Word cloud, Q&A, Clickable image, Survey, Open-ended, Competition, and 16 other polling options. Only multiple choice and clickable image poll questions provide grades that can be uploaded into the Canvas gradebook. Student responses can be aggregated in real time and exported to the Canvas Gradebook. Poll Everywhere allow instructors and students to interact with each other using polling questions.
*************************************************************************************************************************************
FAQ website – Step-by-Step Instructions on Poll Everywhere
*************************************************************************************************************************************
Get Started with Poll Everywhere & Helping Students:
How can faculty start using Poll Everywhere?
Review the following pages with FAQs on the following topics:
Access to Poll Everywhere
Creating Polls
Presenting Polls
Poll Reporting and Grade Pass-back to Canvas
Attendance with Poll Everywhere
Using Teams
Do you have any suggested student messaging?
Yes. Share the Student Guides – Poll Everywhere web page with students through Canvas and your syllabus. See additional guidance about Student Messaging below.
Is there a suggested policy to add to your syllabus and discuss with students when using Poll Everywhere for attendance?
Yes. Review and include the following policy in your syllabus:
To clearly state a policy on attendance (including use of Attendance with Poll Everywhere)
Do academic integrity policies apply to Poll Everywhere?
Yes. Students are are required to complete their own polls through Poll Everywhere. It is a violation of the Code of Student Responsibility for a student to complete a poll for another student or for a student to request that another person completes a poll for them.
************************************************************************************************************************************
What should I add to my syllabus to alert students to the use of Poll Everywhere?
Students will need to know that using Poll Everywhere is a requirement of your course and that they will therefore need to bring a Wi-Fi-enabled device every time class meets. Your syllabus should makes these requirements explicit.
Faculty should include relevant information about Poll Everywhere in their syllabus. This information should include a description of the application, how it will be used, that the app and account is free for students, and that they must login using their NinerNET credentials. Let your students know that having a mobile device (smartphone, tablet, laptop) will be necessary to participate in polls.
Encourage students to make sure they are connected to the university’s Wi-Fi service, EduRoam (Not Niner Wi-Fi Guest), for their internet connection (tablet/phone or laptop), and using the most updated version of Google Chrome whenever possible can reduce user error. If students have issues using Poll Everywhere, direct them to alert you immediately, in-person, so you can confirm their attendance. Then advise the student to submit a help ticket to OneIT at help.charlotte.edu.
Suggesting wording on use of Poll Everywhere:
“You must have a Wi-Fi enabled device to be able to use Poll Everywhere in this class, which is a required part of the course. This can be a laptop computer, tablet, or smartphone. If you do not have such a device, you will need to have one every time you attend this class, and you have several options. The simplest option may be to buy an inexpensive tablet, such as an Amazon Fire (formerly known as Kindle Fire), which is just under $50, or you can use a (inactivated) Wi-Fi-only smart phone, which can also be purchased for as low as $20 or $30. Another option includes checking out a laptop or tablet from the library on a daily basis, but this method is not completely reliable, since availability is not always guaranteed.”
Suggesting wording on use of the Poll Everywhere In-Person Attendance Management Tool:
“The instructor may use the Poll Everywhere Attendance Management Tool to verify students’ in-person attendance in the classroom or class location of record. Students will need to “check in to your presenter’s location” on their devices before taking an attendance poll.
Students will need to set their devices to “Allow” Poll Everywhere to know their location in order to be checked-in for attendance. To be sure location is turned on for the device:
- If students are using a VPN – they will need to turn it off to complete attendance polls.
- If students have Location Services turned off – they will need to turn it on to complete attendance polls.
If a student is unable to “register their location” on their device, they are responsible for alerting their instructor so an alternate way of confirming their attendance can be arranged.
Students are required to verify only their own attendance through Poll Everywhere. It is a violation of this syllabus policy and the Code of Student Responsibility for a student to verify attendance for another student or for a student to request that another person verify their attendance.”
Suggested wording regarding student academic integrity when using Poll Everywhere:
“Each class period, several questions will be asked via Poll Everywhere (free; download the app for your phone/tablet). You must be physically present during class and bring a Wi-Fi enabled device (i.e. smartphone, tablet, laptop) to answer and earn the polling points. The questions will focus on the materials covered in class and the difficulty level will vary. Students should not convey answers to polling questions to their colleagues who are absent from class; violation of this policy will result in the loss of all polling points for the semester for any and all offending students. This behavior represents collusion among students, thus a violation of UNC Charlotte’s Code of Student Academic Integrity.”
************************************************************************************************************************************
Can I Take Attendance using Poll Everywhere?
There are many ways to take attendance with Poll Everywhere. When you run the gradebook report in Poll Everywhere, you will be able to choose which data point (grade, attendance, or participation) counts as attendance to pass back to the Canvas Gradebook. You can pass back data points more than once if you want to have attendance go in one part of the Canvas Gradebook and the points/grade from the poll go into another part of the Canvas Gradebook.
Poll Everywhere has a new Attendance Management tool using geolocation technology that can be used specifically for verifying students were present in the classroom when taking polls.
View the Attendance Management User Guide for step-by-step directions on how to enable and set up Attendance Management for use with your on-campus courses.
Additional resources include:
How to Enable Attendance Management Video (0:55)
How to Add and Delete Locations Video (1:02)
To ensure a smooth implementation:
- Add the Suggested Syllabus Policy on attendance (including use of Attendance with Poll Everywhere) to your syllabus. See: https://legal.charlotte.edu/legal-topics/classroom-policies-and-practices/suggested-syllabus-policies-notices
- Discuss the use of Poll Everywhere Attendance at the beginning of the semester and before using it with your course.
- Administer a test Poll with Attendance Management enabled to ensure students do not experience technical difficulties.
Share the Student Guides – Poll Everywhere web page with your course.
************************************************************************************************************************************
Can I use Math Symbols and Scientific Equations in Poll Everywhere?
Faculty can use TeX or LaTeX to add formulas or equations in the poll question title or the answer choices. Just start typing your question or answer choice and when you want to enter an equation, type $$ your equation $$ and the rest of your question. Poll Everywhere will translate it to the appropriate equation and show you a preview. See further information on adding math symbols or scientific equations to polling questions.