Active Learning In Virtual Environment/Polling

Activity: #in-class/short-term, #individual-work, #quick-preparation

Outline
Polling can be used as a fast method to explore students’ opinions on a certain subject. What makes it convenient is Zoom’s polling feature that allows students to post their responses during the class. Therefore, teachers are able to view the answers right away. A variety of polling types is available to choose from, such as multiple choice polls, true or false statements or Likert-type questions. Additionally, it helps a teacher to keep track of students’ attendance or prevent any miscomprehensions at any time throughout the class. As a matter of fact, there are alternative online polling platforms to choose from: SurveyMonkey, Poll Everywhere and Google Forms.



Activity arrangement
Once students start answering the questions, you will be able to view the responses simultaneously.
 * create a poll in one of the platforms
 * decide on the approximate time for students to answer during the class
 * check that the questions are understandable and set correctly
 * provide students with verbal instruction (or/and written if needed)
 * end the poll.

Pointers

 * easy to arrange in large groups of students.
 * less pressure on students that don't like active participation.
 * engages students to stay attentive.

How to use this method in online class?
One of the most common options to use polling during the class is Zoom polling feature. There are certain necessary aspects you should keep in mind, before creating a poll in Zoom. For example, there are such limitations as max 10 questions in one poll and the number of participants being max 25. In addition, you have to make sure you created a meeting using your Personal Meeting ID. A detailed step-wise instruction is available on their website.

If a meeting is done through Google Meet, a Google Forms feature would be the most convenient feature to use. Besides, unlike Zoom polling feature, google forms can be conducted offline.