Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is an online tool that is does just what it says: creates polls. The most interesting part of Poll Everywhere is the people taking the poll can respond by texting a special code. For anyone who does not have access to a phone, but does have access to a computer, there are alternate ways to answer the poll.

Poll Everywhere is extremely simple to set up. Creating an account takes one minute, and the website asks if you are an educator (K-12 or higher ed) upon signing up to activate different features. The basic plan is free, but there is a $50 premium upgrade or $500 institution upgrade that is available for purchase.

To create a poll you click the "Create Poll" button in the upper, left corner. A video explaining Poll Everywhere and how to use it will play while you create your poll, which is helpful the first time you use it. The first thing you need to do is have a question, which you will type into a box. Once your question is made you will have an option for answers: open ended, multiple choice, or clickable image. Open ended would mean students could respond with any answer they think of, multiple choice could be true/false, yes/no, or a series of options, and clickable image would display images uploaded by the user. Multiple choice can also display images. 

Once the poll is set up, students will need to be given the number to text, and the code for each answer. In my opinion, the best way to use this would be to display the poll to the students, so all of the information is up on the screen. The other positive to using it this way is the students can see the results as they happen. Every time a new answer is added, the poll changes.

Polls can be timed, audience size can be chosen (max of 40 responses with the free plan), participants can be shown or hidden, results can be shown or hidden, students can respond via twitter,the web, or text messaging, and the visuals of the poll can be changed. Multiple polls can be created at the same time, or the same poll can have multiple questions. They are essentially fully customization. Polls can even be made public and expanded to others outside of the classroom. Polls can be shared on social networks, via public or private links, and embedded into Power Point and websites (which I plan to try to do in this e-mail, fingers crossed).

Ultimately, Poll Everywhere is what you want it to be. The use of this tool depends on what you plan to use it for, and what question you have in mind. It's uses and setting can change from question to question. It's an extremely easy website to use and navigate, and the video explaining the website and FAQ section make it even easier. 

Now, I hope my polls embed, and if they do please respond! If you have any specific questions about Poll Everywhere, please ask!

Poll #1

<script src="http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/b51dy4UhSVvFCtZ/web.js?height=250&results_count_format=percent&width=300" type="text/javascript"></script>

Poll #2

<script src="http://www.polleverywhere.com/polls/ikTyWGeArvlUdma/chart_widget.js?height=300&results_count_format=percent&width=400" type="text/javascript"></script>