One of the coolest tools I have discovered for engaging teen learners in my school library as well as adult participants in my presentations is the service Poll Everywhere. Poll Everywhere allows you to pose a question to your audience via an embedded widget on your website  or blog; you can also embed a poll directly into a PowerPoint!  Your audience members can then respond to your poll via SMS text, Twitter, or the web.  Your polls can be multiple choice based questions or you can create open-ended questions to create conversations with your participants.  If you choose to use the free service option, you can accept up to thirty responses per poll question.  Poll Everywhere also offers a range of pricing plans if you need the ability to accommodate more responses.

Poll Everywhere with Teen Learners

I first began using Poll Everywhere in August with ninth and tenth grade students as a way of creating interest in research topics  in my mini-lessons introducing research pathfinders that I had created as part of the collaborative process with classroom teachers.   During the first week of school, I decided to test drive Poll Everywhere with a group of 10th Literature/Composition students who were participating in my Media 21 project.     As part of our introduction for exploring wikis as a learning tool and social media as tools for learning, I integrated a Poll Everywhere multiple choice poll asking students to vote on the form of social media or social networking they used most often.  I created a tab for each class period (5th and 7th) for student voting using LibGuides and integrated widgets for the polls into each page.   I gave students the option of either texting their responses, using the mobile phone voting feature, or for those who did not have cell phones, a web-based voting option.  An undercurrent of excitement and surprise pulsed throughout the lab as students looked at me in disbelief and asked, “Can we really use our cell phones to vote?”   I smiled with great pride when one student looked at me and said, “What kind of teacher are you?”  Not only did this activity engage students in conversation and participation in the learning activity, but it also set the tone for the semester that we would be creating learning experiences different from the typical mainstream classroom.

Responding to a Poll Everywhere Poll via Text

Texting in the Library, Oh My!

5th Period Social Media Poll

You can also create open-ended poll questions with PollEverywhere to create more free-flowing responses.  This past November I used open-ended polls with our AP English seniors to brainstorm possible senior project topics.  I facilitated small and large group conversations about possible topics and resources for researching those topics using our research pathfinder. Running the live text/poll wall on a large projection screen is a very effective way to support these conversations and to generate excitement as students see their responses roll live on the text/poll wall.   You can easily go into this full screen mode from your embedded poll widget via your webpage or your PowerPoint slide.

Seniors Texting Responses to the Live Text/Poll Wall

Seniors Sharing Possible Senior Project Topics via Poll Everywhere

As you can see in the screenshot of my Poll Everywhere dashboard below, you also have the ability to publish your poll via Twitter or your blog.

An Open-Ended Poll Question

Poll Everywhere for Adult Learners and Presentations

You can also use Poll Everywhere for your workshops and presentations with adult learners.   I used Poll Everywhere to kick off my presentation on participatory librarianship this past fall at the AASL National Convention.  By embedding my conversation starter questions into my PowerPoint slidedeck, I could stream the live text/poll wall of responses to the audience and facilitate our sharing of ideas.

Poll Everywhere at AASL; photo via Diane Cordell under a CC license

The only caveat to this method is that a large screen will be needed if you should be presenting in a room that is long and narrow in depth as your audience members in the back may too far back to see the screen with the information for texting or Tweeting a response.  You can head off this particular challenge by preparing mini “tickets” with the text and Tweeting information ahead of time to pass out to participants prior to your presentation.  The screencast below simulates how responses look in real time as they come into the live text wall for your poll:

If you want to embed a Poll Everywhere slide into your PowerPoint with the live text wall effect, you can watch my tutorial below:

Other Possible Uses for Instruction and Presentations

Poll Everywhere also offers these suggestions for using polls:

• Audience choice awards
• Texting Q&A to expert panels
• Replace expensive clickers
• Green surveys at conferences
• Moderated TXT-to-screen graffiti
• Text feedback to a presenter
• Interactive signage
• Training comprehension checks

What ideas or suggestions do you have for using Poll Everywhere in an instructional setting or for a presentation?  Text,or Tweet to chime in or share your response via the blog comments!  To participate: Text 41273 and your message to 99503 or tweet @poll 41273 and your message.

Buffy Hamilton