Technology Spotlight: Poll Everywhere

tl;dr - Even if you are already familiar with the Poll Everywhere platform, they have recently added a lot more fucntionality

Poll Everywhere at a glance

Poll Everywhere is an online platform that allows teachers or students to create a variety of polls and surveys.  Respondents can participate through computers, web-enabled devices, or through texting.  The responses are then displayed in real time in PowerPoint or Keynote, or in a web browser.  

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The concept of a online polling is not in itself innovative, and  Poll Everywhere is not new.  However, their developers have made some fantastic improvements this last year, and even if you are already familiar with the platform I would invite you to revisit your account and check out all the new features.  

How can I use Poll Everywhere in my class?

The poll and survey questions can be exported as slides and imported into a PowerPoint presentation, allowing teachers to break from their presentation routine in order to engage students and solicit their real-time feedback.  Students can share their responses anonymously if they choose, and it allows each student to have an equal voice in expressing their feedback.  Introverts and extroverts contribute to the activity as equals.  In addition to the standard multiple choice poll questions, teachers can gather responses in a word cloud, or they could have students rank order items or complete open-ended questions.  Teachers can set up clickable images, where students drop a pin on an image.  I use that to ask my students to identify where they are from.  

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In addition to these standard poll items, teachers create surveys.  A survey can consist of a combination of various other poll items.  I can create a survey with a multiple choice question, a rank order activity, another multiple choice question, and a clickable image.  There are many more activities in  Poll Everywhere.  Many of these are very new:

  • Numeric scale
  • Icebreaker
  • Upvote
  • Leaderboard
  • Emotional scale
  • Self-paced quiz
  • News ticker
  • Retrospective
  • Assign teams
  • Discussion
  • Brainstorm
  • Priority ranking
  • Select on map
  • Short answer
  • Bulletin board
  • 2x2 matrix

Here is what I like best about Poll Everywhere 

I like that with  Poll Everywhere I can leverage technologies in the class without having to teach the technology.  Students can text their answers, download an app, or log into a web browser.  They can participate on their phones or computers.  I have never had a student who was confused by the instructions.  And the results are real-time.  It is an engaging way to interact with students.  Teachers can also use  Poll Everywhere to check for comprehension or guide the direction of the curriculum.  You can give students options about discussion topics, and this can be very empowering and engaging. 

Here is what I dislike about Poll Everywhere 

Like most platforms these days, Poll Everywhere is free for teachers, but there are various subscriptions for those who want more features.  I have been using my free account for about 7 years as of this writing.  With the free account, I am limited to 25 responses per poll, I don't get reporting, and cannot choose my username or add branding.  I don't get summary reports and I cannot archive results.  Finally, my support options are limited.  I am still happy with my free account, but I do get envious of the premium accounts.  

My recommendations

Poll Everywhere is a fantastic option for both online and traditional professors to interact with and empower their students.  It is fun for students to submit responses and see the live results.  I strongly recommend signing up for an account and trying it out with some low-stakes polling activities.  If you haven't visited recently then it's time to log back in and explore all the new features that have been added.  Share your fun activities and ideas in the comments.


Written by Dr. Sean Nufer, Director of Ed Tech for TCS Education System.

Technology Spotlight: Padlet

tl;dr - Padlet lets you curate and creatively present content for your online classroom

Padlet at a glance

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The concept of a digital bulletin board is not new - if anything it has nearly become banal.  Pinterest seems to dominate the market on curating pinned items.  However, in my opinion Padlet is a much more flexible platform for academia and online learning.  It embeds very cleanly (Pinterest requires a great amount of workaround to embed into Canvas), there are many options for customizing your layout and presentation, and it works very well for collaborative projects.  

Padlet allows you to add files, images, links, videos, etc. to a board that you can share with your class.  You can determine if the board is public, private, password protected, etc.  You can add specific users to collaborate or let them add themselves, and you can choose various moderator and contributor roles and responsibilities.

How can I use Padlet in my class?

I have used Padlet a few times in my classes.  It is a great tool for students to curate their own content and organize their online resources.  I also have used it as a class introduction tool.  I gave my students instructions on how to create a Padlet account, upload materials, grab the embed code, and embed their padlets into discussion posts.  Students didn't just link to their padlets - they actually embedded them into the post.  This made the discussion interactive, engaging, personal, and incredibly fun. 

In a typical "Introduce Yourself" discussion, I might see one or two posts per students.  In a class of 15 students, if I see 50 posts then I am amazed at their level of engagement.  The first time I introduced Padlet as a platform for the discussion, the students absolutely loved it and the participation was off the chart.  I gathered 300+ responses that week just in the introduction discussion - a number I had never seen.  Here was my personal introduction board that I shared with the class:

Made with Padlet

I also created an assignment where students were to gather sources based on the chapters in the textbook we read that week.  Each student had a dedicated spot on the Padlet where they gathered and curated relevant YouTube videos, blog posts, news articles, prominent tweets, and of course scholarly journal articles.  By Friday that week we had a well-build Padlet board that we all contributed to (yes, I even gave myself a spot on the board where I did research alongside the students and helped contribute to the class project), and their assignment over the weekend was to write a reflection paper based on our class Padlet board.  

Here is what I like best about Padlet

Padlet is incredibly interactive and there are so many possibilities to create collaborative assignments for the students.  I even embedded Padlet right into Canvas, so the students didn't have to go out to another platform to interact with it.  If I made a change on the website then it automatically changed the Padlet in Canvas, and vice versa.  I can't overemphasize how easy it is to embed - it can embed anywhere in Canvas where you have an HTML editor: announcements, assignment pages, discussion boards, content pages, etc.  The Padlet interface is intuitive and robust and it is easy to give access to the students.  Padlet works on any browser and on mobile, and even has apps for smartphones and tablets so you can build on the fly!

Here is what I dislike about Padlet

This is one of the rare platforms where I actually don't have a lot to criticize.  It is a free tool, but there are premium options available to allow branding, analytics, and tech support.  My only complaint is that I wish the embed code was less intimidating, perhaps using an <iframe> instead of a convoluted <div>.  But it's easy to figure out (reach out to me if you need help embedding).  

My recommendations

There are many applications for Padlet.  In addition to my examples as a class introduction tool and group project platform, you can:

  • use Padlet to build a community where students can share thought-provoking and interesting resources with each other
  • establish a virtual community or commons areas
  • use it as a tool for a professor to share content with the students
  • create a platform for experienced students to mentor new student
  • create an "idea bin" that students can contribute to throughout the term
  • establish a board that students can refer to during academic break
  • create challenge assignments where students build their own boards and then have a show-and-tell where they all come together
  • assigns groups to cover different themes of a topic
  • use this platform for book reports
  • brainstorm topics - individually, as groups, or as a class
  • have students use the platform as a journal or notebook - collecting images, ideas, videos, blog posts, online resources, etc.

In short, Padlet is a fantastic platform for collaborating on projects, organizing and editing content, and sharing sources in a fun, interactive, and easy setting that integrates into Canvas.


Written by Dr. Sean Nufer, Director of Ed Tech for TCS Education System.

Technology Spotlight: Thinglink

 
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Tl;dr – Thinglink is a cross-platform tool for combining images with media and text.  

Thinglink at a glance

Do you remember those overhead projectors your teachers bored you with in the classroom? Thinglink is like that… plus about 20 years of design and technical advancements. Thinglink is a tool you can use to enhance visual media such as infographics, maps, photos, graphs and charts, videos and even 360 photos by adding interactive icons that can be expanded to display text, video, links, and other embedded content. Thinglink adds dimension, detail, and interactivity to otherwise simple or inexplicable images.

http://www.thinglink.com/edu

Thinglink offers several different pricing options but, for online classroom purposes, the free version is probably sufficient. There are, however, different educator pricing options that might be worth looking into.

The interface is simple and intuitive. Simply upload your image and add expandable tags where you can then add text and/or media.

How can I use Thinglink in my class?

Thinglink is an excellent solution for introducing new or complex topics or situations to your students. Sometimes images alone just can’t adequately convey the intended message or instructional content. Thinglink is a very effective tool at pointing out or expanding details. It can help educators call attention to critical points of information or expound on areas that may be unclear to the student.

Thinglink embeds well into canvas. You can use Thinglink to dramatically enhance engagement and interactivity in your Canvas courses, greatly improving content delivery and knowledge retention vs. flat traditional images. Thinglink also offers analytics and usage data so you can evaluate where your students are engaged or what areas they interact with the most.

What I like best about Thinglink

Thinglink is a very simple, intuitive platform yet it offers some innovative and powerful applications such as 360/VR integration. In the Premium Teacher paid version you can use Thinglink to immerse your students in a virtual environment. With VR becoming more accessible and mobile friendly, virtual learning environments in the classroom are now possible.

Check out these VR learning environments: 

What I dislike about Thinglink

Thinglink has its limitations. For one, even at premium prices, Thinglink projects are limited to a certain amount of students or viewers. I would be willing to pay per project to be able own, export, and manage my own creations without usage limitations, but to pay $120 every year for as long as I want to keep my usage needs is a hard expense to justify. I understand that a free service should be limited but paying upwards of $120 a year to be able to use 360/VR features or expand a student base to more than 150 seems excessive.

My recommendations

Give the free account a try. After exploring the platform and experimenting with some of your own Thinglink creations, you might discover some creative ways to enhance your online classroom. Once you create a few starter projects, over time, your projects can evolve into more complex presentations. If you find value in your presentations, check out some of the additional paid features.

Written by Thad Stott, Instructional Technologist, Department of Ed Tech for TCS Education System.

Technology Spotlight: H5P

tl;dr - H5P lets you create awesome content for your online classroom

H5P at a glance

H5P is an amazing open source HTML5 eLearning authoring tool.  Wait, did I lose you already?  All this web code is all so confusing, and you know what?  My degree was in psychology, not computers.  So let's make this simple.  If you would like to have some interesting and engaging interactions in your online classroom without having to worry about all that computer stuff then you should check out h5p.org.  It does the code stuff for you so that you can just focus on the content.  

You can create a free account and then start building interactions, games, presentations, flashcards, and many more awesome things.  They have a whole webpage that is a treasure trove full of examples and templates for you to explore: https://h5p.org/content-types-and-applications  To get you started, here is an example of an interactive video:

How can I use H5P in my class?

Your H5P interactions can be built and then placed within content pages in Canvas.  So any place where you have a Ruch Content Editor, such as a content page, a quiz question, a course announcement, etc., you can incorporate an H5P interaction.  So, for example, if you have a module overview page that you want to add some interesting content to, you can place a picture and put hotspots on it.  As students scroll over or click on certain areas of the picture, the content will interact with them.  Perhaps a definition will pop up or a video will play.  See the example on the right.

I could also create an interactive timeline or a memory game. I can organize a collage of images or embed a course presentation with interactive slides.  One of the interactions that I like is a sequential visual tool that allows the user to transition from one picture to the next.  It's an interaction called Agamotto (likely a nod to Dr Strange). You can explore the example below: 

Here is what I like best about H5P

A screenshot of an accordion menu that I was creating in H5P

A screenshot of an accordion menu that I was creating in H5P

For starters, H5P is open source and free.  People who are smart with web design and coding contribute to this platform and they make it incredibly easy for non-coders to use.  Everything is simple and fairly well explained.  They have installation guides to walk you through, and building out the content is easy.  Once you're ready to put it into your Canvas course, it's as simple as copy and paste.  This platform is great if you want to explore interactivity in your online classroom.  They have good documentation and an active community to support you.

Here is what I dislike about H5P

Do you happen to know a little about HTML?  If so then you might find this platform a little stifling.  What you gain in simplicity and ease, you sacrifice in customization and freedom.  This tool is really for a beginner audience.  Even so, you do have to know how to copy embed code and paste it into the HTML editor on your Canvas page.    That's a good amount of exploring and you may need to reach out to your instructional designer for help with that.  They have very good documentation for the Moodle LMS platform, and I wish Canvas support was more specific.

My recommendations

I say, go sign up for your free account and just begin exploring the examples and templates that they provide.  You can duplicate one of their examples and modify it, or if you have a good vision of what you want to create then start from scratch.  Start small and try to add to your collection over time.  There is a community available for you as well as a forum, if you want to reach out to other users.  This is a low-stakes high-reward platform, and I say: Go explore!

Written by Dr. Sean Nufer, Director of Ed Tech for TCS Education System.