On Jan. 6th, Poll Everywhere will launch a new course management feature to simplify how instructors use polling and to improve the process of synchronizing grade data with Blackboard's gradebook.

Using a dedicated icon within the Poll Everywhere interface, this feature allows faculty to create and manage polling activities for their courses. Specific Course Management functions include:

• Accessing Courses
• Creating Assignments
• Grade Synchronization
• Managing Multiple Assignments and Activities
• Viewing Grades

Image 1: Example of new Poll Everywhere Course Management page showing the dedicated course management icon

Starting Jan. 6th, presenters will see a course management "opt in" banner. This banner will allow presenters to try out the Course Management experience throughout the spring semester, with the option to return to the existing experience if needed.

Poll Everywhere Resources

For Poll Everywhere resources, please see our FAQ articles:

• Poll Everywhere for Instructors and Presenters
• Poll Everywhere for Students and Participants
• How do I manage Attendance with Poll Everywhere? (instructors)
• How do I check in for Attendance with Poll Everywhere? (students)

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
• What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

Update: This feature is postponed by the vendor to allow UMBC to review and verify functionality. Additional information about availability will be provided to the campus as soon as possible.

In late August 2024, Poll Everywhere will launch a new course management feature to simplify how instructors use polling and to improve the process to synchronize grade data back to the Blackboard gradebook.

Using a dedicated icon within the Poll Everywhere interface, this feature allows faculty to create and manage polling activities for their courses. Specific Course Management functions include:

• Accessing Courses
• Creating Assignments
• Grade Synchronization
• Managing Multiple Assignments and Activities
• Viewing Grades

Image 1: Example of new Poll Everywhere Course Management page

The feature will be turned off initially and will require each instructor to activate it to turn it on for their accounts. You must set up your Blackboard course with Poll Everywhere before you can use this feature. Once the Blackboard course is synchronized with Poll Everywhere, the Course Management icon will appear.

Poll Everywhere Resources

For Attendance Management resources, please see our FAQ articles:

• How do I manage Attendance with Poll Everywhere? (instructors)
• How do I check in for Attendance with Poll Everywhere? (students)

For additional Poll Everywhere information, please see our Poll Everywhere FAQ collections:

• Poll Everywhere for Students and Participants
• Poll Everywhere for Instructors and Presenters

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
• What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

Poll Everywhere recently launched a new Attendance Management tool, which is available to users with a presenter role in Poll Everywhere. Using geolocation, Attendance Management allows instructors to track in-person attendance when students check-in and respond to polling activities. This feature is part of a beta release for the Spring 2024 term; Instructional Technology will gather feedback from instructors and students using Attendance Management during this period.

Join Instructional Technology on February 26th for our upcoming Explore Poll Everywhere Attendance Management Tool webinar. We will demo the Attendance Management tool and other Poll Everywhere settings to support academic integrity.

Enable Attendance Management

Instructors may access and enable Attendance Management from the My Activities panel or their Poll Everywhere profile settings. Up to 10 geofence locations may be added to an instructor's profile to match their teaching locations.

Image 1. Access Attendance Management from the profile and add check-in locations.

Student Check-In & Location Data

When geolocation is enabled, Poll Everywhere will prompt students to check-in before they may respond to polling activities. If geolocation is enabled and a student does not check in to the physical location check-in point, their responses will still be recorded for participation, but they will not receive credit for attendance. Students who check-in successfully and respond to polling activities will receive credit for both attendance and participation.

Image 2: Student view of check-in prompt.

Important

Student location data is not stored by Poll Everywhere and instructors are not able to see student location data, other than to view a "checked-in" or "not checked-in" status. Additional information about student and instructor privacy is available in the Poll Everywhere Attendance Management privacy statement and privacy policy.

Poll Everywhere Resources

For Attendance Management resources, please see our FAQ articles:

• How do I manage Attendance with Poll Everywhere? (instructors)
• How do I check in for Attendance with Poll Everywhere? (students)

For additional Poll Everywhere information, please see our Poll Everywhere FAQ collections:

• Poll Everywhere for Students and Participants
• Poll Everywhere for Instructors and Presenters

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
• What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

DoIT is pleased to announce the availability of Poll Everywhere, which now includes the ability of students, faculty and staff to login with their UMBC credentials. Many UMBC faculty are already leveraging Poll everywhere in their teaching. Through the Fall 2022 term, nearly 2,000 students have participated in at least one Poll Everywhere activity.

Poll Everywhere is an audience response system that presenters can utilize in both face-to-face and online courses instead of traditional, physical clickers. There will be no cost to members of the UMBC community to use this platform. 

Poll Everywhere is web-based and can be managed both through a web browser or through the Poll Everywhere application. Poll Everywhere allows you to ask questions of your students, collect their responses by inviting them to respond through a website or phone text link, and share their collective responses in a variety of formats that update in real-time for everyone to see. It encourages all students to engage with learning content in an interactive way, using a tablet, laptop or mobile phone. Poll Everywhere questions can be launched from a browser or integrated in slide presentations such as Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint. Questions and results can be shared with other colleagues as well. Additionally, Poll Everywhere can be used during synchronous, online class meetings since no other hardware is needed, and the response system integrates with Blackboard allowing instructors to assign points and grade responses. 

Please note that on Jan. 15, 2023 all existing Poll Everywhere accounts with a UMBC email account will be updated to require UMBC SSO access and that instructors and students will need to access Poll Everywhere via UMBC Single Sign On (SSO). Instructors will need to submit an RT ticket to request UMBC presenter access.

DoIT will host a 1-hour Clicker Faculty Coffee Break and Town Hall  on Wed. Dec. 14th from 10-11 to discuss:

• the PollEverywhere Pilot including myUMBC login & converting free accounts.

• Turning Point (now Point Solutions) pricing & proposal

• Next steps

Please also join a 1-hour Poll Everywhere training and demonstration on Thursday Jan. 12th  from 12-1 for an introductory training session to learn how to:

• Navigate the presenter dashboard

• Create and present activities

• Collaborate with teams

• Generate reports 

• Integrate Poll Everywhere in slide presentations

DoIT has prepared a FAQ collection on Poll Everywhere including a getting started checklist for instructors. In addition, please follow our myUMBC group for upcoming training on Poll Everywhere. 

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 

• What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 

• Open a ticket via RT

• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups

• Request a consult with instructional technology staff

At the end of Spring 2022, DoIT announced an intention to pilot Poll Everywhere as an alternative to clickers. After much anticipation, DoIT is pleased to announce the launch of our Poll Everywhere pilot, which now includes the ability for students, faculty and staff to login with their UMBC userid and password.

Poll Everywhere is an audience response system that can be utilized in face-to-face and online courses instead of traditional, physical clickers. There is no cost to faculty or students to use Poll Everywhere during the pilot. 

Without the barrier of purchasing a clicker or a supplemental software license, DoIT hopes to grow and better support active learning strategies through the implementation of classroom response systems. Students participate in polls by using any device including smartphones, tablets, or laptops.

Faculty can utilize a number of question types including open-ended questions, clickable image questions, ranking, Q&A, surveys, and competitions in addition to standard multiple choice or true/false questions. Poll Everywhere questions can be launched from a browser or integrated in slide presentations such as Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint. Questions and results can be shared with other colleagues as well. Lastly, Poll Everywhere can be used during synchronous, online class meetings since no other hardware is needed. 

Poll Everywhere also offers a Blackboard integration. Instructors can assign participants points or grade questions for accuracy. Please note that instructors and students will need to access Poll Everywhere via UMBC Single Sign On (SSO). Instructors will need to submit an RT ticket to request UMBC presenter access.

Please join us for a 1-hour Poll Everywhere training and demonstration on Monday 10/3 from 12-1 for an introductory training session to learn how to:

• Navigate the presenter dashboard

• Create and present activities

• Collaborate with teams

• Generate reports 

• Integrate Poll Everywhere in slide presentations

DoIT has prepared a robust FAQ collection on Poll Everywhere including a getting started checklist for instructors. In addition, please follow our myUMBC group for upcoming training on Poll Everywhere. 

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 

• What's new in Ultra? | Known Issues 

• Open a ticket via RT

• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups

• Request a consult with instructional technology staff