Slidedeck for session given at UNC CAUSE 2010, November 9, 2010.
http://www.unccause.org/cause10/sessions/unc-ch-poll-everywhere-pilot-clickers-without-the-clickers/
2. Session overview
1. A kick-off poll
2. Fall 2009 and one pioneering professor
3. Spring 2010 pilot and survey results
4. Instructor response to date
5. Looking ahead
3. Overview at
delivr.com/11y7t
How Poll Everywhere works
1. Create questions
in browser
2. Deliver in browser
or PPT/Keynote
3. Answer with
• text (22333)
• tweet (@poll)
• web (poll4.com)
5. Pioneering Professor Pukkila
Heard elsewhere about
Poll Everywhere
Asking open-ended
questions to facilitate class
discussion and
peer-learning activities
Teaching 200-student
course in Genetics
No wireless access in
classroom
http://www.bio.unc.edu/faculty/pukkila
6. Would CFE fund?
$399 for a semester license for one faculty
member with up to 400 students.
Any no-cost alternatives?
8. Fall 2010 results
Students reported in course evaluation that
they were more likely to prepare for class
and to engage in class discussion.
Colleagues in Biology interested in trying
Poll Everywhere in Spring 2010.
9. Spring 2010 pilot
CFE purchased 5-instructor (pilot) license
Asked Chair of Biology Department
to send an announcement to faculty
Enthusiastic and immediate response
Found current clicker system limiting
Interested in a solution that didn’t require purchase
of “specialist devices”
10. Courses, instructors, rooms
Five courses total, ~200 students each
One section of BIOL 201, Ecology & Evolution
All three sections of BIOL 202,
Molecular Biology and Genetics
One section of BIOL 252, Anatomy & Physiology
Two instructors had used clickers;
three had not.
All classrooms had wireless access.
11. Student surveys
Reused question set that had been
developed for Fall 2010 class
Added questions about device used,
text plans for phones, and whether
students had purchased clickers for
(an)other class(es)
12. Student surveys
520 of 1020 students enrolled
Paper, administered during class for
four courses; online for fifth course.
Response rate for paper was more than
double that of online.
13. What type of text plan does your
cell phone have?
I have an unlimited plan. 73%
My plan is limited to a certain 19%
number of texts sent/received.
I pay for each text that I send 5%
or receive.
I don’t have a cell phone. <1%
14. What device do you use most often to
answer Poll Everywhere questions?
Cell phone, using text message 78%
Laptop or netbook 22%
Cell phone, using web browser 0%
Other mobile device that is not a <1%
phone or a laptop or netbook
(iPod Touch, PSP2)
15. Why did you decide to use this
device? Circle all that apply.
a) Using it doesn’t cost me any extra
money.
b) I carry it with me anyway.
c) It’s lightweight.
d) Entering answers on smaller devices is
awkward or slows me down.
e) Other reason(s), please specify:
16. Why did you decide to use this
device? Circle all that apply.
a) Using it doesn’t cost me any extra money.
Laptop 39% (44)
Text 49% (199)
b) I carry it with me anyway.
Laptop 66% (75)
Text 93% (378)
17. Why did you decide to use this
device? Circle all that apply.
c) It’s lightweight.
Laptop 6% (7)
Text 46% (187)
d) Entering answers on smaller devices is
awkward or slows me down.
Laptop 25% (29)
Text 1% (4)
18. Why did you decide to use this
device? Circle all that apply.
e) Other reason(s), please specify:
“Cell wouldn’t work.” For many students,
laptops seemed to be Plan B.
19. When you didn’t respond to poll questions,
what were the reasons?
Not enough time 19%
To read question, formulate answer
and submit, esp. open text answers.
Technical difficulty 16%
Account registration
and connectivity issues.
Entering incorrect keyword.
Not being graded 8%
Limited text plan 4%
Difficult to bring laptop 4%
20. Should this course continue to use Poll
Everywhere in future semesters?
Yes, as is 77%
Yes, with changes 15%
No 8%
Changes suggested were mainly pedagogical, with a
few echoes of technical and logistical issues
Liked not having to buy/use a clicker (unclear to what
extent because cost was subsidized or didn’t have to
manage another device)
21. Have you had to purchase a clicker for other
classes that you have taken?
Yes 32%
No 66%
Not a good data point for comparison.
Students had paid for clickers but not for
Poll Everywhere.
22. Faculty response to date
Most instructors are continuing to use
Poll Everywhere.
One instructor who had used clickers
previously has decided to return to using
them.
Another instructor has decided to use
clickers in one course and Poll Everywhere
in another…
23. The problem of grading
“Managing a spreadsheet after being
spoiled by iClicker and eInstruction
gradebooks is so 1990's. :)”
In 200-student course, clickers for
quizzing.
In 400-student course, Poll Everywhere
points as extra credit on exam.
24. What can we conclude?
Laptops remain a significant secondary
device for students.
If instructors have already used clickers
with large-enrollment classes, they may find
Poll Everywhere does not equivalently
support graded quizzing.
25. Pilot will continue
Through Spring 2011, perhaps beyond
Faculty have greater willingness to
experiment with response system as a
learning tool: open text, existing devices,
CFE sponsorship
Support issues no greater than with
clickers, but existing classroom and
network infrastructure affect connectivity
Press F5 or enter presentation mode to view the poll
In an emergency during your presentation, if the poll isn't showing, navigate to this link in your web browser:
http://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/LTIwODE1NDkyOTg
If you like, you can use this slide as a template for your own voting slides. You might use a slide like this if you feel your audience would benefit from the picture showing a text message on a phone.
I was excited by faculty interest. Biology Dept was the largest group of clicker users, with 3 instructors who had used them regularly. My interest in an SMS option had been piqued for several years.
200-student course. Worth noting that free higher ed accounts are available for up to 32 poll responses = meaning 32 students.
If students had had wireless access, there would have been a wider array of options. SMS polling was needed.
We do have at least one faculty member who has used Twitter as a response system—but for groups of students.
Interested after a departmental meeting. You’ll recall that the classroom had no wireless access. Prof. Pukkila was asking colleagues if they objected to having wireless access points installed. During course of explanation, she described using Poll Everywhere.
Administered during classtime
Two students said in comments that they didn’t want to have to pay extra for text messages.
One course had a much higher percentage of students using cell phones. I thought that the instructor might have encouraged her students to use cell phones over laptops; however, the instructor attributed this difference a practice that her colleagues do not share. The instructor provides students notes outlines/worksheets online. Students print these out to bring to class to complete. Students would then less likely to use laptops given the limited surface space provided by classroom furniture.
Laptop—that’s about 30 students
That provider’s signal, text plan settings, or carrier and short codes. Honestly, we didn’t worry about the details, since we had laptops as a plan B.
Several students reported that they simply stopped answering them. Two students stated that they didn’t want to pay for texts. (Of course, if they didn’t have to purchase devices, texting would still be cheaper.)
At least equivalent to the course evaluations I’ve seen in courses using clickers, perhaps more positive, but would need to standardize answer options – usually a likert scale.
Post questions for review
May not have been aware that they can review their response history; however, PE doesn’t include a way to mark correct answers.
Free text answers
Ask fewer of them, difficult to answer in time constraints.
Let students use free text to pose questions to instructor.
Significant number of students who were not first-year students. Probably reflects more that clickers were used in earlier Biology classes.
Is there a significant difference between how students who had used clickers answers some questions than students who did not? Didn’t think of this point of comparison until preparing for this session. Need to reanalyze the data. i.e., should course continue to use Poll Everywhere. But perhaps all that really would yield is that respons
That is, if they plan on using a response system, period. Of course, CFE is funding license.
The same issue that was a certainly concern with Twitter still looms large for some instructors. Directly tied to this is transmission reliability, although this hasn’t been a concern that instructors have explicitly mentioned as a reason to use a dedicated response system. One of the instructors who has switched back has mentioned that she will miss the ability to ask open-ended questions and has suggested that she might use Twitter for this purpose.
22% of students opted to use them most of the time. Having a laptop requirement is at the very least an important comfort factor for faculty and students.
More likely to try it if we buy it. Two additional faculty using it this semester have College or Departmental grant funds that they are applying.