Free Classroom Response System with Poll Everywhere

Most educators are familiar with student response systems (SRS) a.k.a. clickers. Common brands are eInstruction, Sentio, TurningPoint, Activote. Those who use the systems know they run about $2,500 - $4,000 (depending on various options selected) for a class set and allow educators to track student learning, engage an entire class as they collect real-time responses from students, and enables them to quickly assess understanding and achievement. While these are valuable instructional outcomes clickers are costly and the distribution, collection, and maintenance of devices is rather cumbersome. In many cases using them requires training to figure out how to upload the software, input questions, maneuver from one question to the next and share answers. Additionally, the devices have an old-style, phone-like keypad without a letter on each button that makes submitting a response quite tedious. The clickers just don’t look like the technology students use in real life. Even some teachers in schools where these devices have been purchased aren't using them because of the these reasons.

Fortunately for teachers who incorporate cell phones into instruction there is Poll Everywhere, which serves not only as a student response system, but also provides educators with a terrific alternative to the direct to phone text. Poll Everywhere provides students with a simple method to share their ideas right from their phones. Teacher can set up various free text polls to gather information from students and keep the responses private or make them public. Educators can view individual student answers in their web browser or download them as a spreadsheet. They can then import answers into course management systems like Blackboard/WebCT or Moodle. Student identity is established with a simple device registration process. On mobile phones, students simply enter their student ID and the link to all future answers is established.

Ideas for Using a Classroom Response System with Students

There are endless ways this tool can be used to enhance learning.

1) Set up a homework help poll for a particular assignment or unit of study. Students can simply text in the questions when they have them. This could set the stage beautifully for the next day's lesson enabling the teacher to differentiate instruction based on student need.

2) Have students respond to a discussion topic. The teacher shares the topic and students text in their answers to be viewed publicly or privately by the teacher.

3) Of course, what Poll Everywhere does better than the rest, is polls. Need to do a quick check for understanding? Poll your students. Want them to vote on a favorite character in a book? Poll your students. Collecting data on a science experiment? Poll your students. Poll Everywhere provides educators with the ability to know what all their students are thinking at anytime and works great as a pre and post assessment quizzing tool.

Here's how to get started

Students will have no problem figuring out how to use Poll Everywhere. They use this technology all the time when watching and voting on their favorite television shows. Here's how.

• Have students put the number 99503 or 22333 into their phone.
• Project the poll.
• Students text Poll Everywhere at 99503 or 22333 and enter the code that corresponds to their answer.
• The answers instantly appear on the poll being projected.

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Thinking Outside the Ban

By George Engel
Cross Posted at Learning with Mobile Technology
Editor’s note: I’m thrilled that my keynote at #TSETC in part inspired this insightful “Thinking Outside the Ban” post by George Engel who I had the pleasure of meeting and attending one of on using cell phones in the classroom. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this post from an educator who exemplifies the idea of “Thinking Outside the Ban.”

I attended the First Annual Tri-State Technology Conference this weekend and heard Lisa Nielsen’s (writer of the Innovative Educator blog) keynote titled “Thinking outside the ban. Well, that got me thinking outside the ban…

Although her focus was on various bans on technology in public education, social networking, for example, I tend to think of the ban of cell phones in the majority of school districts country wide. While I was presenting on the use of mobile technology for student learning, I was asked about using cell phones in schools with an absolute prohibition against using them in the classroom.

I am fortunate enough to live in a district that had banned cell phones until last year when they agreed to allow a pilot program in one of my classes, but many districts are not so forward thinking as Clarkstown Central Schools. Now, they have even opened a conversation into using Twitter as a learning tool. (YES!)

When I began to think about districts with a prohibition against cell phones in the classroom, I began to think about how to get around the ban, without getting the teacher or students in trouble.
The beauty of using cell phones in education is that they are anytime, anywhere learning tools. Educators in districts with restrictive bans need to “think outside the ban” by thinking outside the school. Most of the activities that I have outlined throughout this blog and my workshops can be done outside of the classroom.

Consider polleverywhere.com or Wiffiti.com for a moment. Who says these must be only used in the classroom? Why not embed the screens in a blog or wiki and have students respond to questions on them while at home and then discuss the content of the polls the next day?

Why create projects that can be done with mobile technology that must be done in school? We should be using the devices to their fullest potential, outside of the classroom.
If educators really wish to utilize the near ubiquitous mobile device they need to begin thinking about it at its greatest potential and truly use it as a MOBILE device.

One of my greatest desires is to teach students how to be informal learners, because it is in informal learning that students become lifelong learners. Having students complete work “outside the ban” leads them along the informal path and gives them the tools they need to learn on their own.
Being outside the ban is rewarding for both teachers and students. We all are able to grow and learn when do go beyond the borders placed on us by tradition and fear.

You have read this article Cell phone ban / Cell phones in Education with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2010/10/thinking-outside-ban.html. Thanks!

PLN Powers Activate! - A Tech Teacher Taps Into Virtual Department To Create Curriculum Map

Guest post by Gregory Richardson, Teacher and Technology Coordinator, Salk School of Science, New York.

Every year teachers at my school submit their requisite curriculum maps describing how and what we are going to teach. One of the best things about being a technology teacher is that for the most part I have the authority to decide what to teach my students. On the flip side of this decision-making power is the responsibility of determining what is most relevant for my students to learn. I have to think deeply and decide what is most vital to include in my classroom.

When it came time for me to map out my year I did not have much trouble determining what my units would be about. My difficulty was in forming the essential questions to build the units around. Unlike other core subject areas that have multiple teachers working together, I was on my own. They bounce ideas off of one another and collaborate throughout the year. I am often on my own. Sometimes, I’m admittedly envious, as I witness how teamwork can lead to the essential questions they want answered by their students. In my case I am the only teacher in my content area - technology. So I did what many of us do when we initially want to seek out information – I turned to Google to search for examples of technology curriculum maps. Google failed me. My search was fruitless.

So I turned to The Innovative Educator, Lisa Nielsen. When I mentioned my need for assistance to the author of this blog, Lisa Nielsen, at best I hoped she could point me towards some technology curriculum maps that I could use for ideas and inspiration. Being an innovative educator she had something else in mind. Instead she replied to my Facebook message asking:

“Why don’t share what you have on Google docs and others can help you with it. I’ve had a lot of luck with docs like this”.

I was a little hesitant. I wasn’t completely confident about what I had written but I needed the help, so I put my trust in what she suggested. Lisa generously posted the link on Twitter and Facebook and invited people to contribute with this Tweet:

Help this tech teacher come up w/essential questions for his curriculum map http://tinyurl.com/techcurriculummap. PLN powers, activate!

I was not sure what to expect.

No sooner did she Tweet then I notice something amazing. Over the next two hours I had a virtual community of more than a dozen people viewing and editing my doc. Although one was not available to me at my school, I had found a virtual “department” to engage with about critical issues in the teaching of technology. Many people offered to help me. In the end my fellow tech-savvy educators helped me to formulate an effective, cutting edge and comprehensive map for my year.

At the top of my curriculum map I posted directions for the type of input that would be helpful and a note to join me in the Google chat on the right-hand side of the page. Not only did my virtual colleagues fill in gaps, we had lively chats about how to best meet the needs of my students.

I can’t overstate the learning I experienced through this process. There were so many educators out there ready to collaborate with me. All I had to do is invite them to help me. My story is exactly the reason to PLNs are so powerful. They provide on-demand PD and support allowing us to make global connections to others in our field when we need it most. PLN’s help harness our collective wisdom. They allow us to experience community in a new way. They create communities and through these communities we are able to be stronger, more diverse and ultimately more effective at what we do.

The end result, a terrific grade 6 tech curriculum map complete with essential questions, understanding, knowledge, content, transferable skills, and assessments. In the true PLN spirit, I’ve left the doc up as a reference for others and invite continued input. Click here to take a look.

You have read this article Personal Learning Network / PLN with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2010/10/pln-powers-activate-tech-teacher-taps.html. Thanks!