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Poll Everywhere is an interactive online polling tool compatible with PowerPoint or Google Slides and can also integrate with Canvas. It is a powerful tool, but requires attention to detail, extra time and practice to use well.
The information below contains basic information on requesting a Presenter account and how to get started with Poll Everywhere. For information on more advanced options, video tutorials or troubleshooting, please contact Poll Everywhere support directly.
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If you have questions or have issues using Poll Everywhere, please contact their support team directly.
Poll Everywhere Support Team Contact's Info:
- Availability: Monday to Friday from 7 AM - 7 PM CST
- Email: support@polleverywhere.com
- Phone Support: 1-800-388-2039
Training from Poll Everywhere
For further questions or other support resources about Poll Everywhere, visit their support site.
- Submit an email to support@stedwards.edu. In the subject line, include Requesting a Poll Everywhere account.
- Once the request is received, you will be issued a Poll Everywhere presenter account. Then, you will receive an email and will need to accept the invitation.
- Log in using your St. Edward's account
- Enter your St. Edward's email address
- Click "Next."
- Click "Log in with St. Edwards"
- If you are not already logged into your St. Edward's account via single sign-on, you will be prompted to log in.
- Once you are logged in, it will prompt you to review or select an activity type and click "Start creating."
- Once you are logged in, we recommend going to your "Profile" and updating your "Personal Info," including setting up a "Custom URL."
- Note: All of your polls will be available at the Custom URL. There is also a QR code that you can copy and share.
- Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.
- Anonymous Polling: If you want to know aggregate results from a poll and do not need to know who answered the poll, then an anonymous poll is the best option.
- Authenticated Polls: If you need to know who answered the poll and want everyone to be registered users of Poll Everywhere, you can choose that respondents are authenticated. This will require you to add participants ahead of time and for all participants to log in to Poll Everywhere before answering your poll(s).
- Note: Authenticated polls are not recommended because users must log in to participate, which could create a barrier to participation.
- Graded Polls: Poll Everywhere is integrated into Canvas and can be used to create polls that students take for grades. See the instructions for setting up Graded Polls in Canvas.
To set up polls in Poll Everywhere, you will create activities.
- Click "Activity+."
- Select the activity you would like to create for the audience from the Activity Creator Tool. You can choose from the main 7 activities (Multiple choice, Word cloud, Q&A, etc.) or find more templates when you hit "More" on the right.
- Choose how people can respond via a website or text messaging.
- Set the Audience Restriction & Identity
- Everyone-no restrictions
- Restrict to registered participants only. Registered participants mean that participants would have to log in to Poll Everywhere with their registered email and password before conducting the poll.
- There are also response settings you could apply. By default, the participant results chart will display. You must select "Do not show chart" if you do not want to show live results to your participants.
- You then have the option to "Test the Activity," which is highly recommended.
- You must click "Activate" to respond to the activity in the Test mode.
- When you are ready to present, make sure the activity is activated.
- You'll share your Poll Everywhere Custom URL with those who will participate from any device. Presenting from the web in full-screen mode will automatically activate the activity.
You also have the option to embed Poll Everywhere activities directly into PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.
Poll Everywhere App Downloads and Installation Instructions:
If you are using Poll Everywhere on the Windows teacher's stations in the classroom, give yourself time before class to log in to myHilltop and search for Poll Everywhere. Start Poll Everywhere from myHilltop and run the polls from the Poll Everywhere website.
If you are using embedded polls in PowerPoint, log in to Poll Everywhere from PowerPoint for poll questions to activate and run properly. In PowerPoint, click the Poll Everywhere tab and then click the Login button to log in with your St. Edward's email Poll Everywhere account. Once you are logged in and you present a slide with a poll question, Poll Everywhere will automatically activate, and your students can participate.
Advancing Slides: To advance the slides, you will need to use the arrows on the keyboard or the clicker available in the classroom.
Note about Google Slides: If you use Google Slides, consider projecting from your laptop because the Google Slides Poll Everywhere extension cannot be permanently installed on the teacher station.
Known Issues: The Poll Everywhere PowerPoint add-in is incompatible with PowerPoint's Read-Only and Protected views, but when you download a PowerPoint to the instructor station in the classroom, it will automatically open in Protected view (a Windows security feature). In our testing, we discovered that this conflict might cause error messages that cause PowerPoint to freeze.
Solution: A workaround would be to download the PowerPoint, right-click the file, go to the file properties and check "Unblock" the file under the security settings. You would then be able to open and run the PowerPoint.
Alternative Solution: We recommend opening your PowerPoint from Box using Box Edit.
Faculty, you can also use Poll Everywhere through the Canvas integration if you would like to identify how students responded to polls. This integration also allows you to grade polls. Use this Poll Everywhere Guide for setting up graded polls in Canvas.
During class, faculty display a Poll Everywhere activity on-screen and students respond with their devices. The results appear live on the screen for the class to discuss or for the instructor to grade. Instructors may use Poll Everywhere to give quizzes in classes, find out how well the class has understood a lesson, and generally make learning more active and students more involved. The Poll Everywhere Student Guide includes instructions on downloading the Poll Everywhere app, registering with Poll Everywhere and responding to polls.