Activity 8: Polling & Data Gathering

Device Accessibility & Math Review 

Poll Everywhere

I take a lot of polls in my classes using Google Forms, so I was excited to learn about a new way to also gather data. Poll Everywhere was very easy to use and quick to put together and then embed within a webpage. I am still learning a bit about how it all works and have some questions - will I know who responds just on the computer, or by text if I don't know their number? Can I organize the data once I receive it and modify it in different ways like I can on Google forms? I am under the impression that this is to be used more so as just a visual that students can see overall responses to certain questions. I think it would be a lot of fun to have students create the questions and decide how to use them in our class that day or even during Morning Meetings. Overall it is another great tool to add!

Google Forms

Because of implementing Flipped Classroom this year and having access to iPads, I used Google Forms almost daily for my students. There are so many things that you can do to enhance your instruction with the forms. I have used them both as summative and formative, and sometimes just for fun, both with students and parents! Here are the many things that I like LOVE:

• Easy to put together, very fast
• Can ask a variety of question types (multiple choice, true/false, paragraph, short answer)
• Responses are organized into a spreadsheet which is great for feedback 
• Can use conditional formatting to shade in certain boxes when they are answered correctly - saves on grading!
• Can embed on a webpage easily and/or send out as email
• Students are very motivated to complete them, who doesn't love to complete something online that's quick and responds immediately vs. writing it all down on paper, collecting, sorting, etc!??
• Answers are stored and can be accessed on ANY device - this is great to bring up while conferencing with parents
• You can select fun backgrounds (THEMES)! <------- Clearly my favorite part!**

*Tip that I learned from my Flipped Training: Always make your first question about their name, this puts their answer in the first column which makes it easier to see who completed it. 

**There are not nearly as many themes as there used to be! Apparently, they took away a lot of the old themes, and when I did a search, I found they are working to add more. Whew!