In-class polling can be a powerful and flexible tool for teaching and a great way of increasing student participation. It enables educators to monitor progress and problems in peer-learning groups and to intervene when either the class is very confused or has understood the concept thoroughly and is ready to move on.
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Here are some ideas of how to implement polling in your teaching:
Polling questions can take a number of different forms, for example Multiple choice, Word clouds and ordered rankings. The only “rule” for question design is that each question's structure and content reflect specific learning goals. Questions can even be designed without a “right” answer in order to encourage debate and discussion.
Effective poll questions should address a specific learning goal, content goal, or skill. This could include presenting a new concept and linking it to prior learning, showing an example of a new concept, or applying a mastered concept to a new situation.
Questions should be designed based on the pedagogical purpose, which may include:
Qualitative questions that avoid calculations, memorization, or facts are recommended as these allow the student to focus on the concept without becoming distracted by details.
Designing questions that produce a wide set of responses, including incorrect answers or common misconceptions which can then be explored can also steer students toward deeper understanding of concepts. To construct such questions, it is helpful to:
A variety of question styles is usually best. Here are some suggestions of question structure to apply to your polling questions.
For additional tips on writing questions and question types, see How to write questions for assessment tasks.
In-class polling enables simple and easy one-to-many dialogue and can enhance students' active learning, participation, and improve learning outcomes especially in large classes or classes taught in online or hybrid modes. There are two recommended approaches:
Some data indicate that the latter method works better in larger classes, because individual answers force stronger engagement, and the class discussion portion in classwide may introduce too much confusion, unless the question asked is very difficult. A combination of the two methods by an observant instructor may be best (Caldwell, 2007).