Poll Like a Pro: Three Strategies for the New Advanced Polling Options

Earlier this year Zoom finally provided an update to one of the most impactful classroom tools: Polls. This long-awaited upgrade saw the inclusion of Short and Long answer polls, Matching/Ranking polls, and the ability to set correct answers and utilize polls as a quick quiz or assessment. For an overview of the new features, check out our earlier article here: New Advances in Polling

Armed with these new capabilities, here are three strategies for engaging your class with polls.

Reflective Polls:

The start of class presents a great moment to help transition students into an academic mindset, and a way for you to gauge where everyone’s head is at. Reflective Polls do this effectively by giving students an opportunity to express themselves while reconnecting with the week’s content. Now that Short and Long answer polls are an option, it is a simple enough task to kick off class by asking questions such as:

• What was the most interesting part of this week’s content?

• Where did you see connections with the material and real life?

• What are you hoping to learn/explore more today?

Give students time and the space to answer one (or more) of these questions. You can likely tailor some of your activities to their answers. In general, for questions such as these utilizing the Anonymous answers option is best.

Pop-Quiz:

At long last, every student’s favorite part of school has made its way into the digital classroom. With the ability to set correct answers for questions (excluding the short and long answer question types) students can now be assessed quickly (and unexpectedly!) on their knowledge in class. Knowledge Checks such as these are a fantastic way to kick off a class, check for understanding after introducing new content, or at the end of class to measure retention. 

Review Polls:

Similar to the effectiveness of a reflective poll at the start of class, a review poll at the end can serve as a strong bookend to a lesson. Here are a few ideas of finishing strong with a review poll activity:

• Complete a “One Minute Essay” in the form of a Long Answer poll.

• Use Ranking or Rating Scale polls to have students self-assess their grasp on the day’s content (or what they found most valuable).

• Ask poll questions, but do not reveal answers, and have students go into quick breakouts to confer as a team. Then bring them back to reveal the correct answer.
  
  

These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg for reflection polls. Take a look at our Exit-Ticket Strategies article for more great ideas.

These new polling options have opened the floodgates in terms of new methods of engaging with your students in class.