UW LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES

Getting Started with Poll Everywhere

Classroom response systems (CRS) are a useful way to increase student engagement and gauge comprehension of lecture material and other course content.   By collecting student answers to polls and low-stakes quizzes, the instructor can use this information to determine student understanding, lead discussions, and so on.

Poll Everywhere is the official classroom response system of the UW and is FERPA-compliant.  It is available for use by all UW faculty, staff, and students; all UW academic units and administrative units, as well as the UW Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center.

The basics of getting started include: logging in to Poll Everywhere, creating your first poll question, and presenting the live results.

HOW DO I LOG IN TO POLL EVERYWHERE?

Faculty and Staff

UW faculty and staff can create new Poll Everywhere accounts simply by logging in to the service with a UW email address. To get started with Poll Everywhere open a web browser, go to https://www.polleverywhere.com and, in the upper-right corner, click Log In.


To log in

  • Enter your UW email address (e.g., example@uw.edu).
  • Click the Single Sign-On link that appears below your email address. (You will not need to enter a password here).
  • Log in with your UW NetID on the page that appears. If no NetID login page appears, you are already logged in with your UW NetID.

 

Edit Profile Settings

To edit your profile, click the Settings page link in the upper-right corner of the page.

You will see a page similar to the one shown below where you can update your account profile.  We recommend updating your username from the autogenerated name to something more easily typed by students, such as your UW NetID or a variant of your name (if available).  It is not necessary to update your account password since the account is using your UW NetID for authentication.

To save your changes, click Save.

 

Students

Students cannot self-register to the UW Poll Everywhere account.  They must be registered by faculty or TAs using the Canvas course list import feature.  Once registered, students will log in using the same Single Sign-On method described above. For more information on student login, please visit the Participant Management section of this site.  Here you can also get details on collecting and grading responses, and ensuring overall student engagement.

HOW DO I CREATE A POLL?

Poll Everywhere offers several types of activities you can use to interact with the classroom. Learn more about the types of poll activities you can create.  Visit the Poll Creation & Management section of this site for detailed information on creating, editing, and managing polls.

CAN I USE POLL EVERYWHERE IN POWERPOINT OR OTHER PRESENTATION SOFTWARE?

Poll Everywhere provides presenters with the PollEv Presenter App which allows you to embed poll activities into PowerPoint and Keynote.  They also provide a Google Slides add-on (available only in Google Chrome).  Visit the Presenting Your Polls section of this site to learn more about conducting polls in presentation software or standalone using your web browser.

CAN I USE POLL EVERYWHERE WITH MY CANVAS COURSE?

Poll Everywhere supports basic integration features such as importing students from Canvas into Poll Everywhere and exporting grades from Poll Everywhere to Canvas.  Visit the Connecting to Canvas section of this site to learn more about registering students and how Poll Everywhere integrates with Canvas.

CAN I GRADE POLL RESPONSES?

Student responses can be graded and their scores can be exported to Canvas using the Gradebook Report feature.  UW Learning Technologies recommends to start off with non-graded polling activities and, once graded polls are introduced, to keep your graded polls low-stakes.  Classroom response technology is primarily used to keep students engaged and interested in the material you are presenting rather than as a high-stakes assessment tool or as an attendance tool.  To learn more about the types of reports you can run in Poll Everywhere, please visit the Gradebook & Other Reports section of this site.

WHAT OTHER RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE?

Poll Everywhere has a support page, helpful written guides, and videos that you can explore to learn even more about this service.  Keep in mind that some of the features discussed in these resources may not be available in the UW account (e.g. student self-registration).