Polling: Faculty Use Cases

Biology

Professor MC Chan uses Mentimeter to quickly and informally take attendance, gather student understanding, and prepare students to transition into the next topic during lecture.

“I use this tool for a temperature check/concept check at the end of every class, as I pull students back from discussion. It's also a tool for taking attendance. By having the poll display on the board (in a classroom of 100), I can help students transition to the next stage/end of class discussion without having to shout or abruptly disrupt group conversations. The tool that allows students to go at their own pace is important for me too.” –Professor MC Chan

Chemistry

Professor Michelle Bertke uses Mentimeter as an informal survey tool, including content based and non-content based questions. For a group discussion based class, she uses the short answer question format to get feedback from all the groups at once, which saves time in the larger classes (75 students) and allows for all students to express their thoughts. She also uses simple questions like word clouds and multiple choice to check in on students throughout the semester in terms of non-class related matters.

Michelle uses Mentimeter only for informal assessments, which are not tied to any grades in the course. Students appreciate that they don't have to make an account; it is all anonymous to give them the chance to voice opinions and ask any questions that they might be hesitant to ask in the larger class setting. The interface is intuitive and quick to implement, so Michelle can even sometimes build a Mentimeter presentation during class to have students share their ideas.

Physics

Watch this video that features Physics Professor Patrick Johnson discussing how he uses polling in his courses.

Patrick Johnson - Engaging Students with Polling

Emergency and Disaster Management

Professor Tracy Friend finds Mentimeter is so easy to use, and believes the return on the (minimal) time investment is quite beneficial. Beyond its very user-friendly interface, one of her favorite features of the tool is the ability to easily switch between question styles with her prompts. This allows her to see which style is best for the student without having to enter and re-enter for each different style. She likes to use Mentimeter at the start of her course as an icebreaker before the first class, which allows her to learn more about her students before class starts – their expectations, their experience in the program, and little personal things that help her understand them better. She then presents the icebreaker results in the first class, and the students have a lot of fun learning about each other. They also can see commonalities between each other, affording a more comfortable class that sees themselves as not alone but as students with similar likes and struggles.

In live lectures, Mentimeter allows her to immediately see how well students understand the lecture. In areas with a limited understanding, Tracy can then delve further into areas that need more attention. Mentimeter in a live classroom also engages students – as they want to see their own response appear and wait anxiously to see others and how theirs compare.