What is "Online Polling"

 A unique internet tool user can use to compile data, assess comprehension, organize data or events.

Surveys and polls are valuable tools used to gauge peoples thoughts, perspectives, and preferences on an infinite number of topics.  Polls and surveys can range from simple true/false questions to multiple choice and open ended questions. Their are many websites that are free however, some may charge a subscription fee for more complex polls.  Several of the polling sites allow the author of as poll to include pictures and other images.  Delivery of the surveys to participants can accomplished via a variety of methods depending on the site used to generate the survey.  For example Poll Everywhere allows participants to us text messaging to complete surveys, some surveys can be completed through the survey host website, and most all sites allow the user to embed their survey to a particular website.  A teacher can embed a survey on a class website as a way to gauge student and parent expectations, opinions, background, challenges, etc.

Online polls and surveys can serve many purposes in the modern classroom.

The benefits of online polling include: 

                              -Increased participation and attentiveness from students

                              -Anonymous responses encourage more risk taking from students when answering                                                                   questions

                              - Allows teacher to gather diverse opinions when their is no correct answer

                              -Ability to immediately assess material covered

                              -Opportunity to give thought provoking questions before s lesson

                              -Provides an avenue for students to generate their own questions related to a topic

                              -Students can interact with and better understand their communities

                              -Many sites offer charts, graphs and other visual representation of collected data                                                                       benefiting visual learners

Below are several internet sites links offering these tools. 

     Like most Google applications the survey tools in Google docs are unique, innovative, and easy to use.  Google docs is free of charge, the forms can be completed by participants with smart phones or online, all responses are organized in an excel spreadsheet easing data analysis, users can use a large range of question types in surveys and the site is capable of logic branching or adaptive surveying.  If you already have a Google account than using Google docs is very easy. Click on the link to watch a Google docs demonstration video

       This site offers a free portion of the software which limits you on the responses to your surveys.  The advanced portion of software can be purchased for a monthly or yearly fee.  This is one of the more powerful survey tools out there.  It is very flexible in setting up the types of questions and is very user friendly.  The following link will take you to a matrix of features available in SurveyMonkey

Here is a link to a video demonstrating how to use SurveyMonkey

     Poll Daddy is one of the most recognized online polling site.  The site allows users to craft surveys with up to ten questions.  The site allows users free use for surveys up to 10 questions and for up to a 100 survey responses per month  For more than 100 responses per month the site charges a fee.

  BuzzDash is a free site hosting user generated polls.  The site offers many widgets to use when creating surveys.  A nice feature of BuzzDash is that it automatically updates polling information as people complete the polls.

  FluidSurveys allows survey takers to view and complete surveys in multiple languages.  Here is a breakdown of features available with Fluid Surveys

  Poll Everywhere offers a free service for K-12 teachers with up to 30 students.  The site allows participants to vote using a cell phone's text messaging feature or through the internet.  Poll results are updated and graphed in real time as votes come in. 

       Flisti is a basic and free polling website that benefits from it's ease of use.  When using the site polls are easily established within a couple minutes.  Once a poll is created, it can be posted to a website or blog.  The polls and results can also be accessed via the Flisti website.    

        Urtak is a free site which allows users to generate surveys that are limited to yes/no/don't care responses.  For best results once the survey is created it should be posted to a website.

Obsurvey is another free site.  The survey tools offer the ability to create open ended and multiple choice formats.  The survey developer can use images, video, and text in the survey offering a broad range of applications.  The video here shows you how to set-up Obsurvey.

Tips for Writing Questions:

1. Write short and simple questions.

2. Don’t ask leading questions. For example, “How great was the football game?” implies that

person thought the game was great. Maybe it wasn’t.

3. Ask close-ended questions. Whenever possible, provide answer choices. Such questions

are much easier to answer and to analyze after the survey.

4. Give as few answer choices as is reasonable. Too many choices annoy the person being

surveyed and are difficult to analyze.

5. Put the questions in logical order. For example, ask, “Do you have pets?,” before asking,

“What kind of pets do you have?”

6. Make it neat and orderly. Number your questions. Type them. People like neatness.

7. Pretest your survey. Give the survey to five people before doing the actual study. Ask them

to tell you if a question is unclear or bothersome. Read their responses. Are your questions

getting the information that you want?

Applications – How can you use this?

-  Poll students at the beginning of the year.  Find out what the students remember from last year and what they forgot over the summer. 

-  Assess the students after a lesson.  Find out what they comprehend and what material should be further reviewed.

-  Create a query of field trip locations.   Let the students decide.

-  Get feed back from parents.

-  Give a take home test at the end of a unit.

-  Issue a weekly math quiz.

-  Build the students vocabulary with a survey of new words.  The student must write a definition in their own words and use it in a sentence. 

- Use online polls to build a classroom community where the students have active role in deciding what they learn about.

-The results of student surveys can be used to organize and facilitate as well as to enhance a lesson.

-Get honest feedback from parents and students who are more comfortable answering some questions anonymously

More Information on Online Polling

WebTools4u2use

Dr. Alice Christie's Research Tips: Online Survey Tools

Using Web Polls to Enhance Social Interaction In Computer Mediated Distance Education

 <iframe src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dERjVFAwSG10T2Z5MWxkOWtoMDJ2Umc6MQ" width="760" height="1063" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe>