Top Hat

An EdTech tool I would like to integrate into my class is the use of polling tools. A problem I have seen in lecture-based classes is that many students will not attend class and only attend during exams. I have seen professors try multiple ways of avoiding this problem but usually it only involves signing in – some students sign in for their friends and that defeats the purpose of the sign in sheet to begin with. I would like to use polling software to grade and encourage attendance and make it useful for the students.

Some of my previous lecture-based classes relied on clicker questions to grade for attendance and give example quiz/exam questions for students to prepare for class. While stressful when quiz questions were graded, I found this very helpful to understand what the professor wanted us to know for material and use as a study material. The huge downside to this method was that they required a specific clicker and program that cost over 60 dollars per person. What made this even less equitable was that classes would use different clicker systems, requiring the student to buy a new system if their current clicker wasn’t adapted to the new system. Another problem with these clickers was that many students would answer the questions at the beginning of class and then leave. I would want to include the learning outcome from the clicker use but incorporate UDL methods by making it more accessible and useful to the student’s learning outcomes.

To use polling software I would have students access a program like TopHat that is free for students to use. As noted in the class, it may not be the best software out there for polling, but I would want it as accessible as possible. At the beginning of each class, I would have a quick 5-10 multiple choice question poll to remind the students of the material we would be covering that lecture and also see how well they understand the topic before hand. Then, throughout the lecture, I would incorporate mini breaks for students to answer polling questions about topics just covered or poll their level of understanding to make sure that the material is being understood. These post polling questions could be used for attendance purposes as they would be questions similar to exam/quiz questions. I would plan for accessibility by having it easy to go to the polling software, either by code or QR code as we did in class. Additionally, as mentioned in class, if teaching at UNR the students already have TopHat installed on their iPads that they all have. By having the questions on their iPads they would also have an easier time of looking at the questions instead of just from a large lecture screen depending on the size of class.

To assess if this polling method is working, I would compare attendance rates from similar/previous classes to see if real time quiz questions are an incentive for students to attend all of lecture. Also, I would compare quiz/exam scores between polled students (those that get practice quiz/exam questions and are prepared with pre-lecture questions) and students that are taking the exam without the polling. I would also learn from student’s feedback either in person or on course evaluations if they liked/benefited from the polling questions.