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How to Connect Poll Everywhere to Your Blackboard Course

Overview

Poll Everywhere, a web-based technology, stimulates interactive class participation, by collecting questions and feedback from students as they respond to class polls in real-time, via text messages and web interface. Poll Everywhere is available from all web-enabled devices: cell phones, smart phones, tablets, laptops, desktops.

Poll Everywhere accounts are managed but the Academic IT Support Center. Please reach out to them if you need an account. ASCIT@mssm.edu

Instructions

Step 1: Adding Participants to Poll Everywhere

  • Login to Blackboard: https://learn.mssm.edu/ & access your course
  • Select the + button underneath Course Content and then select Institution Tools
  • Select the + button in the bottom right corner of Poll Everywhere. DO NOT click on the square outside of the + button
  • Keep this tool Hidden from students
  • Click on the newly created Poll Everywhere
  • Select Continue to developer.blackboard.com
  • Select Sync Roster (if you gain new students in your course, you can come back here to click this again)
  • Select Add New Assignment and give it a name
    • Select Correctness to base points off of correct answer choices.
    • Select Participation to base points off of number of polls / activities answered.
    • Click Save when you are done
  • Select + Activity
  • Find your poll(s) from the Activities menu, select 1 or more, then click Save
    Note: You can click on Create New Activity directly from this menu if you have not created one yet.

Finally select Sync Grades, which will create a column in the gradebook named after your Activity Title

Step 2: Change Your Poll Settings to “Registered Participants Only”

  • If you haven’t already done so, you must create your poll(s) in https://www.polleverywhere.com/
  • Once you have created a poll, click Activities
  • Click on the name of your poll / activity
  • Click Configure in the upper right-hand corner
  • Select How people can respond
  • Un-check Text messaging (texting is not tied to a student account, so it wouldn’t show up in the gradebook.)
  • Then select Audience restriction & identity to expand it
  • Under Who can participate? Select Restrict to registered participants only

Step 3: Have your Participants Log in to Take the Poll

  • During your presentation / lecture, have your participants log in to Poll Everywhere
  • Start your Poll after everyone has logged in

A. Your participants can download the Poll Everywhere App, login at the upper left corner, then join your meeting by entering in your meeting name.

B. Your participants can join from their internet browser by typing in the meeting name and then clicking log in. 

Note: Your participants CANNOT answer by text if you want the results to show up in the gradebook.

Step 4: Adding a Grade Center Column to Your Blackboard Course

  • Once you have collected all your student responses.
  • Go back to the Poll Everywhere tool you created in Blackboard.
  • Select Continue to developer.blackboard.com
  • Click on Sync Grades

(Optional) Step 5: Generating a Report of your Participant’s Answers

  • Go back to the Poll Everywhere tool you created in Blackboard.
  • Click the Report button from the left-hand menu.
  • Select Create report
  • Choose Gradebook and then Continue
  • Choose the folder you keep your polls in
  • If you don’t organize your polls, it should be in the My Activities > Default folder
  • Select the checkbox next to the name of your Poll(s) / Activities, then click Create report
  • Change the name of your report in the upper left corner by clicking Rename in the upper left corner