The fourth annual Poll Everywhere UK User Group Event was held on Thursday 11th April 2019 at the University of Liverpool. This year’s User Group focused on the theme of ‘Increasing student engagement’ and was attended by around 60 delegates from higher education institutions across the UK.
The morning featured four presentations from academics using Poll Everywhere at different universities around the UK. Speakers’ presentations addressed a variety of different themes including gamification, engagement and feedback. This year’s presenters were:
- Dr. Rosamond Watling, Regent’s University – Enabling and empowering students using open-ended questions.
- Gustavo Espinoza-Ramos, University of Westminster – From the transmission to the connectivism module of learning: The use of Poll Everywhere to promote student engagement in the digital age.
- Agnes Grondin, Middlesex University London – Revision Lectures revamped with Poll Everywhere Competitions.
- Dr. Pete Smith, University of Liverpool – Closing the Loop.
These presentations were then followed by a question and answer session with all of the speakers, giving them time to answer audience questions and discuss their experiences. During this session audience questions were collected using (of course!) a Poll Everywhere Q&A question which was left running in the background during the presentations. This enabled questions to be captured throughout the presentations and then addressed at the end, allowing for all speakers to contribute to each question, whilst also allowing attendees to view each other’s questions.
After lunch, the afternoon kicked off with a presentation from Brain Goodman, Poll Everywhere Product Manager, who told us all about the newest Poll Everywhere features. As well as ongoing accessibility improvements, Poll Everywhere updates include:
- A new presenter app
- Activity flows
- Competition updates e.g. remove question time limits to improve inclusivity
- QR codes – students scan QR code as an alternative to typing out the response URL
- Student can now export their response history
This was followed by a Poll Everywhere ‘World Cafe’, during which participants were invited to visit different tables and discuss various topics with colleagues. Areas of interest were collected via Poll Everywhere before the event and each table was then assigned a theme based on the responses:
- Technical
- Pedagogical approaches
- Getting started, implementation and engagement
- Practical tips on teaching with Poll Everywhere
- The student experience
Delegates then moved between these tables, selecting which table they would visit based on their interests and experience using Poll Everywhere.
To finish off the day we were treated to a tour of the University of Liverpool campus during which we met the resident dab fish, were shown some replica cave paintings and flint weapons, given a walking tour of the nearby university buildings and visited the local pub!
If you would like to learn more about the Poll Everywhere UK User Group or would like to attend a future event visit pollevusergroup.wordpress.com. If you’re a member of University of Sussex staff and you would like to start using Poll Everywhere in your teaching please contact tel@sussex.ac.uk.
