Tool Spotlight: Poll Everywhere

Welcome to a Tool Time spotlight with Northwestern Teaching and Learning Technologies. Today we’re looking at Poll Everywhere.

What is it?

For several years, instructors and programs have asked for a centrally supported tool. To determine the solution with the broadest possibility of adoption, Teaching & Learning Technologies launched a two-year pilot. Following the successful evaluation, Poll Everywhere was recommended for adoption and is now available at no cost for instructors upon request through the end of the 2027-28 academic year.

Poll Everywhere transforms lectures into interactive experiences through real-time student response. Instructors share a question, students select or enter an answer on their phone or laptop, and results are shared and discussed. By integrating this polling tool into the classroom, instructors can spark curiosity, crowdsource for ideas, check understanding on the fly, and encourage every student to contribute—whether in a large lecture hall or a small seminar.

What do instructors say about it?

David William Schieber uses Poll Everywhere in his large lecture Sociology course as a quick and effective way to gauge participation and attendance. “Pedagogically, students enjoy seeing their opinions and ideas pop up on the big screen in front of them for the entire class to see,” Schieber said. “Anonymous polling is especially important in the Sociology classes I teach because we often discuss topics that students have a huge range of attitudes towards.”

Ilya Mikhelson, an instructor in McCormick's Electrical and Computer Engineering program shared that Poll Everywhere has led to increased engagement thanks to its real time, concrete feedback. “Students don't always ask about topics they don't understand,” Mikhelson shared. “Putting up a zero-stakes, anonymous poll gives me a clear picture of where we stand in a way that classroom interaction alone cannot. It provides the feedback necessary to start a discussion.”

Kellogg instructor Lulu Wang uses Poll Everywhere to solicit responses for quantitative questions with a right and wrong answer, as well as to light up disagreement on more ambiguous questions. “It certainly livens up the classroom because it gives students an opportunity to share their thoughts, even if they might feel uncomfortable raising their hands,” said Wang.

How does it work?

Poll Everywhere integrates with PowerPoint and connects to Canvas. Offering a variety of question types (multiple choice, free response, word cloud, Q&A with upvoting, clickable image, and more) and question templates, Poll Everywhere questions can be graded or not. Some instructors use Poll Everywhere to confirm in-class attendance in addition to engaging students in class topics.

Tool Time Updates:

Keep up with the latest updates to tools supported by Northwestern IT.

• Hypothesis now offers automatic participation grading, image annotation, and an instructor dashboard.
• Microsoft Education (including Teams) is now available in Canvas.
• Poll Everywhere has released Windows Presenter 4.3.0. We recommend upgrading to this version, as it may solve some PowerPoint resolution issues on specific devices.
• Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor now supports Word and Excel.