2. BACKGROUND
Socrative & Poll Everywhere are two online audience response
Web 2.0 tools that can be used to solicit feedback from an
audience.
This writer has used Poll Everywhere once or twice during the
last school year (2012-13) in a K-12 setting to provide teachers
with a means of letting students use cell phones in the
classroom as “student response devices.”
The response of the teachers was mixed, and this writer was
interested in revisiting the software (Poll Everywhere) as well as
learning an alternative to explore improvements and consider
alternatives.
3. PRODUCT FEATURES –
SOCRATIVE & POLL EVERYWHERE
Application Socrative
Poll Everywhere
URL
http://www.socrative.com
http://www.polleverywhere.com
Pricing
Free in current beta version,
with no restrictions.
Pricing structure: 40 students are free.
Additional features require a monthly
fee. Link is http://www.polleverywhere.com/accou
nt/plans
Features
Student response system that
offers the following features:
- quick formative assessment
- easy-to-create quizzes
- games, races
- exit “tickets”
- Immediate reports in Excel
- Response via Internet
Student response/polling system that
offers the following features:
- Variety of graphical response layouts
- Clickable image polls
- Easy response with cell phone
- Polls downloadable as Powerpoints
- Easy-to-create questions
- Response also via Internet
- Reporting via Excel; more difficult
4. PRODUCT COMPARISON – Pros & Cons
SOCRATIVE
PROs
CONs
Clear, step-by-step instructions on how to
use Socrative
After setup, unclear exactly how
responders should respond
Optional pop-up tips with generally every
item
Not clear how students should use to
respond
Pleasing, clear user interface
User interface simple, without sufficient indepth explanations for users
Excellent reporting capability, immediately Limited options for graphically viewing
available via email or downloadable
student responses
spreadsheet
Easy navigation between screens for users
Importing quizzes not clearly explained;
ALSO, only possible via PC Excel
spreadsheet, not Mac OS.
Initial video tutorial deceptively easy; more
complex than depicted in clip
6. PRODUCT COMPARISON – Pros & Cons
POLL EVERYWHERE
PROs
CONs
Excellent video tutorial introducing
concept in an amusing manner; additional
easy-to-understand video tutorial
demonstrating specifics in getting started
Reporting not straightforward; a bit
difficult to discover process
Very easy and clear how to get started
Difficult to discover how to “start” poll
once questions have been created
Good tool for formative assessment –
immediate feedback – graphically
illustrating understanding
Excellent features available, but only in
“paid” subscriber versions
Variety of graphic layouts and
customizable settings for displaying
content
User interface not as clear as comparative
products
Content easily downloadable as
Powerpoint slides
8. INFORMAL RESEARCH &
PARTICIPANT TRIAL
The 2 products – Socrative and Poll Everywhere – are both online
audience response tools resources, however, after using both, discovered
that the functionality is different, they serve (I believe) different
instructional needs. To that end, I decided that participant feedback
might prove useful.
I initiated a participant trial using my husband, a professor at a nearby
university and a self-described “low-tech guy in a high-tech world.” He
was not familiar with either tool. After explaining their purpose, he was
quite willing to embrace a new response tool that could serve the
instructional needs in his own classes, both face-to-face as well as online
courses.
I introduced both tools, with little introduction and minimal prompting;
he quickly expressed preference for Socrative and proceeded to take
ownership of this tool, creating assessments for upcoming classes.
9. RECOMMENDATION After examing these 2 tools, I concluded that their functionality is
different enough to make it impossible to make ONE recommendation.
Both tools are worth adding to one’s digital toolbox. The choice of which
to use should be dictated by the instructional needs of the instructor.
Whereas Socrative may well be more aesthetically pleasing with a
somewhat more user-friendly interface, it seems more designed to be
used for creating quizzes and easily getting reports.
Poll Everywhere seems ideally geared more as a quick poll, formative
assessment type type of tool, easy to use for immediate feedback,
particularly with cell phones as classroom response devices.
Both are highly recommended and useful since they serve different
instructional needs.
