Web Polling

The web-based platform of PointSolutions allows for content creation, polling, and data management directly from the web. It has a simple user interface, only including the most commonly used question types, and the data is saved directly to the instructor account. With Web Polling, not only can you create polling questions, but you can also add content/lecture slides. In other words, you can create lecture presentations with polling questions on the web.

Creating content

Log into your PointSolutions account from WebCampus (or instructor.turningtechnologies.com). You should have already added your current course and activated it. Click Select to enter the course.

In the course you will see a menu bar at the top, where you can create and manage Content, view the Roster, Schedule polling, view the polling Results and take Attendance. Content is the default landing page, where you can create lecture material for polling and presentation. You can also create folders for content organization. Note that content created in your PointSolutions account can be used in any of your courses. If you have multiple courses using PointSolutions web polling, it is recommended you create folders to organize the content, as seen in the example below. Use the Create Folder button to add folders to the content page. You can then add content to the folder.

To create polling and presentation content, click the Create Content button. Enter a name (e.g., lecture 1) and click Create. You will be taken to a page where you can add questions for polling, add a content slide and/or upload an existing PowerPoint presentation. Click the Create button to add a multiple-choice question. Clicking the drop-down arrow next to Create will bring up the menu, giving you more options for the content.

Adding a polling question is easy. In this example we will look at a multiple-choice question. This question type can also be a true-false question and a multiple-answer question. The simple text editor allows you to format the question text, insert an image or video or add a table to your question. You can add more answer choices, set the correct answer(s), add points, make it an anonymous opinion poll, etc.

Note that the Add button underneath the question slide works the same as the Create button at the top of the page. Clicking the down arrow next to Add will open the drop-down menu, where you can add more questions or text slides.

The slides (questions, lecture slides, etc.) can be arranged by dragging and dropping slides into your preferred order, just as can be done in PowerPoint. You may also use the three dots at the top right corner of each slide to move them up or down. The content created is automatically saved in your PointSolutions web portal.

Presenting content

When you are ready to present, click the Start button at the top of the page, next to the Create button. This opens a dialogue box allowing you to generate a session ID and adjust the live polling options. Note that the default option for “Show Results” is “Always.” This option shows the results during polling as students respond to the question. The “Review Only” option reveals results only after you have closed polling. When you are happy with the setting, click Start to close the dialogue box.

Next you will see the message on the screen showing the session ID (which will appear on all slides) and reminding you the polling session is about to begin. Click the Start Session button to proceed. Once started, as students join the session and respond to questions, you will see the number of students already in session (the number next to the people icon on top right corner), and the number of students who responded to the polling question (the number next to the mobile device icon). To proceed, press the forward button at the bottom of the page.

For a question slide, to open polling, click the Play button. Click the Stop button to close polling.

When you finish the presentation, or when you click the End Session button, a window will open asking to Save the session data. The session name is auto-filled with the time stamp of the session. Keep or change the name, then click the End button to save the session and exit the presentation. The file will be saved in your PointSolutions account, ready for review and/or export.

Managing data

The session file contains students’ participation data in class. You may review and edit the session, download the data or export it to WebCampus.

To manage the data, click the Results tab on the top menu bar. By default, you are taken to the Gradebook where you can see all participation scores. Mouse-over a session and you can sort the column. The pencil icon allows you to rename or delete the session file. If you are ready to export the scores to WebCampus, click the Export button and choose Canvas. You will then be able to select a session file and upload. Alternatively, you can download the data as a CSV file for data management.

You can review and edit a session file before uploading to WebCampus. Click the Sessions tab and click the Reports link of a session file.

This will open the reports of the session data. The default view of the report is the descriptive statistics of each question (frequencies and response count). If you need to edit a question, for example change the point value or correct answer(s), click the three vertical dots next to Points and then Edit. Save the changes when done. The points will automatically update for all students. You can also Export the data in this view as an Excel file.

You also have the option to view the detailed results of the session. Click the Detail tab to view students’ responses/performance in the session. You can also Export this view to Excel.