Repurposing Digital Devices: Using Web-based Polling Sites as Vehicles for Classroom Participation

Intended Course UsageSmall discussion courses and large lectures using group activities Rationale McCroskey (1980) explains, "Most teachers enter the profession to help students.Yet, with the possible exception of parents, teachers have an unparalleled potential for harming young people.Unfortunately, that potential is realized far more often than we might think" (p.239).This statement is illustrated through student participation.In particular, introverted individuals may find dread or actively avoid oral participation while, inadvertently, extroverted students may dominate discussion for the sake of moving forward, giving quieter students unspoken permission to remain silent or, worse, not pay attention.Usage of smartphones and laptops exacerbates the issue.McCoy (2013) surveyed 777 students at 6 colleges and universities finding that more than 90% of students admit to using digital devices for non-class activities during class, and more than 60% admit this usage was distracting to learning.Dahlstrom, Walker, and Dziuban, (2013) found that undergraduate students typically own two to three internet-capable devices, yet are "ready to use their mobile devices more for academics, and they look to institutions and instructors for opportunities and encouragement to do so" (p.4).Developing participation activities using digital devices for participation can help with this issue.Ultimately, objectives for utilizing such activities should be to increase participation, increase comfort communicating in a variety of contexts, and add to the ways digital devices integrate into classrooms to enhance learning outcomes. Activity DescriptionThis activity utilizes real-time polling applications such as Poll Everywhere (https://www.polleverywhere.com).Poll Everywhere requires the use of text messages, or Twitter.The function is similar to viewer participation on reality shows such as American Idol where viewers text information to a specific telephone number to cast votes, answer questions, or offer opinions.Results appear on a displayed screen within moments.The screenshots below where taken during one of my classes.The students were tasked with advocating for a local charity, and then the class voted to see which charity would receive a donation.The first picture shows the blank poll before voting begins.Viewers are given voting

Abstract licence: CC BY

10 more references, whose wording the paper’s licence keeps private.

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.