Online student response systems can be quite effective in addressing some of the challenges for teaching
and learning in large classrooms. These systems are based on the old “Clickers” which are handheld devices
used to transmit student’s responses to a receiver and usually only in response to multiple choice questions.
The new online versions of this system are more powerful and provide more options for gathering data.
Socrative is a free web application with an easy to use interface. Once the
instructor has created a quiz, students can log-in to a virtual room with a number assigned to each instructor.
Once students have entered the classroom, they can participate in activities such as multiple choice, short
answer, and true/false questions. The questions can be answered anonymously or with student names the
instructor can access reports live or once the quiz has been completed.
Socrative can be used on all web-enabled devices. Activities can also be worked on collaboratively, which
means if students don’t have a device in the classroom they don’t miss out on the activity.
*Note – Socrative supports up to 50 students logged in at one time. If you have more than 50 students in a
lecture theatre you may like to get students to work in pairs or small groups.
Guides:
Other online polling web 2.0 applications you might like to investiage include: