University of Leicester Biological Sciences Pedagogical Research Group http://lebioscience.blogspot.co.uk/p/pedagogical-research-group.html

1. The Pedagogical Use of Electronic Voting Systems
Some systems
• Participoll – (http://www.participoll.com/).
• Mentimeter (www.mentimeter.com)
• smspoll (www.smspoll.net/index.php)
• polleverywhere (www.polleverywhere.com)
Some links to papers:
• http://evs.psy.gla.ac.uk/papers/draperbrown.pdf
• http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10956-006-0360-1
• http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10956-008-9140-4
• http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/subjects/msor/9124_retkute_r_evs.pdf
Discussion:
• What do we want to use voting systems for?
• What are the pedagogical advantages and disadvantages?
• What features do we need? What features would we like?
• What barriers are there to their use e.g. signal/wifi availability?

2. Summary of Features:
Mentimeter
• https://www.mentimeter.com
• Free and paid version.
• Vote using phone or tablet – phone or wifi (needs internet connection)
Free Premium ($99/month)
Unlimited number of questions Yes Yes
Unlimited number of respondents Yes Yes
Save your question In account In account
Voter ID expiration
(used when voting for a
question or series)
Unlimited
(one month if not
created from account)
Unlimited
Workshop Questions - Yes
Custom Themes - 5
Number of series Unlimited Unlimited
Questions in series 2 Unlimited
Branding - Yes
Export your results
(Excel format)
- Yes
• User experience/reviews:
• http://interestedtech.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/mentimeter.html

3. SMSPoll
• http://www.smspoll.net/
• Voting using text messaging.
• Unlimited number of polls.
• Can upgrade and downgrade plans on a month-by-month basis.
Elite Premium Advantage Professional Casual Free
Votes Per Poll 6,000 2,500 800 300 50 15
Votes Per Month 100,000 42,500 13,500 5,000 1,000 300
Available Chart Styles 9* 9* 9* 9* 9* 2*
Schedule Polls to
Auto-Stop
Y Y Y Y Y Y
Add Polls to
PowerPoint
Y Y Y Y Y Y
Add Polls to Your
Website
Y Y Y Y Y Y
Web Voting Y Y Y Y Y Y
Mobile Browser Voting Y Y Y Y Y Y
Fully Customisable
Charts
Y Y Y Y Y Y
Real-Time Chart
Updates
Y Y Y Y Y Y
Drag & Drop
Dashboard
Y Y Y Y Y Y
Download Poll Results Y Y Y Y Y Y
United Kingdom
£600.00 £240.00 £95.00 £35.00 £10.00 FREE

4. Poll Everywhere
• http://www.polleverywhere.com/
• USA based. Votes via SMS, browser or tweet.
• Free and paid plans.
• Can upgrade and downgrade plans on a month-by-month basis.
Free
Personal
$15/month
Presenter
$65/month
Plenary
$140/month
Conference
$375/month
Platinum
$1400/month
Responses per Poll
Audience size
40 50 250 700 2,500 20,000
Multiple Users
Share your account
1 1 2 4 8 10
Identify Participants
Detailed results by
person
Y Y Y Y Y
Response Moderation
Approve what responses
are displayed on-screen
Y Y Y Y
Custom Keywords
Four or more characters
Y Y Y Y
Response Segmentation
Run competitions and
comparisons
Y Y
Technical Support FAQ Email Email Phone Phone
24x7 By
Appt
• User experience and resources
• http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/live-polling-of-your-students-with-poll-
everywhere/44961
• http://fcpe.adelphi.edu/services/workshop/polleverywhere_tutorial.pdf [tutorial]
• http://help.unc.edu/help/poll-everywhere-faq/ [faq]