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Those of you who have been following my blog know I'm a big fan of "knowing what your students don't know in real time" so we can help them get over their misconception hurdles. While I mostly talk about real-time graphical response through tablet pcs (DyKnow, InkSurvey, Classroom Presenter, etc.), I can't discount the importance of simple polling. Polleverwhere.com just made it even easier...

I know there are MANY polling services out there. What caught my eye on PollEveryWhere is that they make it really easy for the instructor and for the participating students.  I've created a sample poll (sorry - it's a free account, so the results are limited to the first 30 of you who participate!). You can create multiple choice or short answer questions ahead of time or on-the-spot. Then you share the question with your audience, in one of several ways:

• Download and share an auto-generated PPT slide for your poll (you can download the PowerPoint for my sample poll)
• Show them the poll on the web

Go ahead and give it a try!

1. First, go to my example poll on "Which color do you find to be more relaxing?"
2. Next, enter the code for your answer on this website http://www.polleverywhere.com/vote (or send a text message to 99503; the text of the message should be the code that corresponds to your answer)
3. Return to my example poll to see your response (sorry, but the free version I'm using only supports the first 30 respondents!)

Credits: I heard about PollEveryWhere from a LinkedIn group I just joined called Twitter-Using Educators, launched by "Tweet Meister" Thomas Whitby . Those of you who are educators are welcome to join this linked in group - and another Thomas created called Technology-Using Professors. Many thanks to Brian Wasson for the pointer to PollEveryWhere!

If anyone has any experience using non-clicker polling tools like this, please post a comment and tell me about your experience!

Since the value of polling hinges on the quality of the questions, I'm also interested in any pointers to resources that help instructors write good multiple choice questions for classroom polling.

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Worldwide Education Programs
HP Global Social Investment
Hewlett-Packard
Twitter @jgvanides

For information about the HP Global Social Investments, visit www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants