Using Texting to Assess

I am a big fan of The Teaching Channel videos and recently came across this video of Sarah Brown Wessling using Polleverywhere and Word Clouds to do quick assessments of student learning.  It is a really quick example of how basic texting can help with quick assessments at the beginning of class.

Phone Calling & Texting Poll With Excitem

I came across a new free polling website that is similar to Polleverywhere and SMSpoll.  The one addition that is nice is that you can call in votes too!  The site is called Excitem.  It has a free version (up to 50 responses).  The free version allows you to create a poll and then accept responses via text message, phone call, Twitter or Facebook.  This allows even more access for using students with to conduct polls and responses, as some do not have texting on their phone or even a cell phone (they could use a landline since Excitem does not use shortcodes, rather real phone numbers!).  While it does not seem to allow free response polls, it does have a place for general feedback that you can text in.  Definitely worth a look!

iVoted new Free SMS polling

I have recently been using a resource called iVoted. It is for live polling, similiar to Polleverywhere, LetsGoVote and SMSpoll. iVoted has a free package (up to 25 votes per poll with unlimited polls). The polls must be multiple choice, but they are very easy to generate. In addition one can respond to the polls via email, sms text, twitter, or the web. There are some options with voting and results.

Let's Go Vote!

A new resource similar to Polleverywhere has just emerged and it is very simple to use. It is called Let's Go Vote and uses texting messaging from any cell phone to vote. It works in the USA, Canada and Swaziland. You can create a free account that will allow up to 20 votes per poll. It also allows you to create a poll with a "right or wrong" answer that can show up after the voting results are in. In addition, you can move from one poll to the next without having to go back to the main screen, so it is easy to have multiple question voting. There are no advertisements on it. It is simple to use and another option for sms polling for the classroom!

Survey Results: Favorite Cell to Web or Web to Cell tool!

I asked my educator friends on twitter to share their favorite cell to web or web to cell application. I want to thank everyone who replied. There were some of the expected outcomes such as Google sms or Flickr Mobile, but I was surprised at how many more obscure sites were referenced. A few of those that stand out are Loopt, Evernote, and Mofuse. Below are the ranked results.
#1) Flickr Mobile
#2) Polleverywhere
#3) Twitter
#4) Google sms, Dial2do, Netvibes, Mofuse, Jott, Qik, Pingfm, mobile gmail, mobile myvocal, Evernote, Loopt, OperaMini, Utterli (formerly Utterz).

tomgrissom @lkolb polleverywhere and dial2do

zecool @lkolb Web to mobile/cell: Mofuse. It makes my blog (Blogger) easily readible from cell. Can add comments, switch to standard view, etc.

KevinByers @lkolb Mine polleverywhere.com. Now if I could only get cell phones unbanned. I'm working on it!

paulrwood @lkolb my students use their phones for Google sms and polleverywhere in my classes.

drezac @lkolb twitter and jott

zemote @lkolb evernote is my favorite, followed by qik

dougsymington @lkolb Flickr may be best mobile web, tho pingfm and netvibes good too. Twitterberry one I use a lot on BB

mguhlin @lkolb Fav tool--email images/video to Flickr. You can't beat that when doing a workshop. "You're on the Web NOW." Response:"Wow

patsko @lkolb m.gmail.com and m.myvocal.com

tonitones @lkolb OperaMini closely followed by utterli or qipit

klmontgomery @lkolb Twitter Poll - My favorites are Mobile Fotos (Flickr) and JustUpdate (Twitter) for iPhone.

bjmcdonald @lkolb gotta be Flickr

ucdjoe As much as I might sound like a high school student, my favorite is the Facebook app, followed by Twitterific and Loopt.


Vote for your favorite! Feel free to add a comment if your favoite is not an option.

Text Messaging Shakespeare!

An 11th grade English teacher Inez Brown is encouraging students to use text messaging to build their knowledge about Shakespeare. The students are using text messaging (in groups so not all students need to have a cell phone) to summarize and answer critical thinking questions (each text is 140 words or less) about Richard III. Since the students can only use 140 words or less, they need to consider how they word their answers and think of only the most important or profound pieces of the reading.

Using a tool like Wiffiti or Polleverywhere's Open Polls would be a nice addition to this text messaging assignment. Students could see all of their text messages immediately on the open boards. And a discussion could ensue.




Image retrieved from Phil Romans

Free SMS Polling Tool For UK and Australia

A new mobile polling tool has just been introduced called SMSpoll. SMSpoll is similiar to the fantastic Polleverywhere (which I believe is US only right now). SMSpoll has a free account which allows for 25 votes per poll (enough for many individual classes) and 500 new polls per month. While the purpose is to take advantage of student owned cell phones for the 20% who do not have cell phones, they can vote on the web. The polls can also be downloaded into PowerPoint and embeded into a website/wiki/blog. You can also download the results in an excel spreadsheet. One additional feature that SMSpoll has is an auto-stop that you can schedule for polling (for example you can schedule a class poll to automatically stop at the end of class without having to go back to the website to close the poll). You also (unlike Polleverywhere) can get the results of the poll on your mobile phone! Of course you do have to pay extra for this feature. The template to create the polls is very easy to use. The major drawback is that you can an Australian number to text results to. It seems to work in the UK and Australia, and online web-based voting in most other countries. Here is a sample that I made below with web voting, feel free to try it!

Classroom Applications of mobile polling

KWL's

It can be used to generate KWL's inside or outside of class. You can create polls about an upcoming topic to find out what students know (K). You can create polls about an upcoming topic to find out what student's want to learn (W). Finally you can create polls at the end of a unit to find out what student's have learned (L).

Voting

You can use the polls for voting on topics for discussion/study. Students can develop mock elections as well.

Feedback

Students could create polls to get feedback after they have completed a presentation. They could also generate polls to use as feedback during their presentation (audience participation).

What will Happen?

Teachers could create polls concerning what students think will happen in a book, scientific phenomenon, or historical event. For example, before knowing the outcome of A Separate Peace, students could vote on what they think will happen. Or students could vote on how many "eggs" will break in their gravity experiment.

Updates on some Favorite Resources...

A few great things have happened with some of my most often used mobile resources...
1) Polleverywhere has gone voter friendly! :0
They now allow anyone who signs up to get 1000 votes for free! Big improvement over the original 100 votes. This is great for secondary classroom teachers who have over 100 students. Also Polleverywhere now allows you to embed your poll into a blog or website with an easy link. For PC users, they have a downloadable slide to insert into a PowerPoint presentation which will show the poll receiving real time updates in PowerPoint.

2) Eyespot has mobile subscription options!
While you have always been able to post videos from cell phones directly into Eyespot, now Eyespot allows you to "subscribe" through your mobile phone to other people's Eyespot accounts. This can be useful in education for mobile journalism. For example students in a Journalism class can become "i reporters" and take and post videos of current news stories happening around the school/community directly into Eyespot. Then anyone who subscribes to the Eyespot account, will immediately receive the new video post in their mobile phone. Just another example of how Journalism is going mobile.

Using Mobile Evite's for Instant Polls...

So I have been playing with the new mobile Evite site (called Quickvites). While I know this site really is created for entertainment and social gatherings, I thought it might actually be a useful application in the educational setting. Therefore, I have come up with an activity that I would like to try with my students...using mobile Evites to create instant polls. Now there are other sites such as Polleverywhere or Mobiode where you can create instant polls for mobile phones. But Evite allows you to do a few things that I like. First, what you can do with Evite is allow students to add "feedback" as to why they selected their answer. For example in an Evite, you can create it so that there are three answer options (it is usually YES, NO, or MAYBE...but you can make it any three answers). When students answer on their cell phones, they can also text message their "reason" for their choice. Second, unlike Polleverywhere where you have to give out a text number before students can text their poll answer, Evite automatically sends the poll to the student's phones and gives them easy instructions on how to text back their choice. Finally, it does not need mobile web access, which is a negative of Mobiode.

Besides teachers creating the polls, students can create their own instant Evite polls. Students can actually create Evite's from their cell phones or on the computer. They can create one for homework and get feedback from their peers before class even begins the next day. Teachers could also create one, send it after school and compile all the responses before class the next day. The results show up instantly so you could even conduct them to get feedback during class or immediately after a presentation. Evite instant mobile polls could also be used for organizational purposes, such as a teacher trying to organize a meeting and wants to quickly find out if people can attend or students trying to organize study groups or get feedback on group project ideas.

Below is a quick tutorial...

1) Login to Evite.com (if you already have an Evite account, you can log in with that account, if not create one)

2) Click on Mobile Evite (upper right hand corner)
3) Go through the tutorial to create a mobile account

4) Add your students/parents cell phone numbers
5) Add your cell phone number and get the confirmation code from your cell.

6) Select your preferences (select to receive responses on your cell phone so even if you do not have Internet you can still prepare the lesson and/or receive the instant feedback).

7) Return to the homepage
8) Click on create quickvite

9) Set your preferences for your mobile Evite. Type in the question as the invitation so it is the first thing people see on their cell phones. You can even add a date/time so that respondents know when they must give their poll answers by. Select the students/parents that you would like to get your poll "answers" from. Once you hit Submit, the instant Evite poll is sent to everyone. Additionally, as they respond you will be able to get the responses on your cell phone and online.
10) Return to the main page and your new Evite mobile invitation should be on your homepage. Click on the invitation link to view the responses. Remember you can get all the responses instantly from your cell phone too!
11) All the results will show up under YES, NO, and MAYBE (and who sent them), so you can instantly have a discussion about them!

No need for "clickers" when you have a cell phone!

I have written before about trying to find a way for basic cell phones to replace the expensive classroom performance systems (CPS). Last week I posted about Wiffiti, an instant brainstorming tool that uses cell phones like CPS clickers. Now, I have found another web2.0 that works in the same fashion as a CPS tool. It is called Polleverywhere. Polleverywhere is a site where you can create instant mobile polls. The polls utilize text messaging, so you get a text message number to "vote" for your selected answer (similar to the American Idol text message polling). Anyone can create an account and get 100 free instant poll responses (after 100 you must pay for them, so keep your polls to the first 100 people). Fantastic! So teachers can project the poll results graph (which includes the text message numbers for the different poll options) in the front of the class. Then students can take out their cell phones and text their option. Students will be able to instantly see the poll results on Polleverywhere. You can also embed polls into a PowerPoint presentation (they will automatically be updated as long as you have Internet service) and the results can be exported (for students studying statistics and graphical illustrations this may be useful). Finally, if students do not have cell phones they could vote online.

Polleverywhere could be a great "ice breaker" activity to find out what students know about a topic. For example, the teacher could post a concept such as "photosynthesis" and include four different definition options. The students could text their definition choice to the instant poll. Then after seeing the results, the teacher could ask the students to turn to the person on their right and "defend" their definition choice in the poll. Ten minutes later the teacher could ask them to complete the poll again with their cell phones to see if their "discussion" with their classmates caused any changes in their definition selection.

I've posted a "Poll everywhere" poll here (Polleverywhere does not really have an embed option yet so I "forced" it into my blog), please feel free to text your answers. The question is "Would you use cell phones in your classroom for teaching and learning?
Text 1035 to 41411 Not in my classroom, but maybe for homework
Text 1033 to 41411 Yes!
Text 1032 to 41411 No, never