If you’ve attended a virtual meeting or event over the last two years (and, really, who hasn’t at this point?), you’ve almost certainly been subjected to any number of different digital, interactive polling tools. One of the most efficient and least onerous ways to increase engagement in a virtual event is by throwing a poll into the digital meeting room. Even as we move back to in-person classes and meetings, digital polling tools can provide you with an added opportunity to engage your audience. A digital poll can be implemented in-person as easily as in a Zoom room!
There are countless tools you can use to achieve this end, but one of our favorites is Socrative. Socrative is easy to use, supports a variety of interaction types, and presents excellent data after a poll is complete. Students can respond to Socrative polls on their devices (phones, tablets, or laptops) using a browser, and you can display results during the session or after it has finished. And, best of all, you can use the majority of Socrative’s features for free!
Over the past few months, Socrative has made a few changes to its existing features. While a few new limitations have been placed on the free version of the tool, the new enhancements that were rolled out at the same time more than make-up for the changes.
Let’s start with the new restriction:
- The free Socrative plan now limits users to 5 active Socrative quizzes at a time in the user’s library. For current users of the tool, the limit will be 5 active quizzes on top of the amount currently in the library.
- However, Socrative has also rolled out a new archiving feature allowing users to archive old quizzes to make space for new ones! When you’ve finished with a quiz, you can archive it instead of deleting it. As long as you have fewer than 5 quizzes in your library, you can pull that old quiz out of the archive to reuse.
Now, onto the fun new additions!
- Socrative now allows basic users to access question types that were previously only available on the premium version of the plan! These question types include:
- Math equation questions (including LaTex support) – No more equations on the chalkboard! Students can use Socrative’s native equation features to solve complex equations on their devices.
- Weighted questions – You can now assign point values to quiz questions so that as students complete a Socrative quiz, you can provide graded feedback on their performance.
- Image-based questions – Questions may now contain images, allowing you to evaluate student’s comprehension of visual data.
The uses for Socrative are extensive, whether you are in a physical or digital learning space. If you are interested in trying Socrative for your classroom, you can sign up for a free account on their website. If you’d like assistance using this tool or would like to test a Socrative quiz that you created, you can email teachtech@conncoll.edu to set up a meeting with an instructional technologist.