Classroom Response Systems

Classroom Response Systems (CRS) can allow for polling of student opinions / ideas / resources in or out of the class, usually through the use of an app or web interface.

CCCU currently has an institutional licence for the following CRS tools:

• Mentimeter – A online poll that allows tutors to seek student opinions, ideas and understanding around a topic, theme or question.
• Padlet – An online wall that allows students to share ideas and resources by submitting text, video, images and links to websites.

What can Mentimeter be used for?

• Icebreaker – Facilitating icebreaker activities especially at the beginning of term or with new classes.

• Conceptual Understanding – Ask student questions before / during / after a session to check their understanding of a topic / them, and if necessary, remedy any misconceptions.

• Discussion Prompts – Ask students to think about a question before answering it, then open up the discussion to the whole class.

• Peer Instruction – The tutor poses a question to the students. The students ponder the question silently before transmitting their individual responses. The tutor checks the student responses. If significant numbers of students chose the wrong answer, the tutor instructs the students to discuss the question with their neighbour. After a few minutes of discussion, the students submit their answers again.

• Prediction – Ask students to predict what happened next around a particular idea, experiment, topic, historical outcome.

What can Padlet be used for?

• Prior Knowledge – Use a Padlet wall to ascertain what students already know about a particular topic. Students just post their knowledge on Padlet, so you can see how to build your lesson.

• Resource Curation – Create a thematic or topic based Padlet wall and ask students to post a resource and provide a brief synopsis about it. Can be used for collaborative notetaking on a presentation that was given.

• Journal Annotations - Ask your students to post a journal article they have read and provide some annotative text around it.

• Storyboarding – Use a Padlet wall to ‘storyboard’ when developing stories, dialogue, games, animations and film.

• Ask A Question – Use a Padlet wall to enable your students to ask questions during the lesson. It’s very handy when students don’t understand something or need a better explanation. Stop your lesson 10 minutes early and go over the questions. This way students who are afraid to ask questions can still ask their questions anonymously. It gives a voice to every student in the room, even to the shy ones.

Further help and guidance

Further help and guidance on the Learning Platform Suite for staff and students can be found via the TEL Knowledge Base for Staff.

For any technical issues or further help:

• Staff : please email the IT Service Desk at it-service@canterbury.ac.uk or phone 01227 78(2626) 

• Students : please email the i-zone at i-zone@canterbury.ac.uk or phone 01227 922 222