How to use live polls in a lecture
A practical guide to live polls in college lectures: when to use them, how to run them, and twelve question ideas that make students think.
Short answer: Use a live poll at the start of a topic to check what students already know, in the middle to test a tricky idea, and at the end to find what is still unclear. Ask one question, let everyone answer on their phones, show the spread, then discuss why the wrong answers are tempting.
A simple routine
- Ask one clear question with three or four plausible options.
- Give 30 to 60 seconds for everyone to answer.
- Show the results without revealing the right answer.
- Ask students to convince a neighbour, then poll again.
- Explain the answer, and why the distractors were tempting.
Twelve question ideas
- Which of these is an example of the concept we just covered?
- What would happen next if we changed this one variable?
- Which statement is false?
- Which step in this worked example contains the mistake?
- Rank how confident you are about today’s topic.
- Which real company or case best fits this framework?
- What is the best first question to ask in this situation?
- Which of these two answers would you mark higher, and why?
- Predict the result before I show the data.
- Which assumption is this argument relying on?
- What should we spend more time on next class?
- One word: how did today’s class feel?
Mistakes to avoid
- Polls that only test recall. Aim for questions that need thinking.
- Too many polls in a row. Two to four per lecture is plenty.
- Moving on without discussing the result.
Running polls with Sessional
In Sessional you create a poll from a laptop, show it on the projector and watch answers arrive live as students respond on their phones. Each response is saved per student, so the class history shows who took part over the semester.
Questions people ask
How many polls should I use per lecture?
Two to four is a good range for a one-hour class. More than that can feel like a test.
Should polls be anonymous?
Showing the spread without names keeps the room comfortable, while the professor can still see who took part.