How do I log in to the Polling App?
To access the Polling App, go to polling.unl.edu and log in using your university credentials. This ensures secure access and links your activity to your institutional account for features like course integration and gradebook exports.
What are the different types of polls I can create?
There are two main types of polls:
- Instructor-Led Polls: These are designed for synchronous, interactive sessions where the instructor presents each question one at a time. This format works best in live settings such as in-person classes or Zoom meetings. The instructor controls the flow of questions and can show results in real time.
- Survey Polls: These are asynchronous and allow students to complete all questions at their own pace. All questions are available immediately, making this format ideal for practice quizzes, reviews, or feedback collection.
What question types are available in the Polling App?
You can choose from five question types, each with specific configuration options:
- Multiple Choice: Students select one correct answer from a list. You can add as many options as needed.
- Multiple Answer: Students can select multiple correct answers. You can add up to 8 options.
- Short Answer: Students type a brief response. You define the maximum character limit (suggested range: 1–100).
- Long Answer: Students type a longer response. There is no character limit, and no correct answer is required.
- Number: Students enter a numeric response. You can set minimum and maximum values and optionally define a correct answer.
How do I create a poll that awards participation points only?
To award participation points without grading correctness, configure your questions so that no answers are marked as correct. This will make the student’s view of the answer look neither correct nor incorrect. The results will be shown with blue icons and graph data on the results page. This applies to all question types.
For Multiple Choice questions, you can also mark all answers as correct, which will visually indicate correctness to students by showing green icons next to their results but still treat all responses equally in the results. In both cases, the system will award a point for participation, which will be reflected in the downloadable CSV file.
How do I create a poll that collects information without grading or correctness?
To create a true "poll" for feedback or data collection:
- Leave all correct answer fields and checkboxes blank.
- For numeric questions, leave the min/max and correct value fields empty.
This setup ensures that responses are treated as neutral (neither correct nor incorrect), and students will see blue icons in the results view. This is ideal for surveys, opinion polls, or open-ended feedback.
What settings can I configure when creating a poll?
Poll settings include:
- Poll Name
- Poll Type (Instructor-Led or Survey)
- Access Code (used for student entry)
- Course Assignment (optional)
- Answer Visibility: Choose whether to show answers at the end of the poll or after each question.
- Reset Poll: Erases all responses, closes the poll, and generates a new access code. Useful for reusing a poll without duplicating it.
- Regenerate Access Code: Creates a new code without affecting existing responses.
What do the different poll actions do?
- Launch Poll: Starts an Instructor-Led poll. Opens a separate window for live presentation.
- Resume Poll: Reopens an Instructor-Led poll that was closed mid-session.
- Open Poll: Makes a Survey poll available for student access.
- Close Poll: Ends a Survey poll and prevents further submissions.
What do the poll status labels mean?
- Open: The poll is active and accessible to students via access code or course enrollment.
- Closed: The poll is inactive. Instructor-Led polls may be closed mid-session and resumed later.
- Complete: The poll has ended. Students can view results only when the poll is in this status.
How do students access a poll?
Students can join a poll in two ways:
- Using an Access Code: Provided by the instructor.
- Through Course Enrollment: If the poll is assigned to a course, students can access it directly.
They can participate via:
- Web Browser
- Nebraska App (available on mobile devices)
How do I view and download poll results?
To view results, go to the 'Create & Manage Polls' page and click the Results button next to the desired poll.
To download results, use the Export as Canvas Assignment button at the top of the results page. This generates a CSV file formatted for import into the Canvas gradebook.
Additionally, you can download a generic CSV file for use outside of the Canvas gradebook.
What happens when I reset a poll?
Resetting a poll:
- Erases all collected responses
- Closes the poll
- Generates a new access code
This is useful when you want to reuse the same poll structure without keeping previous data.
Note: If you launch the poll again without resetting, previous results will still be included.