Polls are a very versatile resource so let’s take a deep dive into their benefits to enhance your learning experience and the three quick and easy steps you can follow to make the most of this feature right now.
Benefits of using polls
Polls can be used for many different purposes, such as assessing understanding of your course’s contents, receiving feedback, or even arranging a time for a synchronous session or a live debate.
You can get large amounts of data and use it to personalize your content or find the best training methods that suit your learners’ different styles.
Find out what the learners know or don’t know about the topic in advance. In this way, you can tailor the course to their needs and interests. Furthermore, you can use a poll during and after the course to find out how the learners feel and what you can do next time to improve their experience.
Research shows that learners report being more active and feel more engaged when using polls because they feel part of a truly personalized learning experience. Moreover, polls are an excellent opportunity for student self-assessment and to cement learning.
Three simple steps to use this feature successfully as part of your CanopyLAB experience:
- Determine the poll’s goal
The first thing you should try to answer is: What do you want to get out of the poll? Are you going to use it to get formative assessment data? To assess student understanding? To activate learning? Knowing exactly why you want to use a poll is the right way to begin to make the most out of this tool both for you and your learners. - Create a poll that will support your objective:
Figure out the questions that will allow you to address your main goal and make them as specific as possible. Extra tip: Don’t give too many choices. When possible, stick to 3 or 4 maximum to have detailed data you can use later on. - Use the data you gather in specific ways:
If you assess their knowledge before the beginning of the course, make sure to address the topics they have more difficulty with early on.
If your goal is to activate knowledge, then align the content to the data you’ve gathered.
If you use the poll to get feedback on the course, then address the learner’s comments and improve next time. It is crucial that they know you’ve listened to them, so they feel encouraged to continue participating in your courses and to take the time to answer future polls.
If you use the poll to get feedback on the course, then address the learner’s comments and improve next time. It is crucial that they know you’ve listened to them, so they feel encouraged to continue participating in your courses
As you can see, the point is to use the data to add to your learning experience and make it as personalized as possible for the learners. This feature can be the answer you are looking for if you want more active participation or a better understanding of where your learners are at when it comes to the course contents. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and try out this new feature at CanopyLAB and follow these simple steps to improve your learning experience.
Ready to give your learners the best learning experience? Book a demo today!
