Standing in front of a class full of uninterested students is something no teacher likes. Everyone has experienced when there is a lack of enthusiasm in the room, and it is difficult to get students to speak up or join in. But what if there is a way to break through that barrier and make learning an exciting, interactive experience? Classroom polling tools are the answer! These tools allow teachers to gather instant feedback, spark conversations, and engage students with fun, real-time polls, quizzes, and surveys.
let's explore the top 8 online polling tools for classrooms that will keep your students engaged!
What Are Classroom Polling Tools? Here’s the Scoop!
Classroom polling is one of the most effective ways to engage with the Class, and classroom polling tools are digital platforms used to interact with students to gain valuable feedback, opinions, and responses. It helps educators understand students, spark discussions, and vote on classroom decisions.
These tools feature live polls, quizzes, and student surveys that can easily be integrated with various platforms. Teachers and students can use mobile phones and computers, iPads, and laptops for polling in the classroom. The instructor poses different types of questions (open-ended, multiple choice, rating, ranking). The results are instantly shared, providing real-time analysis and giving teachers a clearer picture of students.
The Perks of Classroom Polling: Fun, Effective, and Insightful Learning!
Classroom polling brings active learning to the classroom and increases student engagement with content that enhances learning outcomes. They are best for in-person, live, and remote learning. These tools are essential to modern education for assessing knowledge and creating a fun learning environment. The key benefits of classroom polling are:
Boosts Confidence and Participation
Classroom polling encourages students to participate, especially those who are hesitant to do so in regular classroom settings. The anonymity offered by these tools removes the pressure of speaking in front of people and being judged, boosting the confidence of students. For example, in a large hall, some students might feel intimidated to express themselves, but polling tools allow them to participate in classroom activities actively.
Promote Critical Thinking
Polling tools promote critical thinking in a way that teachers can use open-ended questions or higher caliber questions that make students think deeply. For example, How would you solve this problem in 2 different ways? It can make students think critically in multiple ways, assess their problem-solving skills, and promote higher-level cognitive engagement.
Support Different Learning Styles
Some students are visual learners, some are auditory, and others are kinesthetic. Every student learns differently, and classroom polls are a great way to support a variety of learning styles. They contain image-based questions, graphs, and voice-enabled questions catering to students' individual preferences.
A study published in the Statistics Education Research Journal investigated the impact of real-time interactive polling, a type of active learning, on academic performance. The study discovered that introducing real-time quizzes in tutorial classes resulted in higher final grades, real-time student engagement, and a lower risk of failure.
Sparks Dynamic Discussions
Sharing polling results can spark class discussions about follow-up questions or the reasoning behind responses. For example, a teacher can ask Why do you think this was the popular answer? This can spark a rich debate where students can defend their answers and explore different points of view.
According to the Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington University in St. Louis, polling can stimulate discussions by measuring student comprehension in real-time and encouraging students to reflect on the material.
Related Read: How Online Polling Enhances Classroom Participation
Top 8 Free Online Classroom Polling Tools
These Classroom Polling tools are free with basic features, but you may need to upgrade for advanced options.
TheySaid
TheySaid is a fantastic platform for conducting educational surveys, quizzes, and polls, particularly in academic settings. With its AI-powered features, TheySaid makes the survey creation process easy and provides valuable insights through its conversational AI feature that reveals the why behind students' responses. That’s why TheySaid stands out as the best tool for classroom polling.
Key features:
- Creates surveys and survey questions with a single click.
- AI summarizes responses, detects trends, and provides actionable insights for teachers to refine their teaching strategies.
- Track student sentiment with quick NPS (Net Promoter Score).
- Conduct AI moderator interviews to gather more profound student feedback at a scale.
Pricing:
- Free Plan – 1 active AI survey and 50 monthly responses
- Paid Plan– Essential Plan $49/month
Slides With Friends
Slides with Friends is similar to PowerPoint or Google Slides, used to build live polls and get real-time feedback immediately. You can add unique interactions such as word clouds, surveys, ratings, quizzes, and text question answers. The platform provides pre-made slide decks and custom creation tools for designing interactive presentations from scratch. Teachers can see students’ responses in real time. Works on any smartphone, tablet, or computer without downloads.
Key features:
- Offers interactive icebreaker games to engage students.
- Allows teachers to create live polls and quizzes.
- Students can deliver interactive presentations using a slide deck format.
- It allows users to transform lessons into interactive review games.
- Students can easily join the platform by scanning a QR code or joining a link.
Pricing:
- Free Plan – Limited number of slides per session
- Paid Plan–Starter $8
Kahoot!
Katoot! is an excellent tool for formative assessments, reviews, and real-time feedback. Its fun and interactive interface turns learning into a highly gamified experience. One of its unique features is its extensive library focused on K12 topics and general trivia that allows users to create customized polls and quizzes. Whether you're testing the understanding of students or initiating discussions Kahoot! keeps students interested in learning by providing friendly competition and immediate scoring.
Key features:
- Highly gamified with variable scoring leaderboards and time responses.
- Students can create their own Avatars.
- Teachers can design their quizzes or use already-made templates.
- It supports various question formats (Multiple choice, ranking, open-ended).
- Students can quickly join via a link or pin.
Pricing:
- Free Plan – Allows 20 to 40 participants
- Paid Plan– Start at $3/month per teacher
Mentimeter
Mentimeter is a powerful classroom polling tool to build interactive polls, quizzes, slides, and presentations. It allows various question types ( multiple choice, ranking, short questions, placing a pin on the image, and traffic light questions). Real-time response tracking enables teachers to quickly assess students' understanding and collect vital feedback. Whether used for formative evaluations, brainstorming sessions, or class decision-making, Mentimeter guarantees that every student has a voice in the learning process.
Key features:
- Mentimeter can be integrated with PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote.
- Responses are anonymous so that you can get honest feedback.
- Visualize student responses creatively for discussions.
- Students can participate via a simple link.
Pricing:
- Free Plan – Allows 2 question slides and five quiz slides
- Paid Plan– Basic plan starts at $11.99/month
Aha Slides
Aha slides transform passive learning into an active, fun, engaging, hands-on experience. It has a collaborative team mode that encourages group discussions and teamwork. With live polls, quizzes, and word clouds, students can participate effortlessly from their devices, making every class session more exciting and inclusive.
Key features:
- Seamlessly integrates with multi-media.
- You can download various templates from its onsite template library.
- The content slide feature provides extensive customization options.
- Allow users to add soundtracks.
- Filter profanity feature to automatically filter inappropriate words.
Pricing:
- Free Plan – up to 5 quiz questions
- Paid Plan– Basic plan starts at $7.25/month
SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is frequently used to create classroom polls. It has an intuitive and responsive user interface. Teachers who seek an organized method to gather student feedback, monitor learning progress, and make data-driven decisions in the classroom love SurveyMonkey.
Key features:
- Have pre-made classroom polls.
- Make customized surveys with a variety of question formats.
- Examine student answers right away for deeper understanding.
- You can easily send surveys via email using QR codes or URLs.
Pricing:
- Free Plan – Allows up to 10 questions per survey
- Paid Plan– Starts at $25/month
Typeform
Typeform is a visually appealing polling tool for creative interactive online forms, polls, surveys, and quizzes that keep students interested while getting insightful responses. It provides a conversation polling experience where students answer one question at a time. You can add images, GIFs, and videos in polls to make them fun and engaging.
Key features:
- Works seamlessly with Google Sheets, Slack, and more.
- Tracks real-time responses for decision-making.
- No app download is required. Students can participate from any device.
Pricing:
- Free Plan – Up to 10 questions per form
- Paid Plan– Starts at $25/month
Slido
Slido is a dynamic classroom polling tool that helps educators create interactive lessons by incorporating live polls, Q&A sessions, and quizzes. It offers various polling options that can be used, such as word cloud, multiple choice, text entry, and more. It is user-friendly and straightforward to set up, making it accessible to everyone.
Key features:
- Can easily integrate with PowerPoint and Google Sheets
- Students can join via a simple link or QR code.
- Create anonymous polls in seconds with its live polling feature.
- Track answers to gauge understanding and modify lessons.
Pricing:
- Free Plan – Includes up to 3 polls per session
- Paid Plans – Start at $8/month
A Quick Comparison of Top Classroom Polling Tools
Create Classroom Polls, Surveys, and Quizzes with TheySaid
Theyaid makes it effortless to create Classroom Polls, Surveys, and Quizzes with single-click AI-powered question generation; educators can quickly set up interactive assessments that keep students engaged while gathering meaningful insights in an engaging, responsive, and inclusive learning environment.
Sign up now for free and engage with your students like never before!
FAQs
What is classroom Polling?
Classroom polling is a teaching practice that engages students by asking them real-time questions about lessons.
What do students need to join a poll?
Students just need their phone, tablet, or laptop, and pretty much any device they already use! They can jump into a poll with just a click or a QR code scan.
Are there any free classroom polling tools?
Yes, we have shortlisted the best 8 classroom polling tools above, which are free to start. You can also upgrade to paid plans for more advanced features.
Do I need to be in a physical classroom to use these tools?
Nope! Classroom polling tools work anywhere, whether you’re teaching in-person, online, or in a hybrid setup.
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