What are student response systems?
Student response systems allow you to engage your students in a live class by soliciting responses to questions or polls in real-time. Depending on the student response system you choose, they can use their own internet-connected device, or a physical hand-held unit.
Available student response systems at the University of Toronto:
iClickers
For information on using iClickers and integrating with your Quercus course, please visit our iClicker Support Tool Guide.
If you require any technical support regarding iClickers, please contact your divisional support representative.
To learn more about iClickers, please review this New York Times article on the use of iClickers in the Classroom.
Microsoft Forms
With Microsoft Forms, you can create surveys, quizzes, and polls and see results in real-time.
- Create surveys
- Create quizzes (Links to an external site.) with feedback on correct and incorrect responses
- Gather (anonymous) feedback (e.g., mid-course evaluations)
- Promote reflection and metacognition
- Poll students in synchronous sessions
- Create polls for Teams meetings
Microsoft Forms is part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite of tools available to Faculty. Consult the Forms site for more information.
Webinar tools:
Polling with Microsoft Teams Meeting:
You can use Microsoft Forms to create polls before your Microsoft Teams meeting, then launch them during it so attendees from any endpoint (mobile, web, desktop) can view and answer. You can even poll attendees before your meeting and collect information ahead of it.
Follow these instructions to learn more and how to poll attendees during a Teams meeting.
Polling with Zoom:
This feature allows hosts to create sing choice or multiple choice polling questions that can be launched during a webinar. The poll can be downloaded after the webinar. Polls can be conducted anonymously or with names. Refer to Zoom Knowledge Base on Polls for details on how to set up polls.
Top Hat
BEFORE you make arrangements with TopHat to use their solution in your course, please contact your divisional educational technology support team, the U of T Bookstore, and U of T Libraries to ensure that this solution will work in your course. Our goal is to make sure you have the best teaching experience possible, and your students have the best learning experience possible.
TopHat Classroom Response
(Updated: September 2022) The TopHat Classroom Response tool is a Quercus-integrated and supported application, currently available to U of T instructors for use in their teaching.
The main benefit of the direct integration is the automatic set-up and synchronization of course enrolment information. There is a fee to use this solution, paid for directly by students.
While this tool may be useful for some instructors, we are aware that the company also promotes and provides access to other tools via its interface, including tools for conducting assessments, proctoring, creating course reading packs, video-conferencing and other interactive modules. Only use as a Classroom Response tool has been vetted and supported by the University. Other tools and uses have not. Instructors who choose to use those tools (other than Classroom Response) should be aware that such use may result in additional fees being charged to student, and is subject to Provostial guidelines on using external tools. https://teaching.utoronto.ca/resources/tools-beyond-quercus/
In particular, we are aware that some instructors have been using TopHat to publish course materials. Course materials should be made available directly from Quercus as much as possible. In some cases, students may inadvertently be charged for some materials which have already been licensed by the Library.
Because of these factors, the TopHat Classroom Response tool is not available as a self-serve tool within Quercus. Instructors who wish to use this tool must first connect with their divisional educational technology team https://teaching.utoronto.ca/resources/divisional-support-contacts/ to discuss usage plans. In some cases, a divisional educational technologist will advise an instructor to connect with the Library for further assistance on providing students with course materials. Divisional educational technologists (DET) will also be assessing the request for feasibility. For example, some classrooms on some campuses may not be able to handle the number of concurrent network connections needed for the TopHat Classroom Response system to work. In some cases, grades sent from the TopHat Classroom Response system to the Quercus Gradebook in large classes is not guaranteed.
Once an instructor has had that conversation with their divisional educational technologist, the DET will contact the Quercus operations team to enable access to the TopHat Classroom Response tool for a specific course.
Instructors should also note that students who purchase TopHat access via the U of T Bookstore will receive a discount over buying it directly from the TopHat website. Divisional educational technology staff will be asking prospective instructors if they have made contact with the Bookstore to notify them of the pending use of the TopHat Classroom Response system, to ensure the Bookstore has enough access codes available for students to purchase at the discounted price. Instructors can contact the Bookstore directly at textinfo@uoftbookstore.com.
For more information on how the Library can help you, please visit the UTL website.https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/faculty-quercus