Using cellphones to poll in lessons.

Are you keen to use mobiles in your lessons? Take control of the agenda when it comes to mobile phones? Use them to enhance learning? Maybe this will be of interest to you?

I have been using a system available in the UK and Australia called www.smspoll.net

 The system allows you to put the poll in a powerpoint presentation and get students to vote on any issue or question you like. Once the votes have been cast the poll is updated in real time within your powerpoint. The students seem to really love this, and get involved with the learning much more. Students start asking ‘which one did you vote for?’ then question why they made that choice.

All the pupils do is text the number associated to their choice to the phone number at the top of the page. Here is an example.

There is a cost to the texter (i.e. the student) but most of the students seem to get hundreds of free texts anyway! Also the cost is only the normal standard rate for a text on their network. The other way to do this is to find out who gets free texts with their contract and put groups together with someone in who has this facility in their mobile phone contract.

This is great as a plenary, or as a motivation break in the lesson itself. You can pose questions to ponder, equations to solve, vocabulary questions the possibilities seem boundless.

What do you think? Leave a comment to get the discussion going.