In recent months, we’ve seen a growing trend in the use of online tools to boost student engagement and collaboration, and it’s easy to understand why! Our institution offers licenses for both Padlet and Vevox. While we’ve already covered Padlet in a previous post, it’s time to highlight the fantastic features of Vevox!
Vevox is a user-friendly live polling, quizzing and Q&A app that can be used in various ways to enhance interaction. To get started, simply sign in here: Vevox Sign In and choose Login with SSO for easy access through our single sign-on system (the exact same username and password you use for all Edge Hill systems).
Creating Polls with Vevox
Live polls are great to engage students and encourage interaction during lectures & seminars. There are lots of different question types to choose from such as Multiple Choice, Word Clouds, Ranking and Rating. You can even add an element of gamification to your Polls by showing the Leaderboard or the Speed Leaderboard (fastest finger first!). By default, Polls are anonymous, but you can change a session settings asking your participants to identify themselves.
To get started:
- Click “Create Session” and give your session a name.
- In the left-hand menu, select “Polls,” then click “Create New.”
- Choose your question type.
- Add your question.
- Add your answer choices if appropriate (e.g. for Multiple Choice).
- Select whether there is a correct answer (or not).
- Click “Create.”
For detailed instructions on the different types of Polls, have a look at the help guide on Polling.
Ready to Run your First Poll?
When you are ready to run your Poll you must first Start the Session. You can then select Open Poll.
Select PRESENT FULLSCREEN to share the session ID (9 digit code unique to the session) and a handy QR code with your students.
From the presenter screen toolbar along the bottom, you can choose to Show results, Start Timer, adjust the time, close the poll and also show the Q&A board.
If you have more than one Poll in your session, once you have run through the first question close the poll. You will then have the option to open your next question.
Once you have completed your questions press the escape button or exit full screen on the menu.
Using Vevox’s Q&A Board
In addition to live polls, you can use Vevox’s Q&A board to gather questions from your students, whether during a seminar or at a later time. To get started, just select Q&A from the left menu and enable your Q&A Board. You can even send a welcome message or announcement to kick things off!
Once a student submits a question, others can upvote it, pushing the most popular questions to the top of the list. Be sure to set clear expectations with your students about whether you’ll address the questions during the session or afterwards.
It’s a simple yet powerful way to encourage participation and make sure everyone’s voice is heard and can encourage those quieter students to have voice too.
Using Vevox’s Survey Feature
Vevox’s Survey tool is perfect for asynchronous activities such as knowledge checks, quizzes or revision tests, allowing students to complete it at their own pace.
Creating a survey is just as easy as making a poll. Once you’ve added all your questions, simply click Start Survey.
Students can access the survey the same way they would a poll, but instead, they’ll select the Survey option. This feature offers a flexible way to gather feedback or assess understanding outside of live sessions.
You don’t have to use Presenter view for the Survey feature, but rather you can use the 9 digit ID to encourage students to participate. You can distribute the code and/or link via the likes of email or within Blackboard content.
Accessing Session Data
Once your Vevox survey is complete, you’ll want to retrieve the data you’ve gathered. Head to the Data section in the left menu, where you can easily download all the data in an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis.
For detailed instructions on what information you can extract from Vevox, check out the guide on Accessing My Session Data for Surveys. This makes it simple to review and analyse your results!
My Top Tips!
- It’s a good idea to include the session ID in your lecture slides and share them before the lecture begins.
- Allow a few minutes for students to get familiar with Vevox, especially if it’s their first time using it.
- While it may seem obvious, explaining the purpose of the quiz and how it ties into the lesson often boosts student engagement and participation.
- Although Vevox can be integrated into PowerPoint presentations we have found it easier to show the Vevox Presenter View screen