Overview

Polling is a good way to keep students focused, engaged, and have some fun during the lecture. It can also serve as a way to assess participation and gauge students' understanding. You can retrieve polling results in the Zoom client. With the polling feature you can:

- Create stopping points during your lecture to check understanding
- Elicit feedback from students
- Gauge student understanding & participation
- Make a trivia game for test reviews
- Maintain focus and attention

There are a few things to know about the Zoom polling feature:

1. Polls work from scheduled meetings, not instant meetings
2. The polling option is not available in the mobile app
3. There are two ways to setup poll questions: once the meeting starts OR add them when you schedule the meeting.

Enabling Polling Feature

If you do not see the Polling option when you launch a Zoom meeting, either:

You may need to click More on meeting navigation bar.
You need to enable it in your Zoom Settings by logging into your Zoom account and going to settings.

Enable Polling

Image of enable polling toggle

Creating a Poll Before a Meeting

You can create a Zoom poll for scheduled meetings using the virginiatech.zoom.us website. This allows you to prepare questions that can be launched during the scheduled meeting.

Video on creating a poll in a scheduled meeting

Create or Launch a Poll During a Meeting

During a meeting, you can either:

Create one on the fly IF you are using the Zoom Client (not the Zoom web portal).
Launch a poll you already created when you scheduled the meeting using the web portal.

Video of launching a poll (previously created or during meeting if using Zoom Client)

Instructions

While in your Zoom meeting, select the Polling icon. If you do not see Polling, click the More icon.

Polling toolbar

Image of Zoom meeting toolbar

2. A window will pop up. If you had a previously stored Poll, it will show (as seen).

You are given the option to:

1. Edit the poll

2. Launch

Launch poll

Image of launching or editing a poll

Reviewing a Poll Through the Web Portal

You can access the participants' answers by going into your virginiatech.zoom.us account settings.

Zoom review poll

Image of the Zoom poll results page

Once you log in:

Click on Reports
Click on the Meeting portion of the page. This will break out participants' responses to your poll questions. You can use these to gauge understanding or use it to award participation points.

Best Practices

Hold your Zoom session at the same as your regularly scheduled 'face-to-face' session.
Create Zoom meetings in advance so you can get the link out in a timely manner.
Add a week-by-week course schedule to your syllabus and be sure to note any synchronous activities. See example template
Try out the polling feature with a colleague or with your students on the first day of class.
Us the polling feature to check off participation.
Break up your lecture using polling as a knowledge check or discussion starter.

Additional Resources

Zoom Guide
- Video from Zoom Official
- Polling
VT4Help - Polling