Polls
Polls provide a simple, flexible way to ask a question of the class and gather responses immediately. While quizzes are focused on assessing understanding, polls are better for more subjective tasks, such as gathering opinions, encouraging reflection, or prompting discussion. They are a good way to boost student engagement and bring all voices into class conversation, including those of students who may be reluctant to speak up.
Gameface supports four response formats: “Make a choice”, “Slide a scale”, “Enter a number”, or “Enter text”
Polls generally only impact student's participation scores, not their understanding scores. If your question has a clear right or wrong answer you should use a quiz instead.
The only exception are "Enter some text" polls. A tutor can optionally promote text responses that they find particularly insightful, and in this case the author of the response will receive bonus understanding points.
Polls and volunteer tasks work beautifully together: a poll lets every student register their choice or opinion quickly and safely, and then volunteer tasks give you a structured way to invite students to explain or elaborate on those choices.
Make a choice
Use this format when you want students to select an option from a list.
These kinds of polls are great for quickly capturing the class’s preferences and priorities, and helping you make on-the-spot decisions that reflect the needs and interests of the class.
- When you create a choice poll you will need to define the list of choices.
- As it is running you will be able to see which students have and haven't responded, and everyone in the class will be able to see what proportion of the class has responded.
- When you close it you and your students will see a chart of how popular each choice was.
Use a mix of serious and light questions. Early in the session, an easy or fun choice poll can warm up participation before you move to more meaningful questions.
Avoid “gotcha” questions. Focus on preferences, perceptions, and priorities rather than testing factual knowledge. If your question has a clear right or wrong answer then use a quiz instead.
Slide a scale
Use this format when you want a scaled response between two extremes, such “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”, or "not at all confident" to "extremely confident".
These kinds of polls are a great way to encourage self-reflection (e.g. for students to self-assess comfort level, confidence, interest, etc), gather feedback (e.g. how much they enjoyed or understood a lesson), or collect opinions (e.g. degree of agreement, preference intensity).
- When you create a scale poll you will be able to describe each of the two extremes.
- As it is running you will be able to see which students have and haven't responded, and everyone in the class will be able to see what proportion of the class has responded.
- When you close it you and your students will see a histogram of where the responses fell on the scale.
Try asking these questions in pairs, before and after some activity. This is a great way to assess the impact of the activity, or to convey to the class the value of completing the activity
Enter a number
Use this when you need numeric input — for example, to ask for a guess, estimate, rating, or numerical response.
These kinds of polls are a great way to get students thinking by asking them to make a prediction or estimation, such as “What percentage of the class do you think agrees with this statement?” or “How long do you predict the next task will take you (in minutes)?”
- When you create a numeric poll you will need to provide a minimum and maximum value.
- As it is running you will be able to see which students have and haven't responded, and everyone in the class will be able to see what proportion of the class has responded.
- When you close it and your students will see a histogram of where the responses fell.
Make sure you clarify for students what the unit of measurement is (e.g. percentage points, minutes)
Enter text
Use this when you need textual input - for example to ask students what they are thinking or how they are feeling in an open-ended way.
These kinds of polls are great for drawing out quick, honest perspectives from every student, especially those who might not speak up in front of the whole class. They help surface ideas, reflections, and uncertainties that would otherwise stay hidden, and they give you a clearer sense of how students are thinking and feeling in the moment. They work especially well as conversation starters, exit tickets, or quiet check-ins that keep everyone involved.
- When you create a text poll you will be able to specify whether you want a single response (e.g. "What was your biggest insight from today’s lesson?") or multiple responses (e.g. "What went wrong in the case study? List as many problems as you can think of") from each student.
- As it is running you will be able to confidentially review the responses in the remote control. You can discard low quality responses (which will cause the respondent to lose participation points) and promote high-quality ones (which will reward the respondent with bonus understanding points)
- When you close the poll you and your students will be able to see the collected responses. A few seconds after the poll closes they will be automatically analyzed and clustered to help you synthesize and summarize them.
Text polls are incredibly versatile. You can use them...
...to check in with students and provide a safe space to share how they’re feeling:
“Describe your current mood in one word.”
...to identify sources of confusion:
“Where did you get stuck today?”
“What’s one thing that’s still unclear?”
...to collect questions before a discussion, Q&A, or next lesson:
“What’s one question you have about this topic?”
“What should we explore more next time?”
...to invite students to brainstorm and contribute ideas:
“Suggest one possible solution to this scenario.”
"What should [Casenote Subject] have done differently?"
...to collect opinions and perspectives:
“What’s your perspective on today’s issue?”
“What’s one advantage of the approach we discussed?”
...as an exit ticket:
"What’s one takeaway you’ll remember?”
"What is one specific change you’ll make, based on what you learned today?"