UT Instapoll is a classroom-response system developed by the Liberal Arts Development Studio. It is installed as an LTI tool in a Canvas course and free for use by faculty, staff and students of The University of Texas at Austin.

In addition to reoccurring Friday office hours (11a - 1p in SZB 450), we now offer "UT Instapoll" one-on-one consultations.

Install Tool

How do I install UT Instapoll in my Canvas course?

You can install this tool via the 'UT Canvas Apps' link found in the lower left navigation menu of your Canvas course [1]. The UT Canvas Apps Store will open in a new browser window.
UT Canvas Apps sidebar

Under the UT Instapoll option, click to 'Install in My Course [1].
Authorize UT Austin Apps (Concrete) to access your Canvas account [1]
The page should default to the current course. You can select a different course from the drop-down menu [1]. Click 'Install' when finished [2].
Close the UT Canvas Apps tab and refresh your course page. In the left course navigation you should see a new 'UT Instapoll' button [1]. Note: this button will direct both instructors and students to the UT Instapoll assignment. Users will receive an error message if the assignment is unpublished.*
Installing this tool creates an unpublished 'UT Instapoll' assignment worth 100 pts in a new 'UT Instapoll' Assignment Group on the Assignments page:

Don't forget to PUBLISH the assignment when you are ready to send out polls!
UTInstapoll Published Assignment

*Users will receive an error message when they try to load UT Instapoll in a new window if the assignment is not published. Remember, green means "go!"
UTInstapoll error message Unpub

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Create Poll

How do I create a new poll?

To get started, click on the new assignment and then click to 'Load UT Instapoll in a new window'.
UTInstapoll load new window

Select Create New Poll [1].
Instapoll Create New Poll

What options are available for polls?

Instapoll New Poll Options

Folder Name: Use the drop-down to select a folder for your new poll or to create a new folder. Note: If you do not designate a folder for your poll, it will be placed in a "Polls" folder. The folders will be listed alphanumerically on the Polls page. To help organize the Polls Index page, you might want to have a folder for each lecture or topic. Students will see these folder names and they are included in the grade exports.
Poll Runtime: This is the time, in seconds, available for students to respond.
Disable Timer: If you know in advance that you want to run a poll without a timer, click 'Disable Timer' in the poll editor. You can manually end the poll at your discretion.
Prompt: When checked, this will show the question prompt on student devices. You might want to disable (leave unchecked) this option, as a way of encouraging in-class attendance. If you leave this option unchecked, you or your TA will need to project the prompt to the class (i.e., via slide on projector).

UTInstapoll Question types

Type: Select 'Multiple Choice' or 'Text Entry' from the drop-down menu.
Name: Students will see poll names and poll names are included in the grade exports. These will be listed alphanumerically on the folder page.

Instapoll New Poll Options part 2

Grading mode: There are three options in calculating grades:
-Normal polls will award students full points for a correct answer (i.e., "performance").
-Participation polls will award students full points for any response.
-Review polls are excluded from the grade calculation. These polls will not show up in the data exported or in the Canvas gradebook.
Prompt: Question prompts may include formatted math, using LaTeX, and images. We recommend Box for storing images - the URLs are static from semester to semester, unlike Canvas which includes a course ID in the URL.
Tutorial - How to Insert or Embed Images
Choices: For multiple choice, you must have at least one correct answer. You may have more than one correct answer for a particular poll; however, students will only be able to select one correct answer. Note: Text Entry type polls will not have a "Choices" option.
-The position of the answer choices is static and will not be shuffled in the student view.
-Correct Answer will default to "A."
+To change a "Possible Answer" to the "Correct Answer," click on the pale circle to the left of "Possible Answer." It will toggle to a green "Correct Answer."
+To unmark a "Correct Answer," click the green circle to the left of "Correct Answer." It will toggle to a black "Possible Answer."
Once finished, click Save Poll.

Poll Defaults

Click the Poll Defaults tab to set a default poll runtime [1] and/or decide whether to show the prompt on student devices [2]. Once finished, click Save Defaults [3] to apply the change(s) to any newly created polls.

UT Instapoll Poll Defaults

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Poll Lifecycle

What options are available on the Poll Index page?

Newly created polls are Inactive, sent polls with unexpired runtimes are Running, and sent polls with expired runtimes are Complete. You can Recall a poll within 48hrs of first sending the poll.

To edit or delete a poll, click Edit/Delete
1. Edit the poll to move it to a different folder (lecture).
2. Update the grading rules for the question or update the grading contribution; CSV downloads and student grades are also updated.
To send a poll to your students, click Send Now. All unsent polls are Inactive.
1. For instructors, inactive polls can be edited, deleted, or sent. Inactive polls are not included in any of the grade exports or the gradebook.
2. For students, inactive polls do not show up in their interface.
Sent polls are in a Running state, if the runtime has not expired.
1. For instructors, running polls can be edited/deleted or recalled (see #5 below). Don't forget to display the prompt in class if you have decided NOT to display the prompt on student devices.
2. For students, running polls automatically popup from the current polls page to allow a student to respond. Students may resubmit responses as many times as they would like during the runtime.
When the runtime expires, polls are considered Complete
1. For instructors, completed polls can be recalled, deleted, or edited. Deleted polls are removed from the list of polls and all grades and responses associated with that poll are deleted.
2. For students, completed polls allow them to see which answer they selected (during class), along with which answers were correct and how their classmates responded (~2hrs after poll release). Completed polls appear on the past polls page, where they are organized according to folder with a quick view of the student’s response outcome (incomplete, correct, incorrect) and aggregated responses for each poll. For more information, please view the Student View tab.
To recall a poll, click Recall Now
1. For instructors, running and completed polls can be recalled within 48 hours of completing a poll. This returns the poll to an inactive state. You would do this if you want to edit the poll and allow students to respond to the question again.
2. Previous student responses to the question are saved, but students may respond again during the poll runtime.
3. Polls should not stay in a recalled state; they should be resent or deleted.
4. Recalled polls will NOT send grade information to Canvas or be reflected in the manual grade downloads.
To view student responses, click the View Poll + Results button
1. For instructors, UT Instapoll will list the possible choices but will not identify the correct answer.
  - To see the correct answer(s) and student response statistics, click the table, bar or pie chart button.
  - To hide statistics and the correct answer(s), click the eye with a slash button.
2. For students, the View Poll + Results button under Past Polls will display the prompt, their response and the correct answer.

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Run Polls

In Class Steps

UT Instapoll is a Canvas assignment. The instructor or TA will need to log in to Canvas, select the "UTInstapoll" assignment, load in a new tab and launch the polls. Don't forget to make sure your students can see the prompt - either on their own device or up on the screen in class.

Instructor View of a Running Poll

Instructor View of Poll

To cancel the timer on a timed poll, click the Disable Timer button in the poll pop-up window.
To cancel the timer on a timed poll before its timer expires, click the Disable Timer button and then click the End Now button.
To cancel the timer on an untimed poll, click the End Now button in the pop-up window. (Untimed polls end automatically after an hour.)

Student View of a Running Poll

If you have opted NOT to show the prompt on student devices, don't forget to display the prompt in class. The example on the left has the box checked, the example on the right has the box unchecked.

Answer Statistics

Faculty may view student responses using the buttons at the bottom of the poll window. Be careful if you are sharing your screen not to give your students the answer before ending the poll.

Options are different for Multiple Choice polls [1] and Text Entry polls [2].

Multiple Choice (left to right): hide responses, table, bar chart, pie chart
Text Entry (left to right): hide responses, table, word cloud

UTInstapoll Answer Statistics

Student Responses for Multiple Choice will highlight correct answers.

UTInstapoll Student Resp table

Student Responses for Text Entry will hide student names by default on the table view [1]. Click 'Show' to see the Authors [2].

UTInstapoll Text Entry Table

Text Entry also allows instructors to view a Word Cloud of responses [1]. Click 'Refresh Word Cloud' to include additional student responses [2]. Click 'Okay' to close the poll window [3].

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Reports/Grades

Grades

By default, UT Instapoll creates an unpublished assignment worth 100 pts. Once published and used, it will automatically report grades back to the Canvas gradebook. Two hours after polls have closed, a total grade notification will be sent to each student and Grades will automatically update in Canvas. The one 'UT Instapoll' column will track student's cumulative grade throughout the semester. More detail about individual poll scores can be obtained from a detailed download.

Note: Recalled polls will NOT report grades back to Canvas. Polls in this status are waiting to be Completed and then graded.

Manual grade downloads

The following downloads are available regardless of the assignment/module item choice. These CSVs (comma-separated-value Excel file) contain grades that can be imported into the Canvas gradebook (Grades > Import).

Explanation of scores:

Students who have not participated or have responded incorrectly on a Normal poll earn a 0. If they do respond correctly, they earn a 1.
Students who have not participated on a Participation poll earn a 0; if they have participated they earn a 1.

Download options:

Summary CSV: this shows points possible with points earned by each student, aggregated across all the polls for the course.
Detailed CSV: this shows a cumulative grade, like the summary CSV, but also shows grades for each student on each poll.
Detailed CSV by folder: this download option shows the number of polls correctly answered by each student, aggregated across all the polls in a folder (lecture).

Manual grade view / override

Manual grade view/override allows an instructor to view individual student responses and/or edit their scores. Changes will be updated in the CSV files and, after a few minutes, will be updated to the Canvas gradebook.

To find a student, click in the text box to type a student's name [1] or select a student from the drop-down menu [2]. Note: Typing a partial name or EID will narrow down the list of students in the drop-down list.

Instapoll Manual grade override

3. To view a student's response, click the View button.

4. To modify the score in the New Grade column, click the down arrow and select the appropriate score. Click Update to save changes.

Import/Export Polls

You can export polls from one course and import them into another using the Export/Import buttons on the Reports tab.

To copy or re-use polls, go to the course with the polls and click the 'Download Polls' button [1]. Canvas will download a 'polls_x.json' file [2].

UTInstapoll Import-Export

UTInstapoll Export file type

Next, go to the course where you want to import (upload) the polls and click the 'Upload Polls' button [1]. Click the 'Choose File' button and browse to find the export file [2].

UTInstapoll Import options

Once you have selected your file, click the 'Upload' button
UTInstapoll Upload polls

A pop-up window will appear at the top of the page when the upload has completed.
UTInstapoll Upload Success

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FAQ

Organization within UT Instapoll

Both folders and polls are listed alphanumerically on the page. You may want to give some consideration to numbering the folders by lecture (L01, L02... L13, etc.) when creating new polls. If you do not select or create a folder when adding a new poll, UT Instapoll will add it to a generic "Polls" folder.

In addition, you may wish to number your polls (1.Font and Design, 2.Brand Logos, 3.Productivity, etc.). This way your folders and polls will be in the order you want.

Using UT Instapoll for grading

To answer polls, your students will need a mobile device that can access the UT Instapoll assignment in Canvas.

Include language in your syllabus alerting students to bring a laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc. to class each day; their grade depends on it.

Consider dropping n number of polls so students do not repeatedly report one-off misses.

To start, keep the assignment points possible at 100. This way, students will see a percentage in Grades.

Example: If Susie Student has answered 24 out of 30 polls correctly and the UT Instapoll assignment is worth 100 points, Canvas will show a grade of 80 for Susie Student.

UT Instapoll is an open-ended assignment (without Due Dates, Availability from or Until Dates) that includes all sections. As such, it will not work as a Differentiated Assignment (giving different sections different Due Dates and/or Times). See "Using UT Instapoll in a Course with Merged Sections" below.

Using UT Instapoll in a Course with Merged Sections

By default, UT Instapoll creates an open-ended assignment that includes all sections. One of the workarounds for courses with multiple sections that meet at different times/days would be to launch the polls in the first class as normal. After a poll is launched, faculty have an option to 'recall' the poll within 48 hours. This doesn't wipe out student responses, but does set the poll up to be launched again at some point in the future. (The 'recall' button was originally meant as a quick 'undo' for polls that were accidentally launched ahead of schedule.) The polls will be ready to launch again during the later class. This way, students in that class can take the same polls as the earlier class took. No need to duplicate the polls and therefore the gradebook should work as expected.

A few things to keep in mind:

UT Instapoll doesn't know when class meetings are scheduled to happen, so it's possible that a student in an 11am class could have the app open during the 9am class, and take their polls earlier than expected. (Or vice versa, and take them later than expected.) UT Instapoll isn't really meant for high-stakes quizzing where this kind of thing might be a problem.
If you show answer statistics (the graphs and charts where UT Instapoll shows how many students picked which answer choice), you'll see the statistics for every student who's answered the question so far, regardless of which section they're enrolled in. This might be an issue if you have questions like "Based on our group discussion today, how do you feel about...?", and expect that the two sections might have different discussions leading them to different poll answers.

Using UT Instapoll for Groups

Currently, UT Instapoll works for individual student responses. It is not designed for group responses.

Using Images and/or LaTex formulas

UT Instapoll supports the use of images and LaTex formulas in the question prompt only, not in the responses.

Student View

Give your students time to open the course, find the assignment, click... launch a new page, click to open the external tool, refresh the page, etc. before launching your polls.

The following screen shots assume students will access UT Instapoll from the Assignments page.

Browser View

Students can access the UT Instapoll assignment from any browser that can access Canvas.

From the Assignments page, students may need to minimize the 'Upcoming Assignments' section by clicking the arrow [1]. The UT Instapoll assignment will default to the 'Undated Assignments' group [2].
UTInstapoll Assignment

On the Instapoll assignment page, click to 'Load Instapoll in a new window'
UTInstapoll Student Load New Window

This will bring up the Current Polls page; waiting for new polls...
UTInstapoll Std Current Polls

Once the instructor launches a poll, a pop-up will appear on their device [1]. The student should select the correct answer (only one answer) and click Submit to send [2].
UTInstapoll Std New Poll

If the poll does not "pop-up" in their browser or if they would like to change their response, they can access the poll by clicking 'Launch Poll' if there is still time remaining.
UTInstapoll Std Current Polls Launch Poll