Teachmeet handout: Using Socrative polls in IL teaching

Abstract

Teaching large numbers of students involves being creative, and as information literacy teaching at Royal Holloway University of London has changed dramatically over the past two academic years, so has the teaching adopted by Library staff. This session will demonstrate use of an online polling tool, Socrative, and allow participants to test out the tool for themselves. It will demonstrate flexible ideas for using the tool as part of a lesson, and include examples of questions and use in class. Participants will only need a smartphone to take part, and the speakers welcome questions and suggestions on using polling tools in the classroom. Socrative has been used to quiz students on their previous knowledge during Library training sessions; allowing teaching to be adapted to the needs of each individual class. It has been used to canvas opinion on Library training which will be used in future to improve teaching; and it’s proved a valuable tool in increasing student participation – from small groups of 15 to large groups of 60 students. In all cases Socrative has increased student participation in students of all levels, and acts as a quick, easy, and effective introductory exercise to the themes of the class. It has also been possible to collect data on student experiences and knowledge to use in class, but also to preserve in order to improve future teaching.