Student Engagement Tools

Do you want to understand how students doing in the topics, encourage students’ participation in the class, or integrate active learning methods into your class?

The student engagement tools in this section may not be supported by the university. If you’d like to explore a tool for pedagogical use, but it is not supported by SJSU, please consult with your department or contact [email protected].  Any suggestions? Here's a link to a survey. Your feedback is highly appreciated.

Student participation tools - polling or a quick quiz

iClicker and Zoom Poll are available tools provided by the university. The chart below indicates the features throughout a list of teaching tools. Y is available and N is not applicable.

Quiz and Polling Tools

 iClicker   Zoom Poll      Poll everywhere  Mentimeter  Kahoot
University supported
   Y
     Y
          Y
      N
    N
Laptop, tablet, phone
   Y
     Y
          Y
      Y
    Y
Multiple choice, True or False
   Y
     Y
          Y
      Y
    Y
Questions with image
   Y
     N
          Y
      Y
    Y
Open-ended questions
   Y
     Y
          Y
      Y
    Y**
Target answer for image type of question
   Y
     N
          N
      N
    N
Word cloud
   N
     N
          Y
      Y
    Y**
Anonymous on screen
   Y
     Y
          Y
      Y
    Y***
Automatically track attendance
   Y
     Y 
          Y*
      N
    N

Notes: * = registration required, ** = paid version, and *** with nickname.

Puzzle question: This question type sends an image to students, and students answer by clicking or tapping a location on the image. Target questions are ideal in disciplines where visual understanding is required.

Word Clouds: Word clouds are visual representations of words that give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently. 

Social Engagement Tools - online whiteboards

The chart below indicates the features throughout a list of teaching tools. Y is available and N is not applicable.
 
Social Engagement Tools New: Zoom Whiteboards* Google Jamboard Miro   Padlet  
University supported            Y          N N     Y  
Laptop, tablet, phone            Y         Y Y     Y  
Realtime engagement            Y         Y Y     Y  
Number of collaborators*        Unlimited        50 100  Unlimited  
Number of boards available   12 in a session    Unlimited 3  Unlimited  
Import feature             N          Y Y     Y  
Lock from editing            Y         Y Y     Y  
Multiple layouts and templates provided            N         N Y     Y  
Free formatting*            Y         Y Y     Y  

Number of collaborators*: How many people can work on the same board at once.

Zoom Whiteboards (video, .doc)* is a new visual collaboration solution integrated with Zoom. You will need to update your Zoom version in order to use it. 

Free formatting*: the website offers different formats that are available with SJSU school login to use at no monetary cost and without restrictions.