Moodle Monday - the Poll Block

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Happy Monday, fellow Moodlers!

Today I’m going to share about the Poll block that can be used to run little one question polls on your Moodle site. 

This poll has the flexibility of being added to the front page, so everyone can contribute; or it can be added within a course for only course members.  Probably its biggest shortcoming is that you can only have one Poll block on the page.  However, the block can be edited so you have many questions set up within it, so you can change to a new question as desired. 

Some uses you may find for this block in the classroom:
-for pre & post knowledge testing (since it archives answers you can compare results between the poll questions as long as you create 2 different questions-even if you are asking the same question)
-asking questions about current content, such as novel readings, current events, answers to homework questions, etc
-quickly gathering data, such as for use in math or science
-fun student polls
-choosing a topic or topics

School-wise, this block can be used on the front page to quickly collect information from all school users.

Since it is a block, you add it to your side block area, either left or right. 


Once added you will see:

(of course, the looks of this may be a little different depending on your theme)

To begin using the Poll block, click on the   icon to begin editing it.  There are four parts to editing the Poll
1.    Configure Block: choose which poll question to display and the title for the block
2.    Create/Edit Poll: create your poll questions (you can create as many as you want), who can answer and the choices they pick from
3.    Manage Poll: You can view, edit or delete your poll questions
4.    View Responses: Gives a detailed list of respondents and their answers.

You actually want to start with the Create/Edit Poll area. You begin by giving the poll  a short name and typing the question text: (The short name is simply for you to pick from the list if you have more than one question; the question text is what the users see when viewing the Poll.)

For Eligible users, you can select All, Teachers or Students. 

The most confusing part of the Poll Block… where do you type in the possible responses?  Well, first you pick your Option count and click Save changes.  Then you can enter in your response choices:
 

(Remember: you can create as many questions ahead of time as you would like.)

Once you have created at least one question, click on the Configure Block tab.  Now enter in the information that will show in the block on your course:

Pick the Poll name of the question you want to show, give the Block a title (give it a more generic title if you are going to use it with a series of questions), and pick the maximum graph width.  Save changes, and your Poll is live!

What is neat about the Poll block is that it shows the question and choices to the user until they select their choice. 
 
After that it changes to a graph of all responses:

You will notice that it will re-order the answers so that they are listed from most to least selected.

Have fun polling!

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