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Ideas for blended learning - 5 - Pulses for real-time responses
Ideas for blended learning - 5 - Pulses for real-time responses

Different ideas for pulses, our real-time polls, for before, after or during class for a flipped or blended learning model.

Caitlin Foran avatar
Written by Caitlin Foran
Updated over 3 months ago

Our pulses are a real-time pulse-check of your learners. Send out a quick question and you’ll be able to see all the responses from a group at a glance.

Image showing example of Pulse

You can set the pulse to run for minutes, hours or days and choose from these main types:

Examples

You might use a pulse to highlight misconceptions.

Image showing question posted on pulse.

Using a text, rather than a multiple choice response is great here, because including the options would have given learners too much direction.

Image showing responses to the pulse question

You can poll learners to let them choose the direction the class goes in.

Image showing example of Multi choice Pulse

Use a pulse as an entry or exit card.

Image showing example of entering a word Pulse

Benefits

Including pulses in your online course allows...

  • You to get instant feedback from learners.

  • Easy online interaction during class.

  • Show learners diveristy in their group and can prompt different ways of looking at the same concept/problem.

  • Saving pulses and re-using them later.

Variations

  • Use a pulse (live or timed poll) as an entry or exit ticket to show which learners what completed what (or just to encourage learners to reflect on whether they have come prepared or are ready for assessment).

  • Remind/nudge learners about important topic learning outcomes or ask them "Who has completed xyz so far?"

  • Word cloud one-word answers to a problem or question.

  • Check how students are feeling about an upcoming assessment and use the responses to target talk channel posts about the assessments

  • Challenge learners to respond with one-word answer questions: eg: “which word best describes?”

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