DIGITAL ENGLISH

10. DESCRIPTION AND MAIN FEATURES OF THE DIGITAL TOOL Mentimeter

WHAT IS MENTIMETER AND WHAT IS IT USED FOR:

Mentimeter is a browser app ran and maintained by a company that goes by the same name. It is used to make presentations with real time feedback from the audience. The app also focuses on online collaboration for the students or public members to answer questions anonymously. This app enables users to share knowledge and real-time feedback on presentations, polls or brainstorming sessions in classes, meetings, conferences and other group activities, all through your smartphone.

Comparison to similar apps: This platform is more about presentations, so it's less quiz-focused than the likes of Quizlet or Kahoot, which are all about that and little else.

HOW DOES MENTIMETER WORK?

Mentimeter requires you to sign-up to start using the service. This can be done easily with Google or Facebook login, or email address. Then you're given the choice of either going on as a presenter or as an audience member.

That said, students can join an event as it's called by simply entering a code that someone can send via any preferred communication method. Select a single icon to begin creating a presentation from scratch with a guided process. During this you can add events, which include questions, polls, word clouds, reactions, and more. These are where students have a chance to interact during the presentation. Once the presentation is finished there will be data collated that can be used to see how the students responded throughout.

BEST FEATURES OF MENTIMETER:

Mentimeter is very adaptive, so it can be accessed easily online or via the app, but also via other apps. It is possible to integrate Mentimeter within the likes of PowerPoint or Zoom, for example. So, for example, teachers can add in events to a presentation already created, or use a Mentimeter presentation, in part, on a software platform required by a school or student, for example.

In the case of Zoom integration, it makes remote learning much easier. Not only can a teacher carry out the presentation to students wherever they are as they interact but this can also all be seen and heard live using video chat. This is ideal for offering guidance as you go, just as you might in the physical classroom.

It's not just teachers who can create polls and questions, students can do it too, live. This allows educators to get students engaged during the presentation, perhaps adding questions for the class or directly for the teacher. A helpful upvote system makes simple way to find what everyone needs without taking up too much class time.

The word cloud can be a good way to work as a class to brainstorm, perhaps creating character traits in a story, for example. For an ELL class or foreign language, it's possible to ask a question in multiple languages.

The fact all this offers data that can be analyzed by teachers makes it a very powerful tool both for use live as well as for future planning.

PRO and CONS:

PRO

• It was very easy to use.

• It provides an interactive way to engage the audience.

• The poll can be customized to have all sorts of graphics to cater to a specific, targeted audience.

CONS

• It asks the audience to follow the on-screen instructions to submit their poll responses this can be challenging for a less tech-savvy audience.

• I heard comments that some audience members had issues connecting to complete the poll, so there is room for improvement.

HOW TO ACCESS THE TOOL?

Go to https://www.mentimeter.com/

Head over to the sign-up page. Choose to sign up through your Facebook profile, Google account, or with an email address and password that you set. If the latter, enter a valid email address, a password that is at least six characters long, and your first and last name. Press 'sign up' and that is all.