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Learning Tools Interoperability 1.3, or LTI Advantage, is the newest standard defined by the IMS Global Learning Consortium for communicating student data between systems. This latest standard creates a consistent, secure, and agile framework that can be used across different LMS tools. Poll Everywhere is encouraging all of our LMS integration users to update to the new LTI Advantage tools before 2021, as they provide the latest practices for protecting student data and personal identifiable information.
In the following sections, you will find the Canvas LMS LTI Adv. 1.3 - Getting Started for Instructors, version 2.0.3.
Before you begin
To use the Poll Everywhere LTI Advantage Canvas integration, it is recommended to first publish the course and add a start and end date for the course term. This guide also assumes that your IT administrator has already integrated Poll Everywhere as an App into Canvas through either modules or course navigation. Please confirm with your institution's documentation which integration path is supported.
Step 1: Ensure the course is published using the button at the top right of the Course home screen.
Step 2: Next, go to the course Settings and on the Course Details tab make sure the course has a start date in the past, and an end date that is in the future from when you intend to use the integration.
Option A: Connecting your course to Poll Everywhere using modules
This is the stable method for connecting your course to Poll Everywhere, but requires that your IT administrator has set Poll Everywhere to integrate through modules, and not course navigation (See Option B)
Step 1: Go to the course that you wish to connect with Poll Everywhere and click the ‘+ Module’ button. Name the module whatever you like in the subsequent popup window, then click the ‘Add Module’ button to save
Step 2: Within your new module, click the ‘+’ button. From the dropdown menu at the top of the popup window, select ‘External Tool’, then select Poll Everywhere. URL and Page Name fields will auto-populate below. Lastly, check the ‘Load in a new tab’ checkbox to and click ‘Add Item’ to save.
Step 3: Now, click on the new Poll Everywhere link that you made within the module. You will see a ‘Load Poll Everywhere in a new window’ button. Click this button to launch the Poll Everywhere connection.
Step 4: In the new tab, you will be asked to acknowledge that you are launching Poll Everywhere through Canvas. Acknowledge the launch. On the next page, you will see a button to Sync Roster to import the students from your course into Poll Everywhere.
Step 5: Now that you have connected your course to Poll Everywhere, you can delete the module you used to make the connection. Optionally, you can use the link in this module to perform future LTI actions.
Option B: Connecting your course to Poll Everywhere using Course Navigation
If your admin has configured the Poll Everywhere integration to include course navigation, the following steps can be done instead of the module flow (Option B)
Step 1: Click on the “Poll Everywhere” option in the Course Navigation menu. Then click on “Continue to polleverywhere.instructure.com.” This button will open a new tab to the Poll Everywhere LTI page for this course.
Step 2: In the new tab, you may be asked to acknowledge that you are launching Poll Everywhere through Canvas. Acknowledge the launch. On the next page, you will see a button to Sync Roster to import the students from your course into Poll Everywhere.
Note: For the sync roster, students will receive an email prompting them to complete their Poll Everywhere participant registration and create a password as soon as they connect a course they’re enrolled in from Canvas. It’s a good idea to inform students about this step ahead of time, either in your syllabus or through a Canvas announcement.
However, if students have already been added to the university’s Poll Everywhere account as participants, they will not receive another invite. As long as the student is enrolled in the course with the LMS, they will be automatically registered with the instructor in Poll Everywhere.
Troubleshooting
Step 1: If a presenter is not logged into Poll Everywhere, they will be directed to do so via an error message:
Step 2: If a presenter is logged in using the wrong email address, they will see an error message indicating they need to log in with the email address associated with the university enterprise account. In this case, the button will direct the presenter to the login screen to log in with the correct credentials.
Step 3: If a user is logged in as a participant, they will see a message encouraging them to participate in a poll. This button will link the participant to the pollev.com response page, so they can enter their presenterʼs username and participate:
Step 4: If a user is attempting to use setup a poll everywhere connection with a course where they have the student role, they will get an access error message
Course management
Course management streamlines course administration, simplifying class management for educators and administrators. This update enhances how professors integrate Poll Everywhere with their LMS.
Key Features:
- Scoring Assignments: Assignments can be scored based on correctness, participation, and attendance. These scores seamlessly sync with your LMS using both points-based and percentage-based models.
Accessing Courses
Helpful tip: Ensure your LMS is set up and integrated with Poll Everywhere to see the Course Management icon. A new navigation icon will appear on the left for users with LTI courses integrated. If a course isn't connected, the icon will appear once the integration is complete.
Step 1: Log in to your account at www.polleverywhere.com
Step 2: Click on the Course Management icon. You can find two ways to access Course Management below:
a) Click on the course icon on the navigation bar shown on the left.
b) Click on the Participants icon on the navigation bar shown on the left, then select Courses.
Creating Assignments
Step 1: Empty State Screen: Select a course, an empty state screen appears if no assignments have been created, and an arrow will prompt you to click the Add New Assignment card.
Step 2: Add New Assignment: Clicking the icon opens a flyout window called an "Action Sheet" for activating participation and correctness. Enter the assignment name and configure the participation and/or the correctness requirements.
Note: You can't save until you enter the "Assignment Name." However, you can save the assignment name without activating participation or correctness. Instructors can configure grading settings after selecting activities to include in an assignment. You can choose either or both grading types:
- Participation: Points for attempting activities
- Correctness: Points for answering correctly
To configure grading settings before syncing grades. There are two types of grading criteria: Participation and Correctness. You can select either or both.
Learn more about Participation and Correctness Grading Options here: Understanding Participation and Correctness Grading Options
Step 3: Save Assignment: After selecting settings, click Save to add the new assignment. The new assignment will appear within a new column. Initially, "sync grades" is inactive until activities are added.
Step 4: Adding Activities
a) If activities have been created, click Add Activity to open the updated flyout, and all activities will now be displayed in a single window.
- You can select all activities in the visible list by toggling on the activity flyout window box and selecting all. This will only apply to the activities shown on the screen, not the entire folder.
b) If no activities are created or you need to "Create a New Activity", the new activity button is more visible with a plus icon, making it easier to locate for creating new activities.
- You can also click the + (plus icon) at the bottom of the assignment fly-out to create a new activity.
- Follow the activity creation flow
c) Refresh Activity List: If you create new activities, "hit the refresh button". to update the activity list instantly. Newly added activities will appear after refreshing.
- The activities are displayed in the assignment. Click on an activity to view its summary. You can add or remove activities and make changes to the assignment.
Managing Multiple Assignments and Activities
a) Manage multiple assignments and activities in a populated state.
Helpful tip: When navigating through nested folders, breadcrumbs will appear at the top of the screen, allowing you to easily backtrack to previous folder levels. If there are multiple subfolders, the breadcrumbs will display them for quick navigation. If subfolders exist, a drop-down appears to help navigate through multiple layers of activities.
Example: You create subfolders (e.g., Course PM 2, within Course PM 3), and as you navigate through them, breadcrumbs will change to reflect your current position. The master Activities folder will always be visible for easy navigation.
- Edit an activity by following the same process flow used during the activity creation.
- The interface includes a folder breakdown showing all activities and assignments.
Grade Synchronization
Grade sync activates once activities are added to an assignment. Click Sync Grades to start the synchronization process, similar to roster sync.
Helpful tip: "Sync Grades" becomes active when activities are in the assignment, and will only appear after grading options (participation and correctness) have been configured and saved. You can select either one or both, depending on your use case. Visit the LMS integration section to learn more about Sync Grade.
Viewing Grades
a) Click on "View Grades" for a specific group (e.g., Customer Support 101).
b) The new page displays participation and/or correctness settings configured earlier. Both tabs show the respective settings. A side tab, similar to a config panel, allows users to update settings.
- View grades for participation and configure Settings:
- View grades for correctness and configure Settings:
- If participation or Correctness is turned off, a notification with an image and text will inform the user that they need to activate participation and or correctness for the assignment.
Note: If both Participation and Correctness are selected, we send two separate grade columns to your LMS (e.g., Canvas).
Deleting Synced LMS Assignments in Poll Everywhere
April 2025 Update- You can now delete LMS-synced assignments directly within Poll Everywhere, improving alignment between your LMS (e.g., Canvas) and Poll Everywhere when managing course assignments. This prevents confusion when assignments are removed from the LMS but still show in Poll Everywhere. To delete a synced assignment:
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Navigate to your Course Management page.
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Click on the desired course,
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Locate the assignment and click the Delete button just under the Delete Assignment
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A confirmation prompt will appear, informing you:
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Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone.
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This action does NOT affect the assignment in your LMS (e.g., Canvas).
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Confirm deletion.
Optional Course Start and End Dates Pickers
April 2025 Update - To help manage response data across academic terms, you can now set optional course start and end dates. This filters LMS-synced assignment responses based on when they were submitted. This is ideal if you:
- Reuse polls or activities across semesters.
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Want to ensure only current-term student responses are included in LMS grade sync.
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Need a lightweight way to control when participation counts, without managing poll-level settings.
To set the optional course dates:
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Go to your Course Management page.
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Select the course you want to configure.
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Optionally enter a Start Date, End Date, or both.
- Click Set Start and/or Set End to save changes.
To learn more, please click here: Getting Started with Course Management
If you have any questions or run into issues, please contact the Technical Support team