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Getting Started with Course Management

The Team from Poll Everywhere
  • Updated

In this article:

    Course Management streamlines course administration, simplifying class management for educators and administrators. This update enhances how professors integrate Poll Everywhere with their LMS.

    Assignments can be scored based on correctness, participation, and attendance. These scores sync with your LMS using points-based and percentage-based models.

    Note: For more details or to schedule a demo, contact your Customer Success Manager or our Sales team here.

    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.

    Course Icon1.png

    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, and an empty state screen appears if no assignments have been created, and an arrow will prompt you to click the Add New Assignment card.Creating Assignment.png

    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

     Learn more about Participation and Correctness Grading Options here: Understanding Participation and Correctness Grading Options

    Create Assignment.png

    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.

    New Assignment.png

    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.

    Add activities.png

    • 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.

    Course Gradebook.png

    • You can also click the + (plus icon) at the bottom of the assignment fly-out to create a new activity. 

    Course Gradebook - no activities.png

    • Follow the activity creation flow

    Add_New Activities.png

     

    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.

    Course Gradebook - Refresh.png

    • 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. Edit activities.png
    • The interface includes a folder breakdown showing all activities and assignments.Breakdown folder.png

    Note: Currently, surveys are not considered graded activities in course management. As a result, surveys will not appear in the selection modal and cannot be directly added to an assignment. As a workaround, you can convert the survey into a folder and then add that folder to the assignment. For step-by-step instructions, see: Convert to Survey

    Handling Non-Graded Questions in Assignments

    A non-graded question is a poll that does not have correctness defined (for example, an Open-ended prompt without a correct answer or a participation-only question). Historically, non-graded questions were always treated as incorrect in correctness-based assignments.

    When creating or editing an assignment that uses Correctness grading, you’ll see a section labeled: "Non-graded questions" under the Correctness Settings. This setting applies to all non-graded questions in that assignment.

    Non graded.png

     Learn more about Handling Non-Graded Questions in Assignments here: Handling Non-Graded Questions in Assignments in Course Management

    Grade Synchronization

    Grade sync activates once activities are added to an assignment. Click Sync Grades to start the synchronization process, similar to roster sync. Sync grades.png

    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).View grades.png

    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:Participation.png
    • View grades for correctness and configure Settings:Correctness.png
    • 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.Participant off.pngCorrectness off.pngNote: If both Participation and Correctness are selected, we send two separate grade columns to your LMS (e.g., Canvas). 

    Deleting Synced LMS Assignments

    You can 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:

    1. Navigate to your Course Management page.

    2. Click on the desired course,

    3. Locate the assignment and click the Delete button just under the Delete AssignmentDelete Ass.png

    4. A confirmation prompt will appear, informing you:

      • Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone.

      • This action does NOT affect the assignment in your LMS (e.g., Canvas).

    5. Confirm deletion.

    Deleting Synced LMS Courses

    Courses synced from an LMS can be deleted directly from the Participants page. Before doing so, ensure that the course is roster-sync enabled. A manual sync may be required from the Course Management page to ensure the course appears under the participant groups list.

    To delete a synced course:

    1. Go to the participants page Delete_Course 1.png

    2. Click Edit (top right corner).Delete_Course 2.png

    3. Locate the course under Groups.
    4. Click the trash icon next to the course name.Delete_Course 3.png
    5. Confirm deletion.

    Note:

    • Once deleted, participants with no remaining group assignments move to Ungrouped.

    • Deleting a course also removes its associated LTI user connection. This may affect participant grouping or any gradebooks linked to that course.

    Optional Course Start and End Dates Pickers

    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 are reusing polls or activities across semesters, want to ensure only current-term student responses are included in LMS grade sync, and need a lightweight way to control when participation counts, without managing poll-level settings.

    To set the optional course dates:

    • Go to your Course Management page.

    • Select the course you want to configure.

    • Optionally enter a Start Date, End Date, or both.

    • Click Set Start and/or Set End to save changes.Course mgt Date picker.png

    Best Practices for Cross-Listed Courses

    In an LMS like Canvas and Blackboard Learn, cross-listing allows instructors to combine multiple sections of a course into one shared course shell. The process can vary depending on institutional configurations. Some institutions use a specialized "Crosslist & Split" tool to facilitate the process.

    What you need to know and how it works with grading and activity management:

    • Cross-listed sections become one course, meaning:

      • All students share the same content.

      • There is no way to assign different activities, settings or grading to individual sections.

      • If you are an instructor and cannot view the cross-list options, this feature has been restricted by your institution.

      • Cross-listing should be done while courses are unpublished.

    For more information about cross-listed courses, please refer to:

    Best practices:

    • Use identical content and grading criteria across all sections.

    • Use teams or shared activities if multiple instructors are managing the same course. For Team creation, please contact your institution's account administrators directly.

    • Wait until all sections have completed participation before syncing grades to the LMS.

    • Communicate early with co-instructors and teaching assistants to align on shared content.

    Note: Professors may expect cross-listed sections to act independently. Be aware this is not how LMS tools handle merged courses. There is no section-specific grading or activity management in cross-listed courses. Once cross-listed, you can no longer separate content or grades by section within Poll Everywhere.

    Video Tutorial

    For a step-by-step visual guide, watch the video below:

    If you have any questions or run into issues, please contact the Technical Support team

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