Whether you're a fan of student-led learning or you're looking for a new way to keep kids engaged, we have a potential solution to tell you about. Mentimeter is a real-time communication platform educators can use to pose questions and receive feedback from students in any type of learning environment. Basically, it helps educators make learning more interactive and empowers students to add their voice. With millions of users, Mentimeter is an upstart solution that simplifies all different aspects of instruction. And, this week, it's the focus of our latest Rising Resources post.
With Mentimeter, educators can build interactive presentations and engage students with intent. Since many students are likely tired of screen-based education, Mentimeter adds more excitement to tech-based instruction. Teachers can create custom presentations with the easy-to-use Mentimeter editor, which is accessible online. They can add as much interaction as they want with guiding questions, polls, quizzes, images, and even gifs to reach students more effectively. After all, it's been quite a year and this little bit of a break from serious learning might be well-received.
Using the Mentimeter platform.
While teachers can use Mentimeter on their desktop or laptop, students typically use it on a mobile device. It's available for download on iOS and Android devices and students can connect right to their teacher's presentation using the app. From there, they can volunteer to answer questions and see responses in real time. Also, teachers can share results with students once the presentation concludes. The software even provides them with key data points for improving future presentations and monitoring how students progress over time.
Millions of professionals all over the world use Mentimeter. Its uses span beyond the classroom as its viable in all types of professional settings as well. To that point, it's also useful in different levels of education, though its sweet spot begins in upper elementary school. This is largely due to students needing their own device to participate. Plus, they need to be proficient enough with that device to independently access the app and quickly provide responses on the fly. For older students, they should have no issues using Mentimeter on their device.
The benefits of using Mentimeter.
When it comes down to it, Mentimeter helps ensure that all students are heard. Of course, it's still organized, so nothing is missed or overshadowed. For teachers, the Mentimeter system features three main parts: The presentation builder, the survey tools, and the insights. With the presentation builder, they're able to design eye-catching content and add interactive elements to learning. With the survey tools, which include polls, data, and opinions, they can gain key insights into what's working. Finally, they can analyze and organize this data with the insights tools.
When it comes to the content, educators can choose from 13 different presentation styles. These include word clouds, quizzes, and a lot more. They can stick these interactive elements within any presentation slides and space discussions out or include something on every slide. Once they're ready to use the content they've created, switching Mentimeter to presenter mode allows educators and students to use it together. Students in the audience can interact with the questions, polls, or other prompts anonymously, which really encourages participation, especially from the quieter ones.
Leading lessons with interactive elements.
Even as students get more involved and engaged, teachers can remain in control. This is thanks, in large part, to a feature known as the Mentimote. It essentially serves as a remote control that teachers can use to moderate and control the flow of their presentation with their mobile phone. Once the presentation concludes, educators have access to the analytics. The data include trends and response insights from students who participated as well as a breakdown of changes or improvements they've made over time. Teachers can export the data in a PDF file or Excel sheet for easy viewing.
Mentimeter is useful in all types of learning situations. Whether working with a large class of students or a small group of no more than a few, it's effective at keeping everyone interested and engaged. Besides that, it helps each student feel like their ideas are heard. And, it helps them feel like a bigger part of the class. Teachers can add formative assessments to any of their lessons whether they're centered on a Mentimeter presentation or not. It still helps improve student participation and enables every voice to be heard.
Mentimeter plans and versions.
Like with most online education tools, there are different versions of Mentimeter available to educators. There is a free version as well as paid versions that include more features. The paid versions include discounts for teachers and students, who can access them at a lower rate than someone using it for other professional purposes. Anyone can take advantage of a free trial to see how well Mentimeter works with the students in their classroom. With the free version, you'd get an unlimited number of audience members and an unlimited number of presentations. You can also include up to two question slides and up to five quiz slides.
The next version up is the Basic version. It includes all the features found in the free version plus the opportunity to include an unlimited number of questions, the option to import presentations, and the freedom to export data to Excel. Finally, the Pro version is the most in-depth option for using Mentimeter. It also includes all the same features as the Basic version. In addition, users would also gain access to the ability to moderate Q&A sessions, add a custom design, and collect audience details. You can find more details, including pricing information at your convenience.
If Mentimeter seems like it could have a fit in your classroom, we encourage you to check out their site to learn more. After you've done that, check out some of the other helpful resources available to educators on our blog. Of course, our online store is also home to tangible STEAM solutions for facilitating impactful lessons in the classroom! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all of our other updates.