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Instructional and Information Technology Services (IITS)

Poll Everywhere Student Guide

Poll Everywhere is an online polling tool that allows your instructor to ask questions and gather student responses during a synchronous course session. You can respond to these questions using your smartphone or your computer. 

Signing up for a Poll Everywhere Account

  1. If you have never used Poll Everywhere before, visit https://www.polleverywhere.com/signup?hsLang=en to sign up for an account or follow the “Get Started” link in the email you received from Poll Everywhere.
  2. Click on the “I’m a participant” button.
    I'm a participant button
  3. Enter your first and last name, your CSUSM email address and choose a password (Note: do not use your CSUSM password, for security reasons you must choose a separate password) and then click Sign Up.
    sign up for account form

    Note: If it says "Email has already been taken", it means you already have an account with Poll Everywhere.
    error message "Email has already been taken"

If so, and you do not remember your password, go to https://id.polleverywhere.com/login and click "Forgot your password?" to set a new password.
"Forgot your password?" link

Joining a class using the Poll Everywhere App 

  1. Download the Poll Everywhere app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.Poll Everywhere logo
  2. When you open the app, you will see a screen that prompts you to join a presentation. Across the bottom you will see four tabs. Click the Login tab at the bottom right corner.
    click Login in the lower right

  3. Click on the “Launch log-in window” link.
    click "launch login window" link

  4. You will then be prompted to log in to your Poll Everywhere account. Please make sure to enter your CSUSM email address and click Next. It will then prompt you to enter your Poll Everywhere password. If you do not remember your password, click "Forgot your password?" just below.
    enter CSUSM username and password

  5. It will then ask you if you want to allow Poll Everywhere to use this device. Click the Authorize button.
    click Authorize button

  6. You should then see the "Access granted" screen and you can click Done.
    Click Done in the upper left

  7. After you click done, you should be sent back to the Home screen on the app. Here is where you will type in the code that your instructor provides as the username and click join.
    enter code for username and click Join
  8. You will then either see the poll that is live and be able to respond or you will receive a message that you are currently in the waiting room, waiting for the polls to start.

For more information, visit the Poll Everywhere Mobile App support page. 

Joining a class using a web browser 

If you prefer not to download the app, you can join poll everywhere using any internet browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.).

  1. Go to https://pollev.com/ and click on the Login button on the lower left hand side of the screen.
    click Login in the lower left of the Poll Everywhere page

  2. You will then be prompted to log in to your Poll Everywhere account. Please make sure to enter your CSUSM email address and click Next. It will then prompt you to enter your Poll Everywhere password. If you do not remember your password, click "Forgot your password?" just below.
    enter CSUSM username and password
  3. Once you have successfully logged in, you will be taken back to the Home screen in Poll Everywhere. Enter the code your instructor provides in the username area and click Join.
    click Join

  4. You will then either see the poll that is live and be able to respond or you will receive a message that you are currently in the waiting room, waiting for the polls to start. 

For more information, visit the Responding to Polls support page. 

How to "check-in" using your location for Attendance

Instructors may use the Attendance Management feature in Poll Everywhere to track student attendance for in-person courses using polling questions. Instructors can set up preset (geo)locations in Poll Everywhere for their physical classrooms. If your instructor uses this tool to track attendance, you will be asked to "check in to their preset location" before answering polls.

Follow the steps below to ensure you are "checked in" to your instructor's location and your attendance is marked as Present. 

  1. Click the blue "Check in" button

    check in button in Poll Everywhere

  2. Your device will prompt you to "Allow" pollev.com to know your location. We suggest selecting "Allow on every visit" to reduce response time to polls. Below are various examples of what this may look like on different devices:
      1. Enable location sharing on an Apple Macintosh (laptop) 
        location sharing on a Mac laptop

      2. Enable location sharing on a PC (laptop)
        location sharing on a pc

      3. Enable location sharing on an Android phone
        location sharing on android

      4. Enable location sharing on an iPhone
        location sharing on iphone

      5. Enable location sharing on an iPad
        location sharing on ipad

  3. You will know your location is correctly identified when you see this message and the green check mark at the top of the page. 
    successful check-in message

  4. Your poll(s) will display and you should then answer. 

Note: The following best practices can ensure that you do not experience any errors:

  • Make sure your device is connected to the CSUSM wifi. If you are already connected to the wifi and you are experiencing issues with location, turn off wifi and see if your cellular data can do a better job at pinpointing where you are.
  • Use Google Chrome on your device.
  • Allow location sharing/services on your device and allow Poll Everywhere permission to know your location when prompted.
  • Turn off any VPN services you may be using.

Troubleshooting check-in issues

Sometimes mobile devices have problems getting checked in. There are two main error messages you will receive if that happens:

"You've declined to share your location. You may retry or continue without checking in" 
declined sharing error message

  • Why are you receiving this message? You did not check the "Allow" pop-up to share your location (see Attendance Directions above) or other privacy settings on your device are blocking Poll Everywhere from accessing your location. 
  • What do I do to fix it? Click “Retry”. If "retry" does not work, log out of Poll Everywhere and log back in to try again. If you do not have time to troubleshoot this error, "Continue without check-in" to complete the poll and alert your instructor during class and in person so your physical attendance is recorded. 

"You do not appear to be located in this presenter's designated region"
not in region error message

  • Why are you receiving this message? This can happen for a few different reasons: You are not in your presenter's designated region (the classroom), you use a VPN and your computer's location is different from your real location, the internal compass inside your computer that controls location sharing is not working properly,  or your mobile device did not share your location with Poll Everywhere (see the Attendance Directions above).
  • What do I do to fix it? Click “Retry”. If "retry" does not work, log out of Poll Everywhere and log back in to try again. If you do not have time to troubleshoot this error, "Continue without check-in" to complete the poll and alert your instructor during class and in person so your physical attendance is recorded. 

Note: The following best practices can ensure that you do not experience any errors:

Still unable to check-in?

If you are still unable to check in to your presenter's designated location after following the directions above, please reach out for additional support using one of the options below: