Best Practices - Top Hat Monocle Classroom Response System

Keeping students happy is easy

Try using the tool in the lecture room before the start of the term to get comfortable and resolve any IT issues.
Prepare questions and demos in advance of the lecture and have a clear idea at which points in the lecture you will use them.
If students have any technical problems don’t attempt to troubleshoot them in class, just tell them to contact Top Hat Monocle tech support (we get back to them very quickly, usually within 15-20 min.)

Assign marks for participation, but make it optional (e.g. bonus marks) so that students don’t feel forced. Assigning a 5% bonus will typically result in 90% participation. Without marks (or a low 1-2% bonus) expect 10-15% participation.
Use the tool consistently and ideally in every lecture, rather than just once every few weeks, especially at the start of the term when students are getting their first impression of the lecture environment.

Use combination of in-class activities and homework by assigning some questions to be completed before class and others to be done during the lecture.
Make sure there is some connection between questions and demos done in class and exam content. This also goes a long way towards ensuring that students are happy with the tool.
After questions are done in class set them in review mode so students can use them for study purposes.

Try using the peer instruction form of classroom interaction ask the students a question and collect responses, then show the results and discuss them in class, then allow students to try answering again, and finally explain the correct answer (see a guide for a fuller explanation of peer instruction.)
Use the tool throughout the lecture, not just at the start or end. Many instructors do well with just 1 question per lecture, but others do as many as 10. There’s no one right number and a lot depends on how long you take to discuss each question.
Use the tool to help feed a discussion in class rather than just using it for testing. This allows the normally passive students to get involved because their answer is heard (anonymously if you choose.)

Our tool is amazingly easy to use, but it's important to try the tool out for 15-20 minutes in the lecture hall before the start of the term to make sure you're comfortable using it in class. This simple step avoids any issues and ensures your students get the semester started on the right foot! Plus, our fantastic academic learning specialists will do a 'mock class' with you so you can ensure your first time using the tool in class will be seamless and fun.
Use the tool consistently, in most lectures, rather than just once every few weeks. Also if you’re comfortable with it, try using some of the more “advanced” features like the Q&A discussion module and the interactive demos.
Leave a bit of wiggle room in the grading scheme. For example students should be able to get full bonus marks if they score above 75% on in-class participation. This results in less complaints and whining about missed questions.