Mentimeter is touted as an interactive, cloud-based presentation application. It allows users to create online polls, quizzes, and opportunities for interactivity to engage viewers in real time. This tutorial section will provide you with the resources you need to select appropriate types of Mentimeter interactions for your classes and build them effectively.
Account creation and sign on
Go to https://www.mentimeter.com/signup to sign up. Mentimeter has integrated sign on with Google, Facebook, or can be aligned with your school's Single Sign On (SSO). It can take some time to receive the confirmation email from Mentimeter. Be sure to check your junk mail folder just in case.
You can get started with Mentimeter for free. In the free version, you are limited to two question slides and five quiz slides per presentation, but this still allows you to reach unlimited audience members. Additional pricing information can be found here.
If your school uses an enterprise version of Mentimeter, you can use unlimited content slides, presentations, and have advanced customization, results analysis, and import/export options.
Privacy considerations
Responses in Mentimeter are anonymous. It is important that you do not ask for personal information when using Mentimeter. Not only does this protect the privacy of your students, it also helps them feel that they can share more openly.
Grading
Because Mentimeter responses are anonymous, it is not recommended that it be used as a tool for summative assessment. However, it can be used as formative assessment, using aggregate data.
You can create presentations by uploading presentations from Google Slides or PowerPoint to Mentimeter. Once your existing presentation is uploaded, you can insert various questions, polls, and other interactions to engage the audience or classroom.
You can also build a presentation directly within the application itself.
Important Notes:
There can be formatting issues when you upload a PowerPoint presentation, so be sure to check each slide for issues.
Layouts and design are limited within Mentimeter, so if this is important to you, uploading a PowerPoint file may be the best way.
Google Slides presentations must be downloaded as a PPTX file before they can be used in Mentimeter.
PowerPoint: You can upload your presentation to Mentimeter via their cloud-based platform, or you can install a PowerPoint plug-in for use on your local device.
Google Slides: Similar to PowerPoint, Mentimeter allows you to upload your Google Slides presentation, but only after you download the presentation as a .PPTX or .PDF document.
Once you have built polls, questions, or interactions into your presentation, you can share the presentation with your audience. The audience can respond to your presentation using a smartphone or other device, and you can see their feedback in real time. Students do not need to download specific software to access Mentimeter. However, they must have a device connected to the Internet with a web browser in order to participate.
Decide on the question goal
It is good teaching practice to have a goal in mind before you create your teaching materials. Decide on what the goal is of using Mentimeter with your students during the lesson (there are some ideas located in this tutorial). Are you looking to test their knowledge of specific content? How about looking to gauge their own perceived comfort with the material? Or, are you looking for a fun way to break the ice? These will help you decide on the best type of question to select.
The size of your audience can also affect that type of questions you choose. A very large class might present challenges with open ended questions, not only in the time it takes to receive responses, but also in the time it takes to engage with the results.
Create a new slide
You can add questions to existing slides if you have uploaded a presentation from PowerPoint, but the visuals are small and may not be the best choice.
Choose question type
Pick from the question types available.
Fill out response options
If you have chosen multiple choice, who will win, or scales/ranking questions, you will need to provide options for your class to choose from. Use teaching best practices in determining these options, just like you would with any other form of assessment. You will also need to select the correct answer for multiple choice-style questions.
Choose results layout
Depending on the age of your students, the size of the class, and the goal of your question, different layouts may be more appropriate.
Other functionalities
Show correct answer
Allow audience to submit multiple times
Let participants choose multiple options (e.g., multiple response question)
Equal Participation
Mentimeter allows teachers to engage with all students simultaneously. Regardless of whether they are in the room with you or are watching you online, are in a large or a small class, or if students are unsure about asking questions or participating, Mentimeter can give them an opportunity to participate equally (Hill and Fielden, 2017). The anonymous sharing aspect of Mentimeter is key for students whose cultural background may not encourage speaking up in class, or who may need to see an example from their peers before expressing their opinions. This also makes feedback more honest and would be suitable for informal surveys, brainstorming, or feedback sessions.
Effort in Learning
Studies have shown that students put forth more effort and exhibit critical thinking skills if they know their work will be used by peers and not just seen by the teacher (Liu et al., 2001). While responses are anonymous, Mentimeter displays responses for consideration and discussion by the entire class, leading to additional engagement with the content (Moorhouse and Kohnke, 2020).
Engagement
Synchronous interaction with teachers and classmates are important to generating a social presence in online courses. Studies have demonstrated that participants in Mentimeter presentations demonstrate higher levels of engagement, interest, and attention than PowerPoint alone. Mentimeter can be a way to keep students engaged in longer lectures by breaking up content and providing a way to consolidate learning (Hill and Fielden, 2017; Skoyles and Bloxsidge, 2017).
Immediacy of Feedback
Results from Mentimeter are shown immediately. Teachers have the opportunity to make adjustments to their instructions immediately, rather than awaiting marks or results of other forms of feedback. As a result, lessons can be tailored to students' needs and interests much more effectively than using other forms of feedback.
Synchronous Usage
Mentimeter can be used asynchronously for participant input. However, a teacher must start the presentation for participants to view the results. However, Mentimeter can be used synchronously in online, face-to-face, or blended formats and participants can see the results.
Classroom Technology Use
Teachers in a variety of levels and disciplines may have concerns about the use of additional technology in the classroom, including cell phones, and the distractions that they may create. Learners enter responses to Mentimeter presentations in a variety of ways, including via cell phone. While they may use their phones for off-task purposes, the engagement that Mentimeter affords can still provide learning and engagement benefits despite this potential drawback (Rudolph, 2018).
Equity in Technology Needs
Engagement in Mentimeter requires the use of a web browser or cell phone on an Internet or data connection. For some students, the ability to connect to a reliable connection or to have a device at all may be a considerable barrier to their participation in a Mentimeter presentation. To this end, teachers may consider using a Mentimeter presentation when school-provided devices are available for some or all students.
Ice Breakers
Ranking, Word Clouds, and Scales can encourage participants to express their ideas and breakdown barriers of awkwardness before a lesson. Examples include: What's your favourite type of cuisine? What is the best type of music? What additional language do you want to learn? This fosters a sense of inclusion in the class, even for students who are more introverted and less apt to participate.
Brainstorming
Open-ended questions such as Word Cloud allows the entire class to contribute to a brainstorming session. Examples might be: What should we do for our class party? What animal should we study? How do the physical properties of an element relate to its chemical properties? Because Mentimeter can be timed and can limit the amount of characters in a response, students gain practice in creative thinking while using their ability to write clearly and concisely.
Formative or diagnostic assessment
You may want to use Mentimeter to assess how your class feels about their current knowledge and participation in learning activities. While responses are anonymous, it can help give you an idea of what areas may need additional review or if students generally need more support. You can use a variety of question types for this activity, including multiple choice, scales and ranking, and open ended.
Collaborative learning
Mentimeter provides an excellent platform for a variety of collaborative activities. You may have students work in breakout rooms then post their responses to Mentimeter after their discussion. It can be used in a smaller format for a think-pair-share style activity, where partners contribute a response that they have worked on collaboratively.
Gamification Quizzes
A fun way to test knowledge and reinforce understanding of a topic is to use the Quiz question option in Mentimeter to quiz teams of students on lesson content. Cooperative learning can be highlighted here in a Family Feud style competition, which promotes learning and in-depth consideration of the topic.
Consolidation
Use open- or closed-ended question types to gauge students' understanding of a topic after it has been presented, then adjust instruction accordingly. You might ask specific multiple choice questions that contain common misconceptions about the material and address these misconceptions in the next part of the lesson. You may also use Mentimeter as an "exit ticket", a formative assessment tool to see how students are understanding the content.
Prepare the audience
Let the audience know that you're going to do a Mentimeter presentation in advance. This is important so they can bring their smartphone to class or you can find other technology they can use to participate. It is also a good idea to provide them with an overview of how the presentation will work. You may also wish to engage them in discussions about posting appropriate, non-personal material and using good netiquette when they are participating in a Mentimeter presentation. The profanity filter may come in handy here. It would be helpful for students to bookmark the URL of the presentation in advance to avoid last-minute issues.
Check your settings
Adding reactions to slides is a quick way for you to gauge the thoughts and feelings of the audience as you go. Choose from the reactions available in the slide settings panel. You may also want to enable the profanity filter, a different language, or voting pace and time limits.
Give enough time
Before you begin the presentation, make sure all students can connect to the presentation using the QR or voting code. Depending on the bandwidth of your connection, this may take a bit of time. User support also plays a part in how long it takes to start up a presentation. When you are presenting, give the audience time to consider your question before responding. This allows students to consider their responses more deeply (Tobin, 1987). You can keep track of how many users have responded on the bottom right of the slide. If you plan to discuss responses during or at the end of the presentation, leave time for that, too.
Hill, D.L. and Fielden, K. (2017). Using Mentimeter to promote student engagement and inclusion. Pedagogy in Practice seminar, 18 December 2017, Fusehill Street, Carlisle, UK. (Unpublished)
Liu, E., Lin, S.S.J., Chiu, C., and Yuan, S. (2001). Web-based peer review: the learner as both adapter and reviewer. IEEE Transactions on Education, 44(3), 246-251.
Mentimeter. (n.d.) Advice and answers from the Mentimeter Team. https://help.mentimeter.com/en/
Moorhouse, B. L. and Kohnke, L. (2020). Facilitating synchronous online language learning through Zoom. RELC Journal, 0033688220937235.
Rudolph, J. (2018). A brief review of Mentimeter–A student response system. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 1(1), 35-38.
Skoyles, A. and Bloxsidge, E. (2017). Have you voted? Teaching OSCOLA with Mentimeter. Legal Information Management, 17 (4), 232-238. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1472669617000457
Tobin, K. (1987). The role of wait time in higher cognitive level learning. Review of Educational Research, 57, 69-95.