PointSolutions (formerly TurningPoint) Audience Response Systems

Adding polling questions to your PowerPoint presentations allows you to seamlessly add student engagement to your lectures. This page will discuss how to integrate polling into your PowerPoints using the PointSolutions Desktop app.

PowerPoint polling can be used with both the full PointSolutions Desktop app and the TurningPoint Web app. This page will deal with the desktop app. Of the two versions, it has a wider range of features, both in terms question types and the ability to work with the data after you conduct polls. To get the app installed on your work computer, your best bet is to put in a ticket with IS on the MCPHS Service Now platform. On a home computer, it can be downloaded by logging in to your account at https://instructor.turningtechnologies.com and then clicking on the "download" icon at the top right of your screen (see image below.)

The app is also available through VMWare from the myMCPHS Faculty Desktop.

You can create PointSolutions slides in PowerPoint with the following steps:

1. Make sure PowerPoint is closed.
2. Open the PointSolutions app
3. Click Sign-in and then sign in with your MCPHS credentials via SSO.
4. Once you are logged in, you will see a screen like the one below. To start adding poll questions to your PowerPoint presentations, click the “Start Now” button under the header “PowerPoint Polling”.
5. The PointSolutions window will close and PowerPoint should open automatically to a blank presentation with the PointSolutions tab selected at the top right of the ribbon. If you would prefer to work with an existing PowerPoint presentation, you can open it now, but make sure not to close the blank presentation first.
   
6. Once you have the presentation you want to work with open, you can start adding content to your slides by clicking on the “New” button (A in the image below) and then selecting a question type from the drop-down menu that appears (B).
   
7. This will add a new slide to your presentation like the Multiple Choice question seen below.
8. For multiple choice questions, you can get started by editing the question prompt where it says “Enter Question Text” (A in the image above), and then editing the bulleted list to create the answer options you need (B.)
9. Once you’ve entered your question and answers, you may want to edit the properties for your questions by using the panel on the right of your screen. Here you will see options for making your poll anonymous, allowing multiple responses, and assigning point values for responses. You will also see a set of drop-down boxes (highlighted in the image below) where you can set correct and incorrect answers for the options you created in your poll question.
   
10. You can continue adding as many polling slides as needed throughout your presentation. Please note that the properties options may differ for different question types. (Note: for specifics on all question types and their associated options, look at PointSolution's PowerPoint polling support page.)

You can run your PowerPoint poll in class by taking the following steps:

1. Make sure all PowerPoint windows are closed.
2. Open the PointSolutions desktop app.
3. Sign in using your MCPHS credentials via SSO. Once on the app's dashboard, click on the class you will be teaching from the course list at the top left to select it. (If you want to run an anonymous poll, click the check box labelled "Anonymous" at the top of the course list.)
   
4. To start the mobile session, find the “Mobile Responses” heading at the top right, and then click on the “Enable” button beneath.
   
5. This will bring up the dialog box you see below. Before starting your session, click on the "Session Options" button at the left.
   
6. From the Session Options menu, click the check box for "Require Participant Accounts." (This will require students to signed in before they can attend a session.) Then click "Save."
   
7. From the mobile sessions dialog box, you can now click the “Start Session” button to start your polling session.
   
8. PointSolutions will then display another dialog box like the one below that will include a session ID number. This is what your students will need to enter into the mobile app or desktop app to access your poll, so be sure to share it with them.
   
9. At this point, you can return to the app dashboard screen. Under PowerPoint Polling, select “Start Now.”
   
10. The app will open up a blank PowerPoint presentation. Without closing this, open the presentation you want to use for class.
11. Once you have your presentation open, do the following on the PointSolutions tab at the top before starting your polling session:
    1. Make sure "Live Polling" is selected from the options for “Polling."
    2. Click the “Reset” button and select “Session.” This will clear any data from previous times you may have run the poll.
       
12. To run your presentation with polling, start the slide show, either from the “Slide Show” tab at the top or just by clicking the slide show icon at the bottom right of your PowerPoint window (see image below).
13. Click through your slide show like your normally would for any PowerPoint presentation. When you get to one of your PointSolutions slides, you should see a control appear at the top right of your slide like the one pictured below, with a counter for responses and a green or red polling indicator.
    
    If you had selected the “Automatically Open Polling” option for your slide when creating it, the indicator will be green and say “Polling Open.” At this point your poll question is open and you can collect responses as long as this screen is up. If you see a red “Polling Closed” indicator, you will need to advance one more screen to see the green indicator and start your polling.
14. Once you’ve collected all your responses, advance to the next screen on your presentation. This will stop polling and should, depending on the setting for the slide, display a chart (like the one you see below) summarizing the poll's results.
    
15. You can continue on with your presentation at this point, following the same steps for each polling slide.
16. Once the slideshow is over, you can save the data from your polling session by clicking on the Save button on the PointSolutions tab (see image below) and then selecting “Save Session” from the list of choices available.
    
17. This will bring up the save file dialog box you see below.
    By default, it will save the file to the classroom computer’s session files, but since you will need to open this file on your own machine later, you will want to save it somewhere where you can easily find it. Choose the desktop from the options at the left. From there, you can either move the file to a flash drive or email it to yourself.
18. Once your session data is saved, you can quit PowerPoint and then close out of the PointSolutions app, which will end your polling session.

To work with the session data recorded in class, you will want to import your session file from class to the local PointSolutions/TurningPoint app on your machine. You can do this by following the steps below:

1. Open the file you saved from class on your machine. Doing this will cause the app to display a dialog box like the one below. Click "OK."
   
2. This will bring up the Session Import dialog box you see below. Choose whether to let the app move your file to the “Sessions” folder or leave it where you saved it (A) and then click “OK”(B).
   
3. This should open up the “Manage” tab of the app, where you will see your session file now listed under the correct course.
   
4. Once you have your session data opened in the app and in the right place, you can upload your data to Blackboard to save any graded polls/quizzes. To do this, (A) click on the course name on the course list on the left side of the app dashboard, and (B), from the list of options that appears in the middle of the dashboard, click on "Upload Grades."
   
5. You'll be asked to choose what data to upload to Blackboard.Click the checkbox next to session you just opened and click "Upload." This should create a new column in your Blackboard course's grade center.
   

Once a session file has been imported you can view the results of your polls conducted through the desktop app. Follow the steps outlined below to generate a report for an individual polling session:

1. From the app dashboard, select the “Manage” tab at the top of the screen.
   
2. On the left panel of the app you will now see a list of the courses you currently have enabled for polling in PointSolutions. Find the course with the polling data you would like to review, and click on the caret next to it to reveal session data for that course.
   
3. Click on the session you wish to review (A in the image below). This will reveal the list of options you see in the pane to the right. From those options select Reports(B).
4. By default you should see a list of results by question. For PowerPoint polls, you will see each question’s text and the breakdown of what answers your class chose, both by percentage and count. To scroll through results for each question, you can either use the scroll bar (A in the image below) or use the back and forward arrows next to the label “Question” at the bottom right of the app screen (B).
   
5. You can also look at how your individual students responded to each question by clicking on the drop-down menu at the top right and selecting “Results by Participant.”
   
6. Under each student's name, you will see a list with the questions from the poll and their own responses to each. To look at a different student’s results, click on the back and forward arrows next to the label “Participant” at the bottom right (circled in the image below).
7. Once you have the report with the data you want, you can export it to a CSV, Excel, or html file by clicking on the “Export” button at the top left and selecting the appropriate option.
   
8. Alternately, you can print your report by using the “Print” button.