PointSolutions (formerly TurningPoint) Audience Response Systems

Polls can also be created entirely through the Web using your instructor account at https://instructor.turningtechnologies.com, allowing you to start a polling session with only access to a web browser.

The get started with creating polls on the web, take the following steps:

1. Log in to your account via Blackboard or at https://instructor.turningtechnologies.com. Once you've entered your credentials you will arrive at a page like the one below, where your active courses in PointSolutions/TurningPoint are listed.
   

In order to create polling content, you need to select a course to associate it with. This can be one of the Blackboard courses you've added through the Blackboard course tab or a course you have created just through TurningPoint/PointSolutions. To create a new course, select the "Create" button (A in the image above) and select a name for it. Once you have identified a course to work with, select it using the the Select button available under each course (B).

2. This should bring you to a page like the one you see below. To create a poll, click on the button labelled "Create Content."
   
3. You should then be prompted to name your content. Pick a descriptive title and then click "Create."
4. At this point, you can see your "content card" (see image below) where you can start building poll questions. Click on the caret next the "Create" button (A) to reveal a number of question types you can add to your presentation (B).
   
5. Once you've chosen your option, you will see a screen like the one below, where there will be a field for entering your question (A), a place to choose available answers (B), a set of additional options for each question including point value (C), and toggle boxes for choosing the correct answer (D, multiple choice only). Fill out the required fields and hit "Save."
   
   (Note: for specifics on all question types and their associated options, look at PointSolution's article on Question Types in PointSolutions Web.)
6. Once you are done editing your question, click the "Save" button at the bottom right.
7. This will return you to your content card where you will see your new question now present. To continue adding content click on either the "Create" or "Add" buttons.
   

You can run your web-based poll by taking the following steps:

1. Log-in to your PointSolutions account via Blackboard or at https://instructor.turningtechnologies.com.
2. Select your course from the Active Courses list.
3. From the course page, select the poll you created earlier.
4. This will bring you to the list of questions your created for your poll. To start polling, click on the start button at the top right.
   
5. This will bring up the screen you see below. If you will be giving students credit on Blackboard for their responses, be sure to click the option for "Enforce Roster" (circled below) to ensure they are signed in with the appropriate account for your class. Then click the "Start" button.
   
6. This will bring you to a screen like the one you see below. The first thing to notice is the Session ID number (A, in the image below). Students will need this to log into the session on their devices, so make sure they take note of it. Once your students have entered the ID, go ahead and hit the "Start Session" button (B).
   
7. This will show you a preview of the first question. You will need to click the "play" button at the bottom of the screen for the question to actually display to students.
   
8. You should now see a similar screen only with a square "stop" button at the the bottom (A, in the image below). At this point, students will see the question on their devices and will be able to respond. Please note the two icons at the top right. While polling is live, you can use the first icon (B, in the image below) to track the number of participants and the second (C), to track the number of responses to the current question. Polling for this question will be active until the stop button is hit.
   
9. Once you've hit the "Stop" button, you will see a screen like the one below, with a "fast forward" button. Click that to get to the next question.
   
10. When you have completed your last question you will get a dialog box telling you you have reached the end of your content. Click "End" to finish your polling session.
    

Results of your web-based polling sessions can be viewed through your PointSolutions online account by taking the following steps:

1. Log in to your instructor account via Blackboard or at https://instructor.turningtechnologies.com
2. From the active courses list, select the course you want to view data from.
   
3. From the page for your course, find the series of tabs at the top, and click on the link labeled "Results."
4. This will bring you to a page like the one you see below, where reports from each of your polling sessions can be viewed.
   
5. Each report for your web-based polls will have a list of the questions shown to students and a summary of the answers given in class.
   
6. If your polls are for credit, your session's results can be uploaded by clicking on the "Gradebook" tab on the Results page (see image below.)
   
7. On this page, you will see a list of your sessions with the individual grades for each of your students. To upload these grades to Blackboard, click on the "Export" button toward the top right of your screen, and from the drop-down menu, select "Blackboard."
   
8. This should bring up the dialog box you see below. To select a session to upload, find it's name in the box on the left and click on the checkbox next to it.
   
9. Once you have selected a session to upload, it should appear on the list on the right of the dialog box. At that point you can hit the upload button to upload your grades to Blackboard.
   

Attendance for your classes can be taken from the PointSolutions Web app using the following steps:

1. Log in to your instructor account via Blackboard or at https://instructor.turningtechnologies.com
2. From the active courses list, select the course you will be teaching.
   
3. From your course's page, select the tab at the top marked "Attendance."
   
4. This will bring you to the page you see below. If you want to confirm your students' presence in the classroom using their mobile devices' location, click on the "Attendance Settings" icon.
   
5. This will bring you to the screen you see below where you can turn on location-based attendance by clicking on the toggle button at the right of the page. (If left off, your students will simply confirm whether they are present using the PointSolutions mobile app.)
   
6. Once you've turned on the location-based setting, you will see a screen with a map like the one below. By default, PointSolutions will use your browser's location as your course location for attendance-taking purposes, however you can also enter an address in the box highlighted and fine-tune your location by clicking on the map itself.
   
7. Once you have set the location for your course, you can set the radius where students will be considered present by clicking on the dropdown menu right above the location control. It can be set to values of 15, 30, 45 and 60 meters.
   
8. Once you have set your location, click where it says "Back to Attendance" at the top of the settings page.
   
9. When you are ready to take attendance for your class, click on the Open Attendance button near the top of the screen.
   
10. This will bring up the chart you see below with the names of all your students listed in the column on the left, with a separate column with today's date and the attendance status of your students.
    
11. Assuming your students have the mobile app installed and are logged in to their MCPHS accounts, they will get notifications from the PointSolutions app to check in to their course (see image below).
    
12. When your students click on the notifications, they will be taken to the app and will likely receive either the message that they have been checked in (see first image below) or that they aren't in range of the course location (see second image). If you are using location-based attendance, be sure to let students know they need to have location services enabled on their device for them to check in.
       
13. If any of your students do not receive the notifications, they can still check in by taking the following steps:
    1. Open the mobile app.
    2. Go to the courses list. On an Android device, this can be done by clicking on the three lines at top left to bring up the app menu (see first image below), then clicking on "Courses" from the menu (see second image below).
        
       On an iOS device, the courses list can be accessed by clicking on the "cap" icon at the bottom of the screen.
    3. Once on the course list, click on the name of the course for which attendance is being taken.
       
    4. Your students should now see a dialog box saying "Attendance is Open." They can check in by clicking on the "Check In" button.
       
14. While attendance is open, you can check the status of your students' check-ins by clicking on the "Refresh" button. Students who have already checked-in will have a green check next to their name.
    
15. Once you feel you've given your students adequate time to check in, you can click on the "Close Attendance" button.
    
16. You will see a screen with check marks next to the names of all the students who checked in successfully. If you refresh your browser, you will also see a red "X" next to the name of students who failed to check in or weren't in the radius you set around your class's location(see image below).
    
    (If you have a student you know was present but had difficulty checking in, you can change their status after the fact by clicking on the X next to their name and manually marking them present.)

Please note that every subsequent session you take attendance for will create an additional column in the table you see with the most recent session always becoming the third column.

Exporting attendance to Blackboard

If you want to sync your attendance with your course on Blackboard, click the "Export" drop-down menu at the top of the table and then select Blackboard from the choices available. This will create one column in your Blackboard Grade Center called "TurningPoint Total Attendance." Students will get one point each for each session attended.