Create a session in Polling @ McGill and add questions with Vevox
Polls are a good way to collect information from your students in the classroom. You can use polls to test students’ knowledge of a particular subject, ask for feedback on course content, or lighten the mood of the class. With Vevox, McGill’s polling tool, you can poll students in different ways: choose from various types of single polls, run a quiz, or present questions that students can answer asynchronously via surveys.
Create a Vevox session
Create a Vevox Session by clicking on + Create Session.
A pop-up box will appear and ask you to enter an session name. After choosing a name, click Create.
Click the three dots next to your session and select Settings to configure your session-wide settings, such as start date and time, description, session description, and collaborators.
On the session page, you can add one or more polls and surveys to your session and set up the session Q&A.
To create a new poll within your session, click on + Create New and customize your poll from the list of poll options. Alternatively, you can click the arrow next to + Create New to import a poll, or re-use a previous question.
Select different Sessions settings
Poll setting | Description |
---|---|
Scheduled date and start time | Customize the starting day and time of your session. |
Home screen image | Select or upload an image to display with your session’s description |
Home screen content | Add a description to your session. |
Q&A message board | Select whether the Q&A function is enabled, paused, or disabled. |
Moderation | Select whether questions submitted by students need to be moderated before being visible to the class. |
Downvotes | Allows students to downvote Q&A questions, in addition to upvote. |
Display real-time results | Allows students to see poll results in real time. This setting serves as the default setting of all poll questions created in this session. |
Display result on poll close | Automatically displays the poll results when the poll closes. This setting serves as the default setting of all poll questions created in this session. |
Voting results | Customize how results are formatted when shown to students. |
Enable a timer music | Enable countdown timer music for the poll question, and select which timer to use. This setting serves as the default setting of all poll questions created in this session. |
Automatic countdown timer | Automatically begin the countdown timer when the polling question opens. This setting serves as the default setting of all poll questions created in this session. |
Speed scoring | Enable this option to rank students based on how quickly they provide correct answers. |
Show join instructions | Enable to add instructions to the home screen on how to join the session. |
Show QR code | Enable to display a QR code to the home screen that will allow students to join the session. |
Identification | Set participants as either anonymous or identified. When you link a Vevox session to myCourses, you will need students need to be Identified for Vevox to return the session results to the gradebook. |
Passcode protection | Set an additional passcode for the session. Students will need to enter this passcode in order to join the session. |
Logo | Set an image to be displayed while the session is being presented. |
Theme | Choose between pre-set themes or customize the colours and background of the session while it is being presented. |
Add polling questions to your Vevox session
The steps for adding polling questions are the same for all poll types.
Create a new Session or open an existing Session.
Go to the Polls, click + Create New, and select your poll type (Multichoice, Word Cloud, Text, Ranking, Numeric, Rating Scale, XY Plot, or Pin on Image).
Follow the instructions to input your question and answers, add an image, and select your Poll settings.
Click Create.
If you would like to add additional questions to the poll, repeat steps two through four for each question you would like to create.
To make the polling immediately available to your students, click Start Session, then Open Poll.
Types of Polls in Vevox
Multiple poll types are possible with Vevox. Each type of poll can be edited, and for types that you set a correct answer for, you can also add a rationale that explains the answer.
Multichoice: A multiple-choice poll that presents students with two or more possible choices.
Word Cloud: Students provide one- to - twenty character responses to a question. The word cloud illustrates the words and phrases that appear most frequently in students' responses. If the Display real-time results setting is selected, frequent words and phrases increase in size in real time according to student responses.
Text: Students provide short written answers to a question. If you provide one or more correct answers, the poll will check student responses against the correct answers.
Please note: student responses to Text polls need to match any punctuation present in the listed correct answers for Vevox to assess them as correct. For this reason, it is recommended that you exclude punctuation in your answers unless it is integral to the question.
Ranking: The ranking poll allows students to arrange ideas by preference or in a correct order.
Numeric: The numeric poll allows students to provide a number between a minimum and maximum you define.
Rating Scale: rating scales poll allow students to rate ideas on a numeric scale or by assigning stars.
XY Plot: XY plot poll allows students to select a point on a grid.
Pin on Image: This pin on image poll allows students identify specific points or regions of an image, or indicate their preferences on an image.
For more detailed information on these polls, visit the Vevox Helpsite.
Select different Poll settings
Poll setting | Description | Applicable polls |
---|---|---|
Add an image | Click the image icon | All except Pin on Image |
Add an image into a choice | Click the image icon | Multichoice |
Display real-time results | Allows students to see poll results in real time. | All |
Display result on poll close | Automatically displays the poll results when the poll closes. | All |
Enable a timer music | Enable countdown timer music for the poll question, and select which timer to use. | All |
Automatic countdown timer | Automatically begin the countdown timer when the polling question opens. | All |
Set as correct answer | Set the corresponding choice as the correct answer. For Text polls, all answers you list are automatically set as correct. | Multichoice, Numeric, Pin on Image |
Correct answer explanation | Provide a rationale for the correct answer(s). | Multichoice, Text, Ranking, Numeric, Pin on Image |
Allowed selections | Allow students to select more than one option. | Multichoice, Ranking, Pin on Image |
Result display type | Select whether the results will display as a bar graph or pie chart. | Multichoice |
By preference | Allows students to rank ideas according to their own preferences. | Ranking |
In correct order | Requires students to rank items in the correct order | Ranking |
Display mean, median, and/or mode average response | Select one or more averages to display alongside the results. | Numeric |
Rating scale | Allows students to rate an item on a numeric scale. | Rating Scale |
Star rating | Allows students to rate an item from one to five stars. | Rating Scale |
Free form pinning | Allows students to place a pin anywhere on the image. | Pin on Image |
Pin on choice | Allows students to select from pre-defined pins on an image. | Pin on Image |
Create a Survey
A Survey is a way to ask several questions at the same time, and allows students to answer questions asynchronously.
To create a Survey:
Initiate a new Slido event.
From the Create your polls menu, select any of the options (e.g., multiple choice, word cloud, rating).
A pop-up screen will appear. On the bottom-left hand side of this screen, select Create a Survey.
A new pop-up box will appear. Enter a Survey name and select the type of poll you would like your survey to have from the drop-down menu. For assistance creating different polls, see Create a poll in Slido.
Click Save when you are finished. To make your survey available immediately to your students, click Launch.
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While this resource is accessible worldwide, McGill University is on land which has served and continues to serve as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. Teaching and Learning Services acknowledges and thanks the diverse Indigenous peoples whose footsteps mark this territory on which peoples of the world now gather. This land acknowledgment is shared as a starting point to provide context for further learning and action.

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