Creating Standalone Polls in Canvas

Overview

Need to create a standalone poll in Canvas?  There are two ways to do so!

Add Non-Graded Polls in Modules

Click the "Modules" link found in in the Canvas menu on the left side of the page. Search for the Module where you'd like to add the Poll, then click the Add button:

In the Add Item drop down menu, choose External Tool, then click Harmonize.

In the Link Resource from External Tool menu, choose the Poll option:

Enter a title for the poll, choose the Not Graded option, and click Create Poll:

Finally, click Add Item button:

Add Graded Polls in Assignments

Navigate to Assignments in your course a new assignment.  In the assignment settings, set the Submission Type to External Tool, click Find and select Harmonize Assignment as the option.  When the selection screen appears, choose the Poll option:

Adjust any other assignments settings as needed, then click Save or Save & Publish.

Setting Up a Harmonize Poll

Regardless of whether you created a graded or non-graded poll, every standalone poll requires the following: 

1. A title for the poll (only editable on non-graded polls)
2. A poll prompt
3. Two or more poll options
4. When to show poll results to other users

Polls do not have to be solely about answering questions.  You can add additional text, videos, images and links just like you can when creating posts or comments.  You can also add additional poll prompts if you'd like students to answer multiple questions in a single poll:

Once you are finished creating your poll, click Publish. The poll will now be accessible for students to access and make their selections:

Viewing Polls and Results

While the poll is open, instructors can view the current results by clicking Skip voting and go to results or by clicking Download Poll Results.  Instructors can also close to poll to further voting by clicking Close Poll:

When downloading poll results, you'll be given two options, both of which will download a CSV file:

1. Summary Results: lists each poll options and the number of users responding to it
2. List of poll participants: lists each user that has responded to the poll

To edit a poll, click the three dot menu where you will find the Edit option.  Adjustments can be made to polls as long as the poll has not been closed and no users have yet voted.

Graded and ungraded polls will appear the same to a student. Though a poll does not have a correct or incorrect answer, the instructor can see how many participants have responded, close the poll, or download results. Student activity, including the percentage of the questions answered, will populate in SpeedGrader and the Canvas gradebook.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I add additional prompts to my poll?

• Click the "Add Polling" button located in the Harmonize Editor to add additional prompts to your poll.

Q. I've created a graded standalone poll with multiple prompts. How does grading work?

• Student will receive credit for each poll prompt to which they respond.
• There is currently no way to mark poll responses as "correct" or "incorrect". Simply responding to the poll prompt with any answer will earn the designated number of points.

Q. Is it possible to tell which poll response was selected by each student?

• Not at this time. If you have a specific use case that requires this functionality from Harmonize Polling, please contact Harmonize Support.