This week, Poll Everywhere released a new poll option with leaderboard functionality. If you are unfamiliar with Poll Everywhere, check out this post. This week I reviewed this tool, and I am excited to share what I found.
Before I get to that, I should say that leaderboards are one of those gamification terms that I have to intentionally not roll my eyes when I hear. I have worked on several projects where the sponsor wants something cool or new which often leads to someone suggesting we make it competitive by having a leaderboard. Leaderboards alone are not games, they are game elements and are there to support game features. When a project team is chasing their tails creating a leaderboard that has little or nothing to do with the content, project scope can blow up because you are retrofitting a game element that doesn’t belong. Bottom line, leaderboards should support your interactions, not guide them.
With that in mind, I created a leaderboard in Poll Everywhere to test how this new functionality worked.
More than a leaderboard
As I mentioned, leaderboards are game elements and do not stand alone. When you select the leaderboard option in Poll Everywhere you are immediately prompted to create multiple choice questions. Basically, you are creating a quiz that uses a points system to populate a leaderboard. Anyone familiar with Kahoot! will get a bit of déjà vu.
Facilitating with Poll Everywhere leaderboards
Once your poll is created, participants access like any other poll. The major difference is that speed is rewarded; fast response receive more points and a countdown timer closes the poll when the timer reaches 0. After each question, the facilitator clicks to show the leaderboard and then clicks again to move to the next question. This continues until all questions are asked and a leader is chosen.
Facilitation feels a lot like Kahoot!, however, the point scales are much lower.
Poll Everywhere Leaderboard vs Kahoot!
Poll Everywhere’s new leaderboard functionality puts them in direct competition with Kahoot!. Poll Everywhere has more options that Kahoot! and the software integrate well with PowerPoint. I will likely continue to use both applications depending on the project needs, but I have to say this new feature is tipping the scales a bit.
What do you think of Poll Everywhere’s new leaderboard functionality? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!
