Mentimeter

What is Mentimeter?

Mentimeter allows faculty members to build interactive presentations with quizzes, polls, and more to engage students in real-time. Like Kahoot, it can be used for diagnostic and formative assessments or as a connection activity. There are 13 different question types available in Menti, including: multiple choice, word cloud, open-ended, scales, ranking, Q&A, select answer, type answer, 100 points, 2x2 grid, quick form, who will win, and pin on image. Engagement is built right into a faculty member's presentation and students can use any device to participate.

DC CTL would like to share our appreciation with Ontario Tech University for sharing Mentimeter licenses.

Introduction to Mentimeter

Note: ‘pin on image’ question type is not accessible for individuals with visual impairments.

Why use Mentimeter in my course?

Mentimeter is a great example of using a technology-enhanced active learning strategy for demonstrating knowledge and understanding. Faculty members can upload a PowerPoint or PDF to Mentimeter and build engagement directly within the tool. Menti responses are anonymous and can be used for diagnostic and formative assessments, allowing faculty members to check-in on students' knowledge quickly and easily. Due to anonymity, it is not recommended to associate a grade with Menti activities.

As a learning strategy, Menti is a great way to apply the science of learning principles and retrieval practice to an activity, allowing students to recall information learned in a previous class and strengthen their knowledge of the content.

Menti is also a fantastic way to collect feedback from students through open-ended questions and ranking question types. Students can sort and prioritize different choices allowing faculty members to gauge students’ interest in topics. Using the ranking sliding scale of 1-10, faculty members can also assess how students are feeling and then encourage dialogue and connection.

Active Learning Ideas for teaching with Menti

Retrieval practice with no-stakes quizzes and games Give students the opportunity to recall information they’ve learned by using a Menti retrieval practice. Retrieval practice allows students to develop concepts, make new connections and strengthen their long-term memory. No-stakes quizzes can be created in Menti to test knowledge with question types such as multiple choice, open-ended, select answer, or type answer.
Connection activity quiz Have students actively recall existing knowledge on a topic before building on it, allowing future learning to be better understood, retained and retrieved. This can be accomplished by using Menti’s open-ended or type answer question types. These question types can also provide a brief review of recently learned information.
Brainstorming ideas Using a Menti word cloud or open-ended question type allows students to type a short answer to a question or prompt. Responses will show on the screen, and the most popular ones will be displayed in a larger font.
Pin on image Using a Menti pin on image question type, students can highlight a section of an image to indicate their answer. This could be used for identifying anatomy, locating areas on a map, or sorting priority items. To learn more, watch this video tutorial.
Exit ticket Using the type answer question type, students answer a question or prompt before leaving class. A prompt could be “After this class, I understand...” , or “Name one important thing that was covered in today's class”. This provides students the opportunity to check their understanding while faculty members can see if there are aspects of the lesson that should be reviewed or retaught. Handy for ‘how’ or ‘why’ questions that require thoughtful responses.
Muddiest point Using the type answer question type, students post a question about the class. This can be used by faculty members to determine what should be reviewed or retaught in the next class (an example of Just in time teaching!). A prompt could be “Something I still need help understanding...” or “I want to know more about...”
Parking lot - Collecting questions The Q&A question type enables students to submit questions during class for review, adding as many questions as they would like. Faculty members can edit the settings to allow students’ peers to “upvote” questions moving the questions with the most votes to the top of the list.
Student-check in Use a scales question type (e.g. strongly agree, neutral, strongly disagree), at different points throughout the lesson to check for student understanding and gather real-time feedback on how the class is doing with the content.
Feedback or collecting opinions Collecting feedback and opinions from students is easy in Menti, using the ranking question type faculty can gauge student preferences by rating topics, students can also be asked how they’re feeling on a sliding scale of 1-10 through ranking or the scales question type. Using a quick form allows you to customize text, checkboxes and data fields to collect specific information in class. Finally, the standard type answer question type allows students to respond with a free-text answer.

NOTE: It is important to set parameters and expectations around participant conduct when using Menti in your classroom. Responses to open question types (type answer, word cloud, brainstorm, and open ended) are revealed in real time, which means faculty do not have the ability to filter what is being posted to the Menti screen.

Join the Online Community of Practice to connect with other faculty, ask questions, share practices and resources. There is a channel specifically for EdTech at DC! This community is open to all DC faculty – full-time, part-time or sessional.

Many active learning techniques can be used with Mentimeter. Do you have ideas on how Menti could be used in the college classroom? Add them to our Padlet:

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How Do Faculty Access Menti?

To create an account and login to Menti:

  1. Access https://mentimeter.com/join/ontariotechu
  2. Enter your DC banner number and password.

DC CTL would like to share our appreciation with Ontario Tech University for sharing Mentimeter licenses. If you already have a Menti account attached to your Durham College email address, all your Menti’s will transfer to the Ontario Tech instance.

NOTE: Faculty must create an account following these steps to have access to all faculty features.

Tip

Feel free to apply the DC Light theme to your Menti, available through Themes for all DC faculty members.

Screenshot of where to update the theme in Mentimeter.

Professional Development on Mentimeter

Check out the CTL Professional Development Calendar for monthly Menti PD sessions!

Resources