Mentimeter – Learning and Teaching @ CSM

What is Mentimeter?

Mentimeter is an interactive tool which can be used to enhance student participation and engagement in both face-to-face and online classes. Using slides, Mentimeter has a variety of question types and prompts. It can also be used asynchronously, gathering contributions outside the classroom.

Designed to support real-time feedback for teaching and learning, UAL has purchased a Mentimeter license for all staff and students for 25-26, as a pilot project. Read the Canvas story here.

Why is it useful?

Online tools such as Mentimeter can help broaden participation, making it easier for all students to offer their thoughts and ideas, and create more opportunities for learning and engagement, particularly in large classes.

Engagement: Mentimeter, and other online platforms, support active learning, increasing cognitive engagement and, potentially, acquisition and retention.
Confidence: anonymity and seeing others’ ideas can help with finding the confidence to contribute and ask questions.
Opportunity: sometimes it’s hard for quieter students to find a way to be heard. Mentimeter can create more opportunities to contribute in different ways.
Feedback loop: Mentimeter makes it easier for teaching staff to ask for and receive a broad range of feedback on what has been taught and how students are feeling. This in turn allows teachers to focus on what is really needed.

How can I use Mentimeter?

As well as supporting broader participation, Mentimeter can help facilitate a variety of pedagogical approaches. For example:

Ice-breakers: help create a sense of belonging as students and staff form connections with each other.
Entry and Exit tickets: used at the start and end of sessions, entry and exit tickets can be used to guage existing knowledge/confidence, reflect on previous learning, activate existing knowledge and make requests for further teaching/clarification.
Active learning: more broadly, mentimeter can be used to support students to reflect, share opinions, to provide personalised examples, make predictions, check learning and dig deeper into students’ understanding.
Peer sharing/collaboration: ask students to talk to each other and share their thoughts/reflections/ideas on Mentimeter.

Question types:

There are a variety of different question types. For example:

Multiple Choice: great for polling responses, reflections, recall or provocations for ice-breakers. Easy to set up and a including a different visualisations, these might be the best place to start.

Word Cloud: useful for getting a quick view of ideas in the room. Be mindful that they may be challenging for visually impaired participants to understand the results so make sure you are aware of your audience and summarise verbally.

Open-Ended: very useful for deeper reflections or feedback. Also good for starting a class (Entry Ticket) and at the end of a class to see what information has resonated with the students (Exit Ticket).

Scales: useful for gauging stress levels, or confidence (e.g. How confident are you about today’s topic?). Or use them to reflect on the topic, using statements and levels of agreement/disagreement.

Ranking: useful for prioritising topics, ideas, or preferences for future teaching, or reflecting on the relative importance of themes/content.

Using Mentimeter with PowerPoint and MS Teams

There are many ways to incorporate Menti into your teaching or presenting. You can present directly from Mentimeter.com either in-person or, by sharing your screen, online.

Alternatively, you can:

Integrate Menti question slides directly into your PowerPoint, so there is no switching screens. See ‘PowerPoint’ below.
In an online meeting or class, you can also present your Menti slides directly through Teams. See ‘Microsoft Teams’ below.

Talk to the CSM Digital Learning team if you’re not sure which is best for your sessions.

PowerPoint:

If you are using PowerPoint, you can embed a Mentimeter question or slide directly into your PowerPoint presentation, so that you don’t need to switch between your Mentimeter and PowerPoint screens.

The results will show up on the PowerPoint presentation.

embedding mentimeter in Powerpoint (pdf)

Microsoft Teams:

In MS Teams, you can share your PowerPoint or share your screen as usual, and this will enable you to use Mentimeter.

However, Mentimeter is also integrated in Teams so that you can select and share your Menti slides directly from the Teams interface. And your participants can also give responses directly in Teams without needing to log in or use another device.

Using mentimeter in ms teams (pdf)

Mentimeter good practice – Tips

Use Preview in the toolbar at the top of the editing screen to check how your Mentimeter will appear to participants.
Turn on the profanity filter in all languages via the Settings icon in the toolbar at the top of the editing screen.
Start with one or two simple question types and explain clearly how to answer, rather than assuming it is clear.
Allow participants time to get used to the platform and to give their answers.
Consider how you will use the responses. Are there follow up questions? Will you respond to them or your students?

Using live captions with Mentimeter:

As part of inclusive practice, we recommend using live captions which are not available within Mentimeter.

For this reason, in an in-person session, we advise using PowerPoint with live captions and using Mentimeter for interactive slides only. This can be done by switching screens/tabs, or by embedding your Mentimeter slide directly in your PowerPoint.

If you are running a session in MS Teams, live captions are built in. (They are accessible for individuals via the More option in the toolbar, then Language and Speech.) In this setting, it is possible to import your whole presentation into Mentimeter and use the MS Teams integration to share.

Accessibility:

Read out what is on the screen, don’t assume everyone can see your questions or results.
Make sure there is sufficient colour contrast and, if using a dark background, check if it is possible to distinguish the options when responding.
Be cautious with the Word Cloud or Pin on image options which both rely on visuals only.
Use the built-in accessibility checker via the Settings icon in the toolbar at the top of the editing screen.
Provide an alternative means of contributing e.g. via the Chat in a Teams meeting.
Be cautious with the use of quizzes or the timer. These can cause unnecessary and unhelpful stress.

For further information about inclusive practice:

Menti help – Present with access and inclusion in mind

Accessing your UAL Mentimeter account

To log in to Mentimeter, go to menti.arts.ac.uk and choose the Log in with SSO option in the bottom right corner.

Add your UAL email address or the workspace name – artslondon, then Continue, and it will take you to your Mentimeter account!

Already have a Mentimeter account?

If you already have an account using your UAL email address, your account will be automatically added to the UAL workspace on Mentimeter.

If you are using a different email and would like to be added to the UAL workspace, you can change it in your Profile settings and you will be automatically added.

change your mentimeter email