Vevox Updates

Screenshot of Numeric question with Word Cloud output

Vevox, the University’s preferred polling solution, has some great new features from its September 2024 and December 2024 release.  

For colleagues unfamiliar with Vevox, it can be used to make your teaching more interactive, and to help decision making in meetings. Participants use mobile devices to engage in real-time polling, but there are also options for asynchronous Surveys and Q & A boards.

All these updates are available on this YouTube recording and via these release notes:

1. Q and A labels

Session hosts can define labels that are now visible and usable by participants. This means that participants can optionally tag their Q&A messages with a  pre-defined label. For example, you may wish to have a label for Assessment to allow students to link their questions to a tag.

2. Compare poll results in your session

This is a useful activity to measure the impact of a teaching session. Ask students one question at the start of the session to gauge their level of understanding and then ask them the same question at the end of the session to see if their understanding has changed. See the Vevox update for instructions on how to achieve this.

3. Downvoting options

By default, the Q and A board allows participants to upvote questions. This means that you can order questions by those which the majority of participants want to ask. Vevox has introduced a Downvote setting which you can toggle on to allow your participants to downvote questions. You can change these settings in the Q and A setting interface.

4. Alternate result display

Responses to MCQ poll questions can now be displayed in different ways. You can use the traditional bar graph but you can now choose to display your output as a pie chart. You can change the view in real time by having the Vevox admin panel open on one screen in the lecture and having the presenter window projected.

5. Number cloud question release

The number type poll now gives instructors the option to display how the output is shown with a new Word Cloud style interface. You can choose to have this as an output from the poll question interface.

6. Text walls formatting

Results for the answer style question now show in a more streamlined fashion when publishing the results. Rather than showing the output in full, the first couple of sentences display. The instructor can click on the comments they want to highlight and it will show the full response.

7. PowerPoint real time results

The PowerPoint integration has been updated to be able to show WordCloud, Pie Chart, and Number Cloud results live. Further information on using the Vevox PowerPoint integration is available on their webpage.

8. Rich text options for question formatting

Bold, italics and underline are now options in the question formatting.

9. Attendance tracking

For identified polling, you can run attendance information from the data reports. You can then see when participants joined the session and let the session.

10. Custom profanity filters

As account administrators, we can add words to the custom profanity filter. This will be applied to polls, surveys, and q and a features. If you have a word that you would like included in the profanity filter, please contact elearning@aber.ac.uk.

Further information and support is available on our webpages: Polling Tool  : Information Services , Aberystwyth University.

Previous updates and case studies are available on our blog.

Vevox: Polling Tool

Aberystwyth University uses Vevox, a Polling Tool, that allows you to get real time information from people in your teaching sessions or those in your meeting.

We’ve been using Vevox for over 3 years now and were pleased to see it being used in Welcome Talks offering students the opportunity to ask anonymous questions.

We are running some training sessions on using E-learning Essentials: Introduction to Vevox for Learning and Teaching:

  • 4 October, 10:10-11:30
  • 8 October, 14:10-15:30

These sessions will be taking place online via Teams.

In addition to our in house training sessions, Vevox are also running webinars sharing best practice and case studies from their other clients.

If you’re unable to join our sessions, Vevox host their own and you can register for those here: Getting started with Vevox I Your guide to Unmissable Classes

For further help using Vevox, take a look at our Support Materials.

Vevox webinar series

Vevox, our polling software, runs a series of webinars showcasing the best practices of integrating polling into learning and teaching activities.

These sessions take place online.

On 22 March at 3pm, Patrick Cadwell from Dublin City University will be showcasing how they use polling software for translation studies.

On 26 April at 3pm, Liam Bagley from Manchester Metropolitan University will be showcasing how they use polling software for real world scenario training within a health and healthy aging context.

For further information and to book a place, see Vevox’s webpage.

Vevox: University Polling Software

The University has a Vevox licence for all staff and students to use.

Vevox is Polling Software that allows participants to use their mobile devices to respond to questions.

In Semester 1, over 300 Vevox sessions ran, with over 10,000 participants and 1,500 polls.

In learning and teaching contexts, you can use Vevox to make your teaching more interactive, giving students the opportunity to reflect on their learning, respond to questions, provide ideas, and consolidate their understanding.

Vevox is not limited to learning and teaching activities. You can also use Vevox in meetings and outreach activities to canvas opinion, help with decision making, and give colleagues the opportunity to feedback.  

There are variety of question types available:

  • Multiple choice
  • Word cloud
  • Text Ranking
  • Numeric
  • Rating
  • XY Plot
  • Pin on image

You can also run surveys.

The Q and A feature gives colleagues the opportunity for their attendees to ask questions and for you to respond to them live in the session.

This feature is useful for classroom assessment techniques, such as muddiest point and revising key concepts.

With the Q and A function, participants can also upvote comments so you can address questions. This useful feature can also be used for external presenters and conference activities.

You can run analyses on your polls to see participant response.

As an institution, we have several case studies. See our previous blogpost on Vevox case studies.

If Vevox is new to you, then we have a training session on 26 January at 11:00 online via Teams. You can book your place via our CPD booking page.  

We’ve also got a webpage dedicated to Vevox.

All our previous Vevox updates are available on the LTEU blog.

If you’ve got any questions, then contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk).

Vevox’s Pedagogy Autumn 2023 Online Webinars

Vevox is the University’s polling software which can be used to make teaching more interactive, engage large groups, check knowledge and understanding, and receive feedback.

In addition to their training sessions, Vevox run a series of online webinars showcasing innovative ways in which polling is used at other institutions.

The next online webinar is from the University of South Wales, where Dean Whitcombe is running a session The Use of Vevox in Simulation-based Education and research. This session is at 2pm on 4 October.

On 11 October, at 2pm, University of Chichester’s James Wilson will be leading a session, Once upon a Time: Using Vevox for Interactive Storytelling.

You can sign up to attend these sessions on this webpage.

Aberystwyth University has run a series of webinars in the past for Vevox which are available on YouTube:

If Vevox is new to you, then take a look at our polling software webpage. Vevox run 15 minute Zero to Hero training sessions on Tuesday afternoons. You can sign up to them on the Vevox webpage.

Please contact the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (elearning@aber.ac.uk) if you have got any questions.

Changes to the Vevox PowerPoint Add-in

Vevox, the University’s supported polling tool, has updated its PowerPoint Add-in.

From September 2023, colleagues making use of the Add-in should use the updated version.

Please see our FAQ for how to use the new PowerPoint Add-in.

In our recent blogpost, we wrote about the new AI question generator.

If Vevox is new to you then take a look at our support materials and our previous blogposts.

We’ve also got a training session taking place on Monday 18 September, 14:00-15:00. This session is run by colleagues from Vevox. Book your place online.

Vevox is a great way to make your teaching interactive and further student’s learning.

AI Generated Questions now available in Vevox Polls

In the latest update to Vevox, our polling software, an AI Question Generator has been added. Colleagues can now create questions using the AI Question Generator.

Further information (including how to use it) is available on Vevox’s webpage.

As with all AI generated material, checking for accuracy and editing content is key before releasing it to students. See LTEU’s Generative AI support materials for further information.

There are also a number of blogposts focused on AI that you can take a look at.

There is another change coming to Vevox. The PowerPoint add in has been updated. We will be contacting all colleagues who make use of the PowerPoint add in via email before the start of September.

If Vevox is new to you, we’ve got a whole host of support materials on our Vevox webpage.

Vevox Seminar Series 2023

Vevox is Polling Software that’s used across a whole host of learning and teaching activities at the University.

Over the past 3 months, over 900 polls have been run with over 5000 participants. If you’ve not used Vevox before then you might want to sign up for one of their Zero to Hero 15 minute workshops which are run every Tuesday afternoon. We’ve also got Vevox guidance available on our webpages and we’ve previously run a Mini Conference looking at polling software activities.

In addition to their training, Vevox also run a series of educator webinars online.

Their first guest will be Daniel Fitzpatrick from Aston University and he will be presenting: “Using Vevox in whole class and small group teaching” on the 8th March from 2pm-2:45pm.

Followed by, Laura Jenkins from Loughborough University, speaking on how to “use Vevox for formative and mid-module feedback” on the 22nd of March from 2pm-2:45pm

And closing out the series will be Alex Pitchford presenting from Aberystwyth University discussing “Increasing Engagement & Active Learning using Vevox in Maths and Sciences “on the 26th of April from 2pm-2:45pm

You can register for your place online.

If you are using Vevox in your own teaching and would like to provide us with a case study then email the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (lteu@aber.ac.uk).

Vevox Webinar: 16 November 2022, 2pm

The next Vevox pedagogy series webinar is taking place on 16 November at 2pm. In this webinar, Guy Aitchison, Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at Loughborough University will be looking at using Vevox successfully in different classroom settings.

Further information on the session is on Vevox’s webpage and you can book your place online.

Our AU guidance webpage provides guidance on how to use the software and you can sign up for Vevox 15-minute introductory training sessions every Tuesday afternoon.

Vevox Update: September 2022

The University has a site license for Vevox, a polling software, which means that we benefit from regular updates. You can view the March updates on this blogpost.

The summary of the updates for September are below:

Vevox interface available in Welsh

The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is pleased to announce that Vevox,  the University’s polling software, now has an interface available in Welsh.

Since we procured Vevox we have been working closely with their Customer Services Manager to develop the system to meet the needs of our learning and teaching and we are really pleased to see this development.

Users can choose their language in the interface when they log into Vevox.

Click on the language icon highlighted below and select Cymraeg and Save.

Language button highlighted in the Vevox login page

New question type available

There’s a new ranking style question available – ask your students to rank things based on importance or put things in the correct order.

This question can either be marked as correct or used to generate user preference. From the poll, select the Ranking style question.

Want to learn more about Vevox?

If you’re new to using Vevox, book yourself onto our E-learning Essentials: Introduction to Vevox training session which is taking place on Thursday 22 September, 11:00-12:00. You can also check out our guidance materials to get started.

If you have any feedback on this update, or other Vevox functionality, feel free to email us (elearning@aber.ac.uk) and we will be happy to raise on your behalf.