Mentimeter: empowering presenters and students in online teaching

We have recently seen the number of users of Mentimeter breach the 1,000 mark. That the numbers of colleagues (and students) creating presentations is still increasing is testament, we believe, to the flexibility of Mentimeter as a tool to support engagement and indeed empowerment even where teaching has been increasingly dependent on online media. There have been challenges and even abuses of the tool by a very small proportion of students so GLT and ILS always advise colleagues to familiarise themselves with the guidance on pre-empting or responding to such subversive behaviours. The general recommendation is for new users in online spaces is to start by using Mentimeter asynchronously. This contrasts profoundly with the ways in which Mentimeter is optimised in face to face contexts. In blended/ hybrid modes of teaching Mentimeter presentations are created with speculative, opinion-based or diagnostic type questions in them and then shared with the students for completion before a ‘live’ session or concept checking, evaluation or review questions are used and shared after a live session.