The look and feel of the Player is changing in December with the Q4 release. Upcoming changes are identified in this article by providing screenshots labeled "Old UI" and "New UI".

A Note on Terminology: This article, along with many throughout the online help, uses the term "video" to refer to some media. Know that wherever "video" is used, the information and procedures provided also apply to any audio-only files you may have. Interactive media (video/audio with embedded polls) are referred to specifically where applicable.

Polls are activities or questions used as question slides in your presentation slide decks, or as embedded gating questions in your videos. Embedding polling into a video turns it into a piece of "interactive media". Polls are designed to elicit student responses that you can review later.

Since polls are used inside of other media, creating a new poll is done while editing a presentation or while creating or editing a piece of interactive media.

That's a little confusing, so let me say that again.

The options for creating a new poll are provided in the presentation editor and in the interactive media editor. There is not currently a way to just create standalone polls. Well, there is, but it's a little bit of a workaround. If you're interested, though, this method is covered at the bottom of this page.

The main portion of this page describes how to open the presentation and interactive media editors, and shows you where you create polls from within those pages.

For details on working with the five different kinds of polls available and the options each contains, see:

• Create or Edit a Multiple Choice Poll
• Create or Edit a Short Answer Poll
• Create or Edit a Numerical Poll
• Create or Edit an Image Poll
• Create or Edit an Ordered List Poll

Creating a Poll in the Interactive Media Editor

Interactive media is just a video (or audio) that has polls embedded in it. The polls "gate" the media so that students cannot continue viewing until they have responded to the poll.

As such, there are two ways to open the interactive media editor:

• Add a poll to an existing video (to create interactive media)
• Edit which polls are in a piece of interactive media

Both are shown below.

IMPORTANT: When creating a new poll for your interactive media, any new polls do not persist in your poll library until you SAVE the interactive media changes. This allows you to create, edit, delete, and re-create polls as needed during interactive media editing without creating unnecessary versions in your library. BUT if you exit the interactive media editor without saving, your newly created polls will need to be re-created.

To open the interactive media editor to create a poll

1. Find a video in your Library that you want to add a poll to, and click on it to open the Media Details page.
2. Select Add Poll from the command options below the playback panel, as shown below.

   Old UI
   New UI

OR

1. Find a piece of interactive media in your Library (video that already has polls in it), and click on it to open the Media Details page.
2. Select Edit Polls from the command options below the playback panel, as shown below.

   Old UI
   New UI

Once in the Interactive Media Editor, move the playhead (playback location indicator) to the location you want the poll to reside, then click Create Poll, as shown below.

The Create a poll selection modal appears allowing you to select one of five poll types to add to this media.

After selection, the form to complete for the poll appears. Use the poll type links at the top of this page for detailed information about how to complete each form and how the completed polls appear to students.

Each poll you create is shown in the Embedded Polls tab in the interactive media editor. The figure above showing the Create A Poll button also shows five existing polls already resident in this media.

New polls you create (and save to) interactive media also appear in your Library, for reuse in other media. Polls can be repeatedly added to media and edited as needed. Furthermore, once a poll is added to media, you can edit it without affecting the originally created poll.

Creating a Poll in the Presentation Editor

Presentations are uploaded PowerPoint slide decks or PDFs that you can post in classes for student viewing either instead of or in addition to class lecture recordings or other video media. Presentations have always allowed for the addition of polling slides containing questions for students. They were formerly referred to as "Activity Slides".

To open the presentation editor to create a poll

1. Find a presentation in your Library that you want to add a poll to, and click on it to open the Media Details page.
2. Select Edit Media from the command options below the preview panel, as shown below.

   Old UI
   New UI

3. In the Presentation Editor, click Add Poll from the options on the top right, and identified in the image below.
4. Select the poll type you want to add from the five options given. 
   

After selection, the form to complete for the poll appears. Use the poll-type links at the top of this page for detailed information about how to complete each form and how the completed polls appear to students.

Each poll you create is shown in the presentation editor, in the order in which it appears in the deck. The figure above showing the Add Poll button also shows five existing polls already resident in this media.

New polls you create also appear in your Library, for re-use in other media. Polls can be repeatedly added to media and edited as needed. Furthermore, once a poll is added to media, you can edit it without affecting the originally created poll.

Create a Copy of a Poll

All polls you create while using the presentation or interactive media editor also appear in your Library as standalone polls. This is because polls are reusable items that you can insert into your other media, and then edit to be specific to the item you have added it to.

Because it lives in your library, you can create copies of existing polls if you want to. This provides a copy for editing, to have a similar but different poll for use in your media.

In addition, if another user has shared media with you, you may have shared polls in your library. Creating a copy of these generates a copy of that poll in your library that you now own and can use and control as you wish.

To create a copy of a poll

1. In your Library, find the poll you want a copy of.
2. Click the media tile menu button, identified below.
3. Select Make A Copy from the media tile menu.
   
4. Alternatively, you can click ON the poll and select Make a Copy from the media details page.

   Old UI
   New UI

A copy of the poll appears in your Library. You can edit this poll as needed. If this is a copy of a shared poll, you can now remove the original from your library if you want to.

Creating JUST Polls

There is currently no way to just create standalone polls in EchoVideo. You create polls as a function of adding them to either presentations or videos/interactive media.

BUT...

If all you want to do is create a bunch of polls now, to have them already created and able to be added to a presentation or video, the below procedure will allow you to do that. It essentially has you create a presentation from nothing (no upload) into which you can create as many polls as you want. As you create them in the presentation, they are created in your library. From there you can add them into whatever media you like.

Prerequisite: You must be either an instructor or a teaching assistant in EchoVideo and you must be enrolled in an EchoVideo course section to do this. If this does not apply to you, you can upload a single-page PDF or single PowerPoint slide to your library, then use the instructions above for creating polls through the presentation editor.

To create just polls

1. Enter EchoVideo as an instructor or teaching assistant.
2. Navigate into an EchoVideo course section where you should see a class list, like that shown in the figure below.
3. Click the raspberry Plus sign to add a presentation to a class, as shown in the below figure.
   
4. In the popup that appears, select Create a new presentation, identified in the below figure.
   
5. In the Presentation Editor, click Add Poll in the top right, then select the type of poll you want to create. The form for the poll appears.
   
   
   

   Use the poll type links at the top of this page for detailed information about how to complete each form and how the completed polls appear to students.

6. When finished creating new polls in this polls-only presentation, click the back arrow in the top left of the editor, to the left of the presentation name (which is the same as the class name) to return to the class list.
   

   IMPORTANT FINISHING STEPS: Complete the next steps below before considering yourself done with this process.

7. In the class list, click on the presentation icon for the polls-only presentation you just created, then select Edit Details and change the name of the presentation. This will help you find it later in your library.
8. In the class list, click on the presentation icon for the polls-only presentation you just created, then select Remove. There is no reason to leave this presentation in the class for students or other enrollees to access.

All new polls you create appear in your Library for addition to any other media you like. For this reason, you do NOT have to keep the polls-only presentation. You can delete the presentation; the polls you created will remain in your library for selection and use.