Using Socrative Online Polls for Active Learning in the Remote Classroom

Maintaining an element of active learning in the post-COVID-19 classroom was a challenge given the absence of traditional in-person interactions. This communication describes how the author used Socrative online polls to help bridge that gap for General Chemistry students in Spring 2020. The Socrative platform provides a versatile way to incorporate real-time student participation even in a virtual environment, since it can be accessed anywhere with a web connection. The system gives the instructor many options for creating effective activities from short concept checks to class-long guided practice. Student evaluation comments indicated their positive experience of the use of Socrative polls and, more generally, the transition to online learning in the Spring 2020 General Chemistry courses. Socrative or other web-based student response systems may thus be a useful tool for instructors wishing to make their remote classroom interactive.