How Teachers Can Use Microsoft Teams to Conduct Polls? [3 Strategies]

Set up a poll in Microsoft Teams to quickly gather feedback from your students. Use the poll to ask about upcoming events, check their understanding of the lesson, or simply get a quick update. Polling students can increase their engagement.

Microsoft Forms is integrated with Microsoft Teams, allowing you to create polls during a channel discussion or in an online class. Instructions for setting up and running your poll in both scenarios are available. Additionally, if you need different types of questions to engage your students further, check out our tip at the end.

This blog will explore three methods for conducting polls with Microsoft Teams:

• A poll during Teams channel chats.  
• Poll during a live Teams class.  
• Conduct detailed polls and questions in PowerPoint while sharing your screen in a live class.

How to Effectively Use Polls in Teams Channel Discussions

Inserting a poll in your channel conversation lets your students express their views and engage completely. It also helps you gain insights into their progress. You can ask various questions like icebreakers, comprehension checks, or review questions.

To insert a poll in your channel, click on the three dots on the toolbar beneath the area to start a new post. Next, select the Forms app. If it's not visible, search for “Forms” in the search bar.

The following step is to set up your poll. Enter your question and the choices for students to select from. To add more choices, click the plus sign. Once done, you can customize it further.

First, if there is more than one correct answer, switch on the “Multiple Answers” option. You can leave the box checked to show results immediately after a question is answered. If you uncheck it, wait to share the results until everyone has responded. You can also decide whether to keep student identities hidden.

After setting this up, click Save. Teams will show a preview of the poll before it’s posted to the channel. If you need to make adjustments, select Edit. If it looks correct, press Send.

The poll will appear on your channel instantly. If you choose immediate result sharing, it will display as two posts: one for the question and one for the answers. Now, you and your students can pick and submit answers.

You can post a poll on your channel whenever you want, allowing more time for student responses. For quick results, set up the poll for your next online class.

How to Use Polling in Microsoft Teams for Live Online Classes

Before you can poll your students in class for immediate feedback, some setup is required. You need to make at least one poll before class starts. More polls can be added before or while the class is happening.

Set Up the Classroom Poll Prior to Starting the Class

First, open your calendar and select a pre-scheduled meeting. If you haven't set up a meeting yet, create one and make sure to invite your students. This is necessary to use the polling feature.

To add a poll, click the Plus sign at the top toolbar, choose Forms, and then hit Save. This action will insert a Polls tab in your meeting's top toolbar. You can start creating a poll by entering a question and the choices for answers. Like when you add a poll to your channel, there are several options you can customize.

You can enable multiple answers, automatically share results, keep votes anonymous, or add a co-author. After setting this, click Save.

The poll will then show up as a Draft. Use the drop-down arrow next to the Launch button if you need to edit or delete the poll. You can activate the poll before the meeting starts or at a specific time during the class. If launched early, students can respond through the Chat tab in Teams.

If you plan to set up more questions before the class, use the Create New button located at the top of the page.

Initiate the Poll During the Lesson

Once your class starts and students are in, you'll see the Poll icon in the top toolbar. Clicking this icon opens the side menu with your poll drafts. Here, you can start polls, check results, and make new polls if necessary.

Press the Launch button on the poll you wish to start. A pop-up will then show on your screen to enter an answer.

Students will get a notification in their chat. They can send their answers and see the results if this option is enabled.

Shut Down the Poll & Examine the Outcomes

After collecting all the responses or when the set time limit expires, you can end the poll. To do this, go to the polling menu on the side. Find the poll you wish to end and click on the drop-down arrow next to the View Results button. You'll see options to Close, Export the Results, or Delete the poll.

It's best to first close the poll and then export the results to get all the available data. The data will save as an Excel file on your desktop. You can open this file whenever you like to review the data. Also, you can check the poll results directly in Teams after your meeting.