Top Hat Question Types

Multiple Choice —  for responses in which students select from a list of 2-10 choices that answer a question prompt with one or multiple correct answers or no correct answer.  From pulse checks to basic knowledge checks or application of knowledge, multiple-choice questions offer a low-barrier method for assessment and participation. 

Word Answer — for free-text responses to a prompt. For the question to be auto-graded, answers should be limited to one or two words. Alternatively, you can create a polling or survey question by not indicating a correct answer. The responses can be viewed as a bar graph or the popular word cloud.

Numeric Answer — for submission of responses that require math and science calculations. Answer Tolerance can be set to determine how close a student's response must be to the answer key to receive full marks.

Fill in the Blank — for a response to a question with multiple required inputs. When you create a Fill-in-the-Blank question, you indicate the correct numeric or text answer for each blank.

Matching — for responses that assess a student's ability to match items from one bucket to its counterpart from the other bucket.

Click on Target — for interactions in which a student views an image and clicks on a portion of the image to record a response. Responses are displayed through a visual heat map.

Sorting — for responses in which students sort, rank, or order items according to assigned criteria — getting them to think critically about concepts in relation to one another.

Discussions — for interactions in which you ask students subjective and interpretive questions that may not have a simple or absolute answer — gaining real-time feedback during lectures by allowing students to seek clarification and facilitating dialogue between students. This question type is designed for free text responses.

Pedagogical Techniques

Two-Minute Question-Development Talks — an activity in which student pairs share responses to two questions related to their out-of-class work: What was the main thing you learned from the assignment? and What questions do you have after completing the assignment?

Vote-Discuss-Revote (VDR) — an activity that uses multiple-choice questions presented during a lecture to help measure student understanding and facilitate deeper learning.  Throughout the lecture, the instructor pauses to present a question aimed at applying the concept being presented.

Segmented Results — an activity where the results of one Multiple Choice question can be displayed with the results of a second question to display results patterns.

Think/Pair/Share— an activity in which students respond to a question posed by the instructor. They reflect individually, share their thoughts with a partner, and then develop their shared response with the class.

Support a Statement — an activity that asks students to gather and use evidence provided by the lecture to support a response to a statement provided by the instructor.

One-Sentence Summary — an activity that asks students to summarize the most important ideas from a lecture by crafting them into a single sentence.

3-2-1 — an activity in which students are asked to write three things they learned from a lecture, two things they found particularly interesting, and one question they still have after the lecture.

KnowledgeBase Resources

• Quick Tips: Pedagogical Uses of Top Hat
• Using the Top Hat Attendance Feature in a Large Course
• Using Top Hat to Report Results from Group Activities
• Creating a Classroom Backchannel for Student Questions Using Top Hat
• Top Hat - Getting Started [UW-Madison]
• Top Hat - Getting Started [UW-Madison]
• Top Hat - Top Hat Presentation Tool [UW-Madison]
• Top Hat - Account Setup (Students) [UW-Madison]
• Top Hat - Account Setup (Instructors) [UW-Madison]
• CTLM Support Resources for Top Hat
• Learn@UW Support Resources for Top Hat