Set Up an Engage Poll or Quiz

An Engage activity (poll or quiz) consists of one or more questions that you release to your students, either all at once or one at a time, over the course of a class. The student participation is recorded in Engage. In the case of quizzes (questions that have points associated), if you add the activity to Blackboard, student scores will be recorded in Blackboard as well.

To take run an Engage poll or quiz, you'll need to do the following:

  1. Create the activity in Engage.
  2. Link the activity to your Blackboard course site.
  3. Release the activity to your class.

While PC users can also create polls via a PowerPoint plug-in, CETL generally recommends using the Engage web site to create a poll. Therefore, to get started, you'll need to access the Engage home page.

Find Engage - Create and Manage Polls Tool

From Outside Blackboard

Type the following into your web browser's address bar:

https://udmercy.engage.yuja.com

Click the LOGIN button and sign in using the same Detroit Mercy Microsoft 365 login you use to access your email, Blackboard, etc.

From Within a Blackboard Course Site

Click TOOLS in the course menu --

default course menu with Tools circled in red

 

Then select Engage - Create & Manage Polls from the alphabetical tool list --

selection of the alphabetical Tools list with Engage circled in red.

Create an Engage Poll

Next, you'll create the poll and add your questions.

From the Engage Create and Manage Polls home page, click the CREATE POLL button in the upper right to get to the Question Dashboard.

Top of Poll manager tool window, create poll button circled.

 

Enter a name for your poll in the Poll Title space at the top of the Question Dashboard.

Top of create poll window, poll name field circled

 

Question type defaults to Multiple Choice. If you wish to add a different type of question, choose from the available types in the pulldown list.

Top of create poll window, question type pulldown circled

 

Enter a point value for the question. If this is a "proper" poll question (with no correct answer), set the points to 0.

Top of create poll window, points field circled

 

The default timer for each question is 15 seconds. If you would like to allow students more time to respond to the question, change the timer.

Top of create poll window, timer field circled

 

Enter your question text and response options in the spaces provided. For scored questions, select the correct answer option. 

question text and answer option fields, no highlights

If you would like to include media in your question or responses, click the UPLOAD button where it appears.

excerpt from question space, with upload button circled near the top and after a response option

To add another question, click the ADD QUESTION button in the upper left.

Top of create poll window, new question button circled

If you have added poll questions to a question bank previously, you can use the IMPORT FROM BANK button to add one or more of those questions to your current poll. 

Top of create poll window, import from bank button circled

You can also IMPORT QUESTIONS from an appropriately formatted CSV file.

Bottom of create poll window, import questions button circled

If you would like to re-use one or more of these questions in a future poll, check the SAVE AS QUESTION BANK button in the lower left. You will be prompted to name your question bank.

Bottom of create poll window, save as question bank checkbox circled

Wait until have added all your questions to the poll before saving as a question bank. If you add a question and save it as a bank, then add another question and save it as a bank, you'll get two banks: one with one question and one with two questions, both with the same name.

Once you have added all your questions, click SAVE & CLOSE.

Bottom of create poll window, save and close button circled

 

 

Add an Engage Activity to a Course

Finally, if you want the activity linked to a Blackboard course site, you'll want to add the activity to your course.

A powerful feature of Engage is its ability to sync poll and attendance grades to your Blackboard course Gradebook. 

Once you add an Engage Activity to Blackboard, students will need to click the Engage Activity link in Blackboard to participate.

To connect the poll to a course, you'll need to add it to your Blackboard course site's content area. 

Note: You cannot add a poll to more than one course. If you want to re-use a poll, you'll need to duplicate it for each course that you want to use it in.

In a content area of your course, point to BUILD CONTENT, then choose Engage - Add Activity to Course.

 

The Add Activity page defaults to adding a poll. If you want to add an Attendance Check, click the ATTENDANCE CHECK tab at the top.

Top of add activity window, attendance check text circled

 

If necessary, use the search box to locate the activity you wish to add. The filter button left of the search box can be used to narrow the results displayed.

Top of add activity window, search box and filter button circled 

 

Click the + button on the far right of the row for the activity you wish to add.

activities list, add button circled.

This will add the item to your course's content list. If the item is scored, it will also add a 100-point column to the course Gradebook. Student scores will be added upon completion (if the item includes short-answer questions, you will need to score those items manually before the grade imports).

Scores are added as a percent (points out of 100).

An Engage activity (poll or quiz) consists of one or more questions that you release to your students, either all at once or one at a time, over the course of a class. The student participation is recorded in Engage. In the case of quizzes (questions that have points associated), if you add the activity to Blackboard, student scores will be recorded in Blackboard as well.

To take run an Engage poll or quiz, you'll need to do the following:

  1. Create the activity in Engage.
  2. Link the activity to your Blackboard course site.
  3. Release the activity to your class.

While PC users can also create polls via a PowerPoint plug-in, CETL generally recommends using the Engage web site to create a poll. Therefore, to get started, you'll need to access the Engage home page.

Find Engage - Create and Manage Polls Tool

From Outside Blackboard

Type the following into your web browser's address bar:

https://udmercy.engage.yuja.com

You'll log in using the same Detroit Mercy Microsoft 365 login you use to access your email, Blackboard, etc.

From Within a Blackboard Course Site

If you are in a Blackboard course, find the Details and Actions heading (on the left of the Course Content page), then choose "View course & institution tools" link on the left, under Books and Tools label.

Image of Details and Actions list with view course and institution tools link circled

Then Click the "Engage - Create & Manage Polls" button. 

Image of Engage -Create & Manage Polls button

Clicking the + left of the green-check icon will add Engage - Create & Manage Polls to your course content page. If you choose to do this (you may find it a useful shortcut in the future), we recommend leaving the item unavailable to students.

 

Create an Engage Poll

Next, you'll create the poll and add your questions.

From the Engage Create and Manage Polls home page, click the CREATE POLL button in the upper right to get to the Question Dashboard.

Top of Poll manager tool window, create poll button circled.

 

Enter a name for your poll in the Poll Title space at the top of the Question Dashboard.

Top of create poll window, poll name field circled

 

Question type defaults to Multiple Choice. If you wish to add a different type of question, choose from the available types in the pulldown list.

Top of create poll window, question type pulldown circled

 

Enter a point value for the question. If this is a "proper" poll question (with no correct answer), set the points to 0.

Top of create poll window, points field circled

 

The default timer for each question is 15 seconds. If you would like to allow students more time to respond to the question, change the timer.

Top of create poll window, timer field circled

 

Enter your question text and response options in the spaces provided. For scored questions, select the correct answer option. 

question text and answer option fields, no highlights

If you would like to include media in your question or responses, click the UPLOAD button where it appears.

excerpt from question space, with upload button circled near the top and after a response option

To add another question, click the ADD QUESTION button in the upper left.

Top of create poll window, new question button circled

If you have added poll questions to a question bank previously, you can use the IMPORT FROM BANK button to add one or more of those questions to your current poll. 

Top of create poll window, import from bank button circled

You can also IMPORT QUESTIONS from an appropriately formatted CSV file.

Bottom of create poll window, import questions button circled

If you would like to re-use one or more of these questions in a future poll, check the SAVE AS QUESTION BANK button in the lower left. You will be prompted to name your question bank.

Bottom of create poll window, save as question bank checkbox circled

Wait until have added all your questions to the poll before saving as a question bank. If you add a question and save it as a bank, then add another question and save it as a bank, you'll get two banks: one with one question and one with two questions, both with the same name.

Once you have added all your questions, click SAVE & CLOSE.

Bottom of create poll window, save and close button circled

 

 

Add an Engage Activity to a Course

Finally, if you want the activity linked to a Blackboard course site, you'll want to add the activity to your course.

A powerful feature of Engage is its ability to sync poll and attendance grades to your Blackboard course Gradebook. 

Note: You cannot add a poll to more than one course. If you want to re-use a poll, you'll need to duplicate it for each course that you want to use it in.

To connect the poll to a course, you'll need to add it to your Blackboard course site's content area. 

Once you add an Engage Activity to Blackboard, students will need to click the Engage Activity link in Blackboard to participate.

Click the ADD button in the content area, then choose CONTENT MARKET.

add menu content market circled

Locate and click the Engage - Add Activity to Course (red-check) button in the Content Market list. 

Add activity to course button in context, circled

 

The Add Activity page defaults to adding a poll. If you want to add an Attendance Check, click the ATTENDANCE CHECK tab at the top.

Top of add activity window, attendance check text circled

 

If necessary, use the search box to locate the activity you wish to add. The filter button left of the search box can be used to narrow the results displayed.

Top of add activity window, search box and filter button circled 

 

Click the + button on the far right of the row for the activity you wish to add.

activities list, add button circled.

This will add the item to your course's content list. If the item is scored, it will also add a 100-point column to the course Gradebook. Student scores will be added upon completion (if the item includes short-answer questions, you will need to score those items manually before the grade imports).

Scores are added as a percent (points out of 100).