Mentimeter is an online tool used to build interactive presentations that encourage student participation. Traditional presentation lecture models often offer little opportunity for students to share their thoughts and opinions. Mentimeter break that cycle. With Mentimeter, students are able to use tablets, smartphones, or computers to connect to the presentation and directly input their thoughts, feelings and answers, which are then shared to the entire group as a visual.
What I think is especially cool about the Mentimeter tool is that teachers can save the visuals and then revisit the same activities or questions that were posed at the beginning of a unit, and at the end of a unit. I think that is a really valuable way to see and understand how their learning has progressed or that their perspectives may have shifted.
The PRO’S
- Provides opportunity for students to engage with the content and with each other
- It’s inclusive and helps make students feel like they have a voice
- Ptudents who feel shy or reluctant to share their opinions would have a safe space to share their thoughts, feelings, and answers without anxiety around feeling like they are in the ‘spotlight’.
- It’s energizing and fun and a great way to bring excitement and engagement to presentations, lectures and lessons.
The CON’S
- Not every student has a device to be able to interact with this platform
- It’s relatively costly. While there is a free version it only allows up to two questions and five slides then it goes up from $9.99/month to $24.99/ month
Hi Marlee, thanks for the review on Mentimeter. I’ve never heard of it before, but it sounds like an interesting and unique resource. I like that it allows students to interact with the content, and the resulting visual sounds intriguing! I am disappointed to hear about the price, though, and the limits to the free version, but hopefully school districts would see the benefits and provide this as a tool for their educators. It sounds like the value of this resource would be worth the cost.