Student Response Systems

Student response systems provide opportunities for engaging students in large and small classes. There are two supported student response systems at UGA: Top Hat and Turning Point.

Turning Point is a system aimed entirely at engaging students in q&a, typically in a live setting. Top Hat is a platform that has expanded beyond simple student response to include options for lecture recording, auto-grading for quizzes, and an add-on for remote exam proctoring.

System Comparison:

Features	Top Hat	Turning Point
Clicker Device	No	Yes
Bring Your Own Device	Yes	Yes, if permitted by instructor (ResponseWare / Turning Point Mobile)
Cost to Student	Top Hat Basic: Free Top Hat Pro: $22/semester $34/year $65/four-years Remote exam proctoring: +$10/semester In your instructor account you can designate different courses as either “Basic” or “Pro”. For a list of features available in Basic vs. Pro, see: https://tophat.com/pricing/	These prices are available to students when they use their UGA email address to create a Turning Account. Step-by-step directions are available at Turning Point for Students. Clickers and Licenses are also available at the UGA Bookstore, but may be priced differently. QT Clicker + Turning Subscription Students should choose this if they need a clicker and subscription. This option will also allow students to use ResponseWare from their own devices, if permitted by your instructor. One Year: $49.98 - Reduce the price to $39.98 by submitting this rebate (PDF)! Five Year: $73.98 - Reduce the price to $52.99 by submitting this rebate (PDF)! Turning Subscription only Students should choose this if the instructor permits the use of ResponseWare from their own device OR if they already have a clicker and just need a subscription. One Year: $24.99 Five Years: $48.99
Question Type	Multiple choice, sorting, word answer, click-on-target, matching, numeric answer	Turning Point Clicker: Multiple Choice Short Answer Numeric Response True/False Matching Essay Demographic Assignment Priority Ranking ResponseWare: multiple-choice, alphanumeric, multiple response and short answer questions.
Allows SMS answering with BYOD	Yes	No
Learn More	Top Hat for Faculty Top Hat for Students	Turning Point for Faculty TurningPoint for Students

Additional Resources

Bruff, D. (2009). Teaching with classroom response systems: Creating active learning environments. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kolikant, Y., Drane, D., & Calkins, S. (2010). Clickers as catalysts for transformation of teachers. College Teaching, 58(4), 127-135.
Voelkel, S., & Bennett, D. (2014). New uses for a familiar technology: Introducing mobile phone polling in large classes. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 51(1), 46-58.