Hi, Jane!
This website by Miriam Briskman is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. This website by Miriam Briskman is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.Welcome! This 15-min interactive tutorial will introduce you to the Poll System website, which you'll be using this semester to earn Participation points.
This tutorial is optional but very recommended.
Click Next to move to the next page.
A few notes before we start:
Let's start by reviewing the login page, which you can later access at https://
This website by Miriam Briskman is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.This is the login page of the Poll System website.
We'll see:
Before logging in, you will first learn how to register for your Poll System account.
Tip: You can access the Registration page directly at the link https
Click the Register button at the top-right corner above to start.
This is the registration page.
To sign up for your account, you'll enter your bcmail email, your EMPLID, and a Captcha. Let's see some details.
You'll sign up only once on the Poll System website this semester, even if you take several courses this semester with this instructor.
Your BC email always starts with: first.lastXX, where first is your first name, last is the last name, and XX are the last 2 digits of your CUNY EMPLID, and ends with: @bcmail.cuny.edu.
For your convenience, the email textbox is pre-populated with @bcmail.cuny.edu, as shown above.
Your 8-digit EMPLID number was assigned to you when you started taking classes at CUNY. You can find it on CUNYfirst > "Student Center" > "Profile".
A Captcha is here to prevent bots from filling out the form, thus preventing a crazy flow of fake registration requests.
If the text on the Captcha is unclear to you, you can always refresh the Captcha to get a new text or even listen to its text.
Note: In some versions of the Poll System, there might be no Captcha to fill at all. In that case, just enter your Email and Emplid, and click submit.
Example: Jane Doe, a student, fills out the form above with her information and correct captcha and is ready now to submit it.
Once the form is submitted, an email will be sent to her bcmail email address with a link to create a password for her Poll System account. Hover over or tap on the? button at the top of the screen to see this info.
Click Submit to learn about the password-creation email.
If the information you entered in your registration form was correct, you'll see the message above.
Otherwise, if the page says that no email was sent, it means that one of the details you typed in the form probably had a typo. If so is the case, go back to the Registration Page and fill out the form again.
The email message should arrive in a few minutes and will expire in 15 minutes.
Now, let's see what that email message looks like: Click Next.
The password-creation email message look as follows:
The link will have the format: https
Jane Doe will now copy the link in this message and paste it into her device's browser (e.g., Google Chrome, Safari, etc.) to create a password for her account.
Click Next to view the page that will open when Jane accesses this link.
In this last registration step, you will create your account's password.
The password should then be re-typed in the 'Confirm Password' field.
Use these guidelines to ensure that your created password is strong, therefore making your account secure.
As you keep adding characters to the password, you'll notice that the ✖ symbols to the left of the guidelines turn into ✔ checkmarks when the respective guidelines are met.
The Poll System website will accept your password only when all the listed guidelines are met and have ✔ checkmarks.
Suppose that a password was already typed.
To ensure that the password indeed contains all the characters you intended to include in it, you can click either of the buttons to reveal the password's characters. Try this out now by clicking any of the buttons a few times above!
Note that the password that was typed above meets all the guidelines. This means Jane Doe can submit this password now.
Click Create to finalize Jane's account creation!
It's time for Jane to log into her account.
Click Login Page.
To log into your account, you'll enter:
Jane Doe entered her email and password.
Alternatively, you can click on the Forgot Email? or Forgot Password? links at the bottom of the login page to see 3 ways of recalling the email address or resetting the password, respectively.
Before we finally log in, keep in mind that another way to access this tutorial is by clicking Tutorial or reading more about the Poll System website by clicking About.
Click on Enter below to log into the account:
This is the Ongoing Poll screen.
In the next pages, we'll view:
Throughout the semester, your instructor will create a few polls nearly every lecture for the students to respond to.
Every poll constitutes of a single multiple-choice question that has exactly 1 correct answer among the given choices.
If there is an ongoing poll at the moment you log in, the ongoing poll screen will open instead of the main menu screen (which we'll talk about in a couple of minutes.)
Above is an example of a multiple-choice question and its 4 answer choices.
The topic of a real poll question will directly connect to the class's material, and the question will have 2 to 4 answer choices (most likely 4.)
The Status of a poll tells you whether you answered the poll already or not, and, if yes, which answer choice you selected.
The current status indicates that the poll above hasn't been answered yet.
A poll will usually be due several minutes after its posting by the instructor, and you have to respond to the poll before that time.
Note: If no response is submitted, or if you attempt to submit it after the due time, no grade will be received for the poll (more on grading shortly.)
We are ready to answer the poll question!
Clicking on an answer choice will automatically submit the answer. There is no 'Submit' button, which should make your life easier and let you submit answers faster.
The 1st human landed on the Moon in 1969, so click on the 1969 answer above to submit the poll.
You can recognize that an answer was submitted by seeing that:
Note: The green checkmark above does NOT imply that the submitted answer is the correct one; it just tells if your response went through.
You can re-submit the poll as many times as you want/need as long as it isn't due yet.
The most recent answer you submit will become your final response to the poll (and is the one that will be graded.)
The? information button above reminds you of these 2 facts.
Since we answered the poll, let's go to the main menu of the account. Click on the Main Menu button below to open the main menu.
This is the Main Menu.
We reached the last topic of this tutorial, which briefly introduces the menu options of your Poll System account.
If you just responded to a poll, and it is still ongoing, you'll see the Ongoing Poll button at the top of the main menu.
It lets you return to the active poll if you want to submit a different answer, etc.
Click on the refresh button above to check if the poll ended already.
(You can always use the refresh button also to check if new polls appear.)
Since we don't see the Ongoing Poll button anymore, we understand the poll is over.
Click the Past Polls button above to check out the results of the poll and correct answer.
This is the Past Polls page.
It lists all the polls that your instructor assigned so far (excluding ongoing polls.)
It also shows the answers you submitted, the correct answers, and other essentials details about the given polls.
Some pages will display framed notes.
Pay attention to these since they are intended to improve your class or academic performance.
Each of the past poll questions is shown below the notes, with the most recent poll displayed at the top.
Read the symbol Legend using the? above, and then try clicking each of the 4 blue symbols next to the question below to see what each one conveys.
Using the button, you can print the Past Polls page or save it to your computer as a PDF file.
Click on Main Menu above to return to the main menu.
We're back to the menu.
Click on Poll Grades above to view the grades of past polls.
This is the Poll Grades page.
It explains how your course's Participation component is graded using information about the polls you completed.
This summary shows the # of polls given so far, the # of polls you should submit this semester to get full Participation grade (more polls than that will be assigned,) and how extra credit is calculated.
You must be present at the lecture when a poll is given to get a grade for the poll.
In case of an excused absence, you will be assigned a full grade for the missed polls (so no worries!)
To receive an excuse, you must email the instructor and present a document confirming the excuse (doctor's note, PCR test results, etc.)
Your Participation grades depends on the # of polls you submitted.
The good news is that you get a full grade for a poll even if your answer is not the correct one!
Well, what happens if you do get the correct answer? You get extra credit!
The extra credit is computed based on the # of polls you answered correctly, and it can grow up to 5 points. These points will be added to your course grade.
Click on Main Menu below to return to the main menu.
Click now on Attendance above to see attendance information.
This page tells on what lecture or exam days you were present, excused, or absent. If attendance is a part of the final grade, the details in this table will be used to calculate your score for this component.
Click Main Main to return to the menu.
Click now on My Info above to see this page's content.
This Info Page is here for your reference. If you wish to change your first or last name in the system, please contact your instructor.
Click Main Main above.
Click on Settings above to access available account settings.
The only currently existing Settings include (1) changing your account's password and (2) switching to a dark/light mode.
Click on Change Password above to view the initial steps of changing the password.
To change the password, you should fill out the captcha text and click the Submit button.
An email similar to the one that was sent to you during account registration will be sent now to your bcmail address and will include the password reset link.
You can change your password whenever you want.
Click on Back to Settings above to return.
Click Main Menu.
Click on About to view how the About page of the website is structured.
This About page is the same as the one accessible through the login page. It talks about the website's purpose, how the idea to create it formed, and lists some relevant privacy rules. Read it if you want.
Click Main Menu.
You reviewed the entire website! Click Log Out above to log out of the account and see the tutorial's outro.
You completed the tutorial successfully: this is its last page!
Don't forget you can review this tutorial at any time by going to https://
Please contact your instructor via email or during office hours if you have any questions about the Poll System website.
Thank you, and enjoy! :D