iClicker Cloud Instructor Guide

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iClicker Cloud is an online student response system that allows you to collect and grade responses to questions during a class session, which students answer using their own computer or mobile device. You receive the responses instantly and can use them to inform your teaching and/or share the results with the class. iClicker Cloud poll and quiz results can also be set up to send student grades to the Canvas Gradebook.

There is no cost for you or your students to use iClicker Cloud. Unlike the previous iClicker Classic, students do not need to purchase a physical iClicker remote to participate and can respond in their web browser.

Access Immediate You can access iClicker Cloud from your computer as soon as you install iClicker Cloud and create an account. You can also use this account to log in to the iClicker Cloud web interface.
Cost Yes Free.
Bandwidth Yes Low demand on internet connections.
Canvas Integration Yes Works in coordination with Canvas.
Privacy Yes Verified by UBC’s Privacy Impact Assessment process.
Similar UBC-Supported Tools N iClicker Cloud is the only centrally-supported student response system. However, for informal and ungraded polling, you can use the built-in polling feature in Zoom.

What can I use it for?

You can use iClicker Cloud for a variety of activities, whether your class is online, in person, or mixed:

  • Checking student understanding and opinions in real time through polls and quizzes, conducted anonymously or for marks
  • Finding gaps in overall understanding of course material
  • Supporting peer instruction, wherein students answer a question, discuss it in small groups, and answer again
  • Tracking attendance at a class session
  • Giving students access to polls and quizzes to use outside of class sessions for studying

A note about iClicker Cloud

iClicker Cloud’s location requirement functionality should not be used when taking attendance. This feature shares a student’s location each time attendance is taken, and UBC’s privacy assessment of iClicker Cloud does not cover such use. By default, the location requirement functionality (found under “Mobile Device Settings” in iClicker Cloud) is disabled; please keep it disabled to protect student privacy and comply with approved use of iClicker Cloud at UBC.

This tool guide was last reviewed in June 2023 with version 5.4.0 of iClicker Cloud.

What do I need to use iClicker Cloud?

The iClicker Cloud application

Although you can use the iClicker Cloud web interface for some features, you will have to install the iClicker Cloud application on your computer to collect the student responses during your lectures.


A way to display your questions on screen

To create a more seamless question-and-answer experience for students, iClicker Cloud relies on you to display the questions on your screen during a class session. Many instructors use slides to display the questions. However, iClicker Cloud does not require the questions to be in any particular application — it will display whatever you choose from your screen at the time of launching the poll or quiz.

Tips

  • Students do not need to download or install an application to respond to questions in iClicker Cloud. They can do this directly in a web browser.
  • Students also do not need a physical iClicker remote to respond to questions, as they did with the previous iClicker Classic. They can use a computer or mobile device instead.

How do I use iClicker Cloud?

You will need to download the application, set up an instructor account, create an iClicker Cloud course, and (optionally) associate that course with a Canvas course to get started. Then you can run class sessions in your iClicker Cloud course to collect and grade student responses to questions (presented as polls or quizzes) and track attendance.

Click any bar below for instructions and tips on using iClicker Cloud.

Expand All

Install iClicker Cloud and create an account

  1. Go to the iClicker Cloud download page and select Windows or Mac to download the application.
  2. Follow the prompts to install the application that you downloaded.
  3. Open the iClicker Cloud application, ignore the prompt to sign in, and click Create Account.
  4. Type "University of British Columbia" as your primary institution, and choose University of British Columbia from the drop-down menu.
  5. Enter the rest of your information.
    • Note that you do not have to use your UBC email. But your email does need to match the default email for your Canvas account.
    • You can skip the "Instructor Remote ID" field, as UBC no longer supports physical iClicker remotes.
  6. Once you are ready, agree to the privacy policy / terms of use and use of personal information, then click Create Account.
  7. You now have an account and are ready to create a course.

Tips

  • You can use this same account to test iClicker Cloud as a student. From your web browser, log in to the iClicker Cloud web interface for students (known as iClicker Student) with the same email and password as your instructor account.
  • Students need to set up their own accounts to use iClicker Cloud. It is best to let them know this in advance of the class session that they will use it in.
  • If your device is running macOS Catalina (10.15) or newer, you will need to adjust your settings before running iClicker Cloud. Specifically, you will need to enable screen recording in your device's "Security & Privacy" settings.

Create a course in iClicker Cloud

Courses in iClicker Cloud are used only for collecting student responses to polls and quizzes and tracking attendance. They are not where you create questions, so the setup is fairly minimal compared to other tools.

  1. Open the iClicker Cloud application and sign in, if you haven't already.
  2. Click + New Course to add your course.
  3. Select the course type:
    • Click Full Course if you want access to all iClicker activities.
    • Click Attendance Only if you will be using iClicker only to track attendance.
  4. Your institution will be filled in based on what you entered when you created your account. Please ensure this field still says "University of British Columbia".
  5. Enter the rest of your information.
    • Fill in as much detail as you can, as it may help guide students to the right course.
  6. Click Create.
  7. Your new course will appear in your list of courses.
  8. At this point, we recommend learning more about the scoring defaults for polls and quizzes in your course, to ensure that questions will be scored as desired.

Tips

  • A poll is answered one question at a time, whereas a quiz is a collection of multiple-choice questions that students submit answers to all at once. Polls are more commonly used in lectures, as there is more variety for question types and scoring.
  • If you teach multiple sections, you can create a separate iClicker Cloud course for each section or use one iClicker course for all sections. Your approach should ideally mirror how the course sections are set up in Canvas.
  • Once your course passes its end date in iClicker Cloud, it becomes archived. An archived course no longer appears in student searches and cannot be joined. However, students who have already added the course will continue to have access to the content, as long as they do not remove themselves from the course.
  • Teaching assistants can help you facilitate iClicker Cloud activities. They can run class sessions through the iClicker Cloud application and manage the course results through the instructor.iclicker.com web interface. They cannot, however, sync the iClicker Cloud course with the Canvas course. Once you have set up that syncing yourself, you can add your TA to your iClicker Cloud course.

Sync an iClicker Cloud course with a Canvas course

Syncing between your iClicker Cloud course and Canvas course means linking the courses together so that grades can be sent from iClicker Cloud to Canvas. You will need to repeat this syncing process each time you want to connect an iClicker Cloud course to a Canvas one.

  1. Log in to the iClicker Cloud web interface at instructor.iclicker.com and click your course name.
  2. Click Settings in the sidebar navigation.
  3. Within "Canvas Integration", click Connect to Canvas, and then click Go to Canvas.
    • If prompted, log in to Canvas with your UBC CWL (Campus-Wide Login).
  4. iClicker will request authorization. Click Authorize.
  5. You will be brought back to the iClicker Cloud web interface, where you will see a list of the Canvas courses that you teach. Select the course you wish to link, and click Next.
  6. If your course has multiple sections, select the section(s) you wish to add to your class, and click Connect.
  7. Click Sync Roster Now to complete the integration.
  8. If your students already have their Canvas account liked to their iClicker account, they will be enrolled automatically in this iClicker Cloud course. A popup confirmation will appear detailing information about who has and has not been successfully added. Click Close to complete the course sync.
    • A student whose enrollment displays as “Pending” can mean one of two things: the student either has not added their UBC student number to their iClicker account, or has added the same student number to multiple iClicker accounts. If you see a pending status, tell students to check how they have set up their accounts.
  9. Click Save.
  10. If you need to run the course sync again (e.g., after any students have updated their iClicker accounts with their UBC student number, after the add/drop deadline), you can do so from the web interface:
    • Log in to the iClicker Cloud web interface at instructor.iclicker.com and click your course name.
    • Click People in the sidebar navigation.
    • Click Sync Roster.

Tips

  • UBC switched to a new way of syncing iClicker Cloud and Canvas in June 2023. This change means that students enrolled in your Canvas course are automatically added to your iClicker Cloud course when you sync the courses together. You can read more about the improved iClicker Cloud and Canvas integration in our news post.
  • You do not have to sync iClicker Cloud and Canvas, if you want to collect grades outside of Canvas or not use grades at all. iClicker Cloud also has a built-in gradebook that you can use.
  • Common causes of and resolutions for syncing errors include the following:
    • A student does not have an iClicker account or has not correctly added a UBC student number to their existing account. Tell your students to ensure that they have created an iClicker account and have added their student number to their account. Then run the sync again using the last step in the instructions here.
    • A student in your iClicker Cloud course has dropped the course and is no longer in your Canvas course. In this case, you can remove a student from your iClicker Cloud course.
    • If your course is set to open enrolment, a student who has enrolled with multiple iClicker Cloud accounts in your course can cause issues. In this case, you can merge multiple iClicker Cloud accounts for the student.
  • Feel free to contact us at the LT Hub for help resolving any syncing issues. We know that these issues can be challenging to solve on your own.

Prepare to use iClicker Cloud in a class session

Design questions for your class session

Well-designed questions are key to the successful use of iClicker Cloud. Whether your objective is to collect student feedback or to quiz students about terminology, your questions should be unambiguous and serve a clear purpose related to a lesson or topic in the course. Well-designed questions will feel like an intrinsic part of the class session—enriching the learning experience for students—rather than feel like a point of distraction.

You can use iClicker Cloud questions to facilitate simple and complex learning goals, such as the application of a concept in a different context. Try not to make your questions too easy, so that students can learn more from them and have realistic expectations for future assessments. If you need inspiration for your questions, you can refer to the textbook for your course, browse through repositories online, or take note of questions that students frequently ask.

In using iClicker Cloud, consider also the frequency, timing, and follow-up for your questions. The frequency of questions ideally matches their complexity (i.e., higher frequency for lower complexity and vice versa). The timing should allow for students to respond and to deal with any potential technical issues that might lengthen their response time. Including a follow-up time to discuss answers after each question can increase student learning.

Create a way to display your questions on screen

To create a more seamless question-and-answer experience for students, iClicker Cloud relies on you to display the questions on your screen during a class session. Many instructors use slides to display the questions. But you can use anything you like, as iClicker Cloud does not require the questions to be in any particular application—it will display whatever you choose from your screen at the time of launching the poll or quiz.

Note that iClicker Cloud will automatically take a snapshot of what you choose to display. It will then a) send this image to students to view when they respond to the question and b) store this image for your reference when reviewing the question results.

Plan your workflow for iClicker Cloud

Using iClicker Cloud during class session will require opening these applications:

  • The application for displaying your questions (e.g., PowerPoint)
  • The iClicker Cloud application to collect student responses
  • If you’re using iClicker Cloud in an online class session, you will also need a web-conferencing application to run your lecture (e.g., Zoom).

It is best to open the first two applications on a single monitor. If the lecture is online, you may find it helpful to use a second monitor to display your web-conferencing application, so you can see participants or monitor the chat.

With the question(s) displayed on your screen, you will use the floating iClicker Cloud toolbar to manually start and stop collecting student responses for each poll (i.e., single question) or quiz (i.e., collection of multiple-choice questions) that you share.

If you want to limit the answering of iClicker Cloud questions to students who are present during the class session, you can hide iClicker Cloud questions from students online. By turning on this setting, students who are present will see the questions that you display as part of the class session (e.g., in the classroom or over Zoom) and use iClicker Cloud to respond. But any students who are absent will not see the questions that you display, even if they try to use iClicker Cloud to respond. iClicker Cloud will instead hide the screenshots of your questions online until you decide to share them.

Decide if/when to share correct responses in iClicker Cloud

A "graded" question in iClicker Cloud is one that has a correct response or set of responses. If you want to grade questions, you can do so during a class session by designating the correct response(s) with the iClicker Cloud toolbar. After students respond to a question, select "Results" then choose / type the correct response(s). Alternatively, you can set correct responses after a class session.

The benefit of grading during the class session is that students get immediate feedback on whether they responded correctly (for polls but not for quizzes, as quiz feedback is only available once the class session ends). The benefit of doing grading later is that you don't need to juggle and practice this step as part of your live workflow. You can also verbally discuss the correct response, regardless of how you use iClicker Cloud.

Even if you don't manually grade your questions using correct responses, by default iClicker Cloud will still attach a participation point to each one. You can adjust the default iClicker Cloud scoring in the course settings.

Test your workflow before class

You can test the iClicker Cloud workflow outside of a class session. Testing helps you become familiar with the instructor and student experience and lets you practice switching between the various applications. The process may sound intimidating initially, but it should become smoother with practice. You can also book a consultation with UBC IT Audio/Visual Helpdesk for assistance with testing your classroom-based workflow.

Tips

  • Help your students prepare too, by telling them you will use iClicker Cloud and sharing UBC's iClicker Cloud student guide with them. It's best if students set up their iClicker accounts ahead of time.
  • In building your poll questions, you can choose from five iClicker Cloud poll question types:
    • Multiple Choice - Students select a letter response A-E. While students can only select one response, you can select multiple responses as correct when grading.
    • Multiple Answer - Students can select multiple letter responses A-E. You can set multiple responses as correct, partially correct, or incorrect.
    • Short Answer - Students send an open-ended text response of up to 140 characters.
    • Numeric - Students respond with open-ended numeric values, which can include up to eight digits plus a decimal point and can support scientific notation and exponents.
    • Target Questions - Students answer by clicking or tapping part of an image.
  • You can ask any poll question anonymously, if you feel students might feel uncomfortable answering otherwise. This setting means a student’s answer is not tied to their identity, but you can still track whether they answered or not. Allow anonymity by selecting the “More” icon on the iClicker Cloud toolbar, then turning the Anonymous setting to “On”.
  • If you prefer to ask multiple questions at once, use the iClicker Cloud quiz feature instead of a poll. For a quiz, you will display all the questions together (e.g., on one slide) and allow students to go at their own pace answering them in iClicker Cloud. Note however that quiz questions can only be multiple-choice (A-E).

Use iClicker Cloud during a class session

To use any of the iClicker Cloud live activities (polling, quizzing, attendance), you first need to start your iClicker Cloud class session.

  1. Make sure you've followed the steps above to create an iClicker Cloud course and prepare for your class session.
  2. Open the iClicker Cloud application and sign in, if you haven't already.
  3. Hover over the course name and click Start Class, ideally a few minutes before the class session begins. When you start the class, students will be able to join the class session (although it may take a few minutes), and you will see a moveable floating toolbar appear on your screen.
  4. Use the floating toolbar to launch the live activities:
    • Poll - Once you're displaying a single question for students to answer, click the Poll icon in the toolbar. Select the question type, then click the green play icon to start collecting student responses and the red stop icon to end.
    • Quiz - Once you're displaying a set of multiple-choice questions for students to answer, click the Quiz icon in the toolbar. Set the number of questions you're asking and the points each question is worth, then click Start. Click the green play icon to start collecting student responses and the red stop icon to end.
    • Roster - At any time, click the Roster icon in the toolbar to see a summary of who has joined the iClicker Cloud class session.
  5. Navigate back from any poll, quiz, or roster activity by clicking the back arrow icon on the left side of the toolbar
  6. End the class session by clicking the End icon in the toolbar. Then click End Class.
    • Due to privacy concerns, the "Exit Poll" response feature—which allows gathering post-class feedback—is not currently available at UBC. If you select this option when you end your class, nothing will happen.

Tips

  • Look for more features to appear in the toolbar after you choose any of the live activities. For polling, you'll have options to view and grade results, enable anonymous answers, and customize the timer. You can also turn on a confidence rating, allowing students to anonymously select how confident they feel about their response. For quizzes, you'll be able to view and grade results. For attendance, you can see which individuals have joined the class and when.
  • Add peer instruction to any class session by using iClicker Cloud questions with smaller groups in person or breakout groups online. Have students answer the question initially, spend time discussing it in the smaller groups, then answer the question again and learn the correct answer.
  • You can use iClicker Cloud asynchronously outside of class sessions with the iClicker Cloud assignments feature. Students respond to these assignments on their own time and at their own pace, using the same iClicker Cloud interface that they use in class.

Grade questions and view results from an iClicker Cloud class session

A "graded" question in iClicker Cloud is one that has a correct response or set of responses. You can either grade questions (i.e., set the correct responses) during the class session or follow the steps below to grade questions after and view the results of a class session.

  1. After your class session ends, log in to the iClicker Cloud instructor web interface at instructor.iclicker.com and click your course name. You will see a history of activities you've run in the course.
  2. Select the activity you wish to grade or view.
  3. Follow the instructions based on which type of activity you ran:
  4. If you have made changes to grades, you will need to follow the steps in the next accordion section to send those grades to Canvas.

Tips

  • The "Exit Poll" response feature—which allows gathering post-class feedback—is not currently available at UBC. We are working with the iClicker Cloud vendor to make this feature available, but we need to find a way of doing so without disclosing personally identifiable information about students (such as email addresses).
  • Rather than grade later, you can grade responses during a class session using the iClicker Cloud floating toolbar. Look for the "Results" icon when you start a poll or quiz. Clicking this icon will allow you to set the correct response(s).

Send iClicker Cloud grades to your Canvas course

If you are syncing your iClicker Cloud course with a Canvas course, you'll need to send iClicker Cloud grades to Canvas, either after each class session or all together at the end of the term.

  1. Log in to the iClicker Cloud instructor web interface at instructor.iclicker.com and click your course name.
  2. Click Gradebook in the sidebar navigation.
  3. Click Sync Grades above the gradebook table.
  4. Select the class sessions you would like to send to Canvas, then click Sync. The synchronization may take a few minutes. Once completed, the grades will immediately be visible to you and your students in Canvas.
  5. If you adjust any grades for any activities in iClicker Cloud, you’ll need to repeat these steps to send your changes to the Canvas Gradebook.

Tips

  • You can also export iClicker Cloud grades. Download these files in iClicker’s default format or in a file that is pre-formatted for uploading to Canvas later.
  • If you don’t manually grade your questions (i.e., set the correct responses), by default iClicker Cloud will still attach a participation point to each one. Adjust these defaults and more by managing your iClicker Cloud course settings for scoring.

Merge multiple iClicker Cloud accounts for a student

Sometimes students end up with multiple iClicker Cloud accounts and sync more than one account with your Canvas course. If this situation occurs, you will need to move grades and attendance records from the student’s duplicate account to their main account.

  1. Log in to the iClicker Cloud interface at instructor.iclicker.com and click your course name.
  2. Click People in the sidebar navigation.
  3. Find the multiple accounts for the student. The student’s name will generally appear similar or identical for both. You can ask the student to change the iClicker account name to clearly designate the duplicate account.
  4. First, merge any polling and quizzing grades for the student:
    • Click Gradebook in the sidebar navigation.
    • If you are not sure which account is the main account, check if there is a green dot in the "Grade Sync" column for any of the student's accounts. This dot indicates that the account is synced with the Canvas course. If the student has synced one account, it is usually easiest to merge points into that account. If the student has not synced any accounts, please contact us for assistance.
    • Once you've verified which accounts you will be transferring points to and from, click the Details tab.
    • Within a class section column, click a cell that has points in the account you wish to remove. Copy the student's breakdown of points somewhere so you can reference them later.
    • Find the account you are transferring points to, and select the cell for the corresponding activity. Type in the number of points the student had earned for the activity while using the duplicate account.
    • Click Save.
    • Repeat the steps above for as many polls and quizzes as necessary to transfer points from the duplicate account to the main account.
  5. Once you've adjusted all the points, you'll need to send the new grades to the Canvas Gradebook. To do so, click Sync Grades above the gradebook table.
  6. Next, merge attendance data for the student:
    • Click Attendance in the sidebar navigation.
    • Copy any attendance data from the account you wish to remove, so you can reference it later.
    • Find the account you are transferring attendance data to, click the cell corresponding to the attendance data you want to change, and select the correct attendance status.
    • Click Save.
    • Repeat the steps above for as many class sessions as necessary to transfer attendance data from the duplicate account to the main account.
  7. Now that the grades and attendance have been moved, remove the duplicate account from the course:
    • Click People in the sidebar navigation.
    • Select the checkbox beside the account you want to remove, then click Remove at the top right.

Tips

  • You can see a record of any students who were removed and undo removals. Click “People” in the sidebar navigation, select the “Filter students” drop-down menu, then choose “Removed”. Removed students can be re-enrolled with their scores, by selecting the checkbox beside the account and clicking "Re-Enroll" at the top right.
  • Tell your students about any merges you make with their accounts, as removed students will see a “Course access is blocked” message if they try to access the iClicker Cloud course. If students accidentally use their duplicate/removed account to access the course again, this message may confuse them.

iClicker Cloud FAQ

Find UBC-specific answers to frequently asked questions by clicking any bar below.

If your device is running macOS Catalina (10.15) or newer, you will need to adjust your macOS settings before running iClicker Cloud. Specifically, you will need to enable screen recording in your device's "Security & Privacy" settings. Until this setting is adjusted, iClicker Cloud won't have the ability to see your open applications—only your desktop.

Yes. You will need to manually move grades and attendance records from the student’s duplicate account to their main account. Follow the steps for merging multiple iClicker Cloud student accounts to complete this process.

Students can try to fix some connection issues themselves using the iClicker troubleshooting tips.

Students can also try several approaches to sync their iClicker Cloud account with Canvas. You can refer students to UBC's iClicker Cloud student guide FAQ for ways students can troubleshoot issues with iClicker Cloud.

In June 2023, the LT Hub improved how iClicker Cloud and Canvas work together by switching to a new integration.

The integration automatically adds students enrolled in your Canvas course to your iClicker Cloud course when you sync the courses together. With this automation, you will no longer need students to manually join each iClicker Cloud course. Therefore, you will no longer see the "iClicker Sync" item in your Course Navigation.

To connect iClicker Cloud courses with Canvas, you will use the web interface at instructor.iclicker.com. Then, if you would like to add iClicker Cloud to your Canvas Course Navigation, you can do the following:

  1. Log in to your Canvas course, and click Settings in the Course Navigation.
  2. Click the Navigation tab.
  3. Find the "iClicker Cloud" menu item, click the options menu (the 3 vertical dots), and choose Enable.
  4. Save your setting changes.

Where can I get more support with iClicker Cloud?

Technical support

If you have trouble with iClicker Cloud:


Pedagogical support

  • The UBC Online Teaching Program has a section on student-content interaction (Module 4.3) that covers when classroom-response questions can be useful.

Student support

Learn more


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