If you would like to poll your students outside of Zoom, you can use Microsoft Forms to create a survey/form/poll and share it with your students either through Canvas or as a QR code in a presentation. 

To create a form in Microsoft Forms, complete the following steps.

  1. Go to forms.office.com and log in with your staff credentials. 
  2. Click New Form
  3. Give the form a title and description. 
  4. Click Add new and select an option to add questions.
  5. When you're finished adding questions, click Collect responses.
  6. From the dropdown list, select Anyone can respond.
  7. Click Copy to copy the form URL.
  8. Optional:  Click the QR code icon Image Placeholder and click Download if you want to include the form in a Powerpoint presentation for students to scan and answer the questions (outside of Canvas). The QR code will appear in your Downloads folder and you can add it to your presentation. 

Note: Forms are anonymous. If you would like people to identify themselves, you can ask them to fill in their name as one of the questions in the form. 


To add a Microsoft Form to Canvas, complete the following steps.

  1. Once a Unit has been created in your module in the Units area, click the + icon on the right side of the module tab to open up the Add Item panel.
  2. To add a link, select External URL from the list.
  3. Paste the URL of the form in the URL field and enter a name for the form in the Page name field.
  4. Optional: Select the Load in a new tab checkbox to load the URL in a new tab when it opens.
  5. Click Add item.
To view and share the responses to a form, complete the following steps.

  1. Go to forms.office.com and open the form. 
  2. Select the Responses tab to view the responses to the form.
  3. If you want to share responses, click the options button Image Placeholderlocated beside Open in Excel
  4. Select Share a summary link from the dropdown list. The link will appear above the form.
  5. Click Copy to copy the link. You can then share the link with others or add it to Canvas.