Echo360

Pros

It is user friendly, after you have practiced the process a couple of times. The reports feature is very helpful and exporting the data is also very easy and useful. It is very hard to accidentally lose data, which makes using this software a bit dummy-proof.

Cons

My biggest con is on the side of the device user. When answers are ready to be submitted, the process is not always consistent. Sometimes the device says that the question list is completed, sometimes it does not. Although this is easy to move through with some instruction, it can be very confusing for the user.

Pros

Familiar with the software and its addition to PP

Cons

Using TP for webinars requires the use of a second system to accommodate audio and video This is problematic for less technical participants. I could have used Zoom with polling for a lot less $$$$ and a lot less trouble.

Pros

Great product for classroom capture across our entire campus. Robust system that handles thousands of recordings with quick processing turnaround each semester.

Cons

Sometimes will get logged out or switch roles (admin/instructor) in some browsers if not using incognito window.

Pros

Turning point is used in my med school as a way to measure class attendance and performance. It is super easy to use. One thing that is great is once you are set to a channel on your remote for that class you won’t need to change it as long as the receiver’s channel doesn’t get changed. It makes it easy to pull out your remote and click-in to questions without having to worry about setting up your remote every time you use it.

Cons

I’m not sure if it is just a problem with my med school or the internet connectivity but the receiver crashes or malfunctions in some way at least once a month. I think that it can be confusing for professors to use especially if they aren’t particularly tech-savvy, usually, when there is a problem here they have to call in one of the tech specialists to fix the program and/or receiver and get it going again.

Pros

Firstly I'd like to note that Echo Support is fantastic. Of all the systems I've used in my work and personal life, Echo has the best support team by a country mile. Support is swift to respond to tickets and their responses are thorough and take our institution and how we use the system into context. EchoVideo is the system we use offered by Echo360. EchoVideo is straightforward but extremely effective and as a result, allows our teachers and students to engage with and make the most of Echo360 without feeling overwhelmed. Its ability to integrate with other key tools in the teaching and learning space is important and seamless for not only administrators but also end users. A special note is that accessibility is their highest priority when developing new content - something many systems often forget about, or don't prioritise appropriately.

Cons

The only thing that immediately comes to mind is the restrictedness surrounding user role modification. There is plenty of functionality within Echo360 (EchoVideo in this instance), but the ability to modify user roles against these varying functionalities is quite restrictive.

Pros

I like that I could rewatch lectures at different playback speeds, as some lecturers spoke slowly or quickly during the actual lecture.

Cons

There were some audio issues like: 1) being able to hear irrelevant speakers other than the lecturer and 2) the audio quality isn't the best.The user interface also wasn't very intuitive.

Pros

As a current student, I use this software to answer questions asked by my professors in class. I appreciate the ability this software gives students to interact with professors in large classes. My professor is able to teach and then ask questions to gauge student understanding. He or she can then adjust teaching according to the student responses.

Cons

Despite the fact that I like this software, I think there are other options available that are just as good without the fee TurningPoint charges. I had to pay twenty dollars to use this software for a limited period of time, and I know of other programs that would give me access to all of the same features for free.

Pros

Echo360 has powerful analytics which includes attendance, video views, Q&A, and activities. Echo360 allows educators use a pre-built calculation to determine an engagement score (one of my favorite features) which in turn provides data to see who is struggling and who is well engaged. With these metrics, educators can determine which students will require support and assistance to make it through a course.

Cons

It is not the most intuitive program to learn at first. It is highly recommended to make time to learn the program. Once you do learn the program it becomes second nature.

Pros

Echo 360 had an intuitive, easy to use interface and set of directions. It offers a lot for student evaluation and student stimulation both in video production-participation.

Cons

The program needs to decide which way its going, as a tool for students or as a tool for teachers observing their students for better instructional development. The program has a little of both, and not enough of each.

Pros

Digital App is available. The integration with powerpoint is convenient. When it works, it works well.

Cons

No compatibility with Apple Keynote. Physical Clickers are small and easily lost. App is nice provided it is updated with device manufactured update their OS. Turning Anywhere? Too many versions and a software license model.

Pros

In my institution, Echo 360 is seamlessly integrated with Zoom recordings and Canvas LMS. This means I can record a session on Zoom, have the video upload automatically to Echo360 with auto generated captions and multiple screen focus options (focus on speaker or recorded screen), and then embed the video directly into a Canvas page from my Echo360 personal library. The ability to crop out certain parts of a recording easily within the browser and the ability to manually edit captions for clarity are also very helpful. For the more tech savvy, you can download the video and audio and SRT files and import them into a video editor like Camtasia or Adobe Premiere for additional tweaking and overlays.

Cons

The auto generated captions could be better. One frustrating aspect is that if I crop out a chunk of video, the captions from the entire file still remain associated with the video, so cropping a video completely ruins the captions. I wish cropping a video automatically removed the captions that are generated for the timeframe of the crop.

Pros

We used it for virtual deliberations and voting of our Fellows program. In the past, we had used the hand held clickers, but due to COVID, all of our committees were virtual. It did an amazing job of being flexible for us an enabled us to use the platform with committee members across the globe.

Cons

Nothing I coudl really say that I didn't like, although it was hard to figure out how to use it for our business rules as it related to our honors program. But we are nuanced and have very specific needs. that's where their amazing customer service came in. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] helped us from their headquarters and was incredible. He spent hours with us to help us set up and was even available for us over a weekend to help troubleshoot if we had any issues.

Pros

It is helpful, especially in the pandemic, that this software is mobile enabled, and people can respond from all over the U.S. The physical clickers are very simple to use. It is a nice way to engage a class and measure their knowledge.

Cons

I don't like that we have to pay an annual subscription fee based on our number of seats. Occasionally we may need to have more participants, but we would have to add on more participants into our subscription just for those couple of times that we need more than we have. Also, I wish there was a way to not give points against a person's score if they do not answer a question. Sometimes signals are weak or someone leaves the room, and they are penalized for that. Doesn't give a real accurate example of their current knowledge.

Pros

This has significantly/ positively affected my professional program experience, allowing me and many other dental students rewatch, relisten, download, speed up, ect lectures within an hour of recording.

Cons

On certain apple devices, not all functions available with this software

Pros

This product is good for polling a large amount of individuals. I've used it as a student and it was very easy to pair as well as answer questions during class. My professors seemed to manage using the product with ease, there was never any technologic concerns during class. This program is a great way to keep classes engaged and to determine what information some individuals may be struggling with.

Cons

This product does cost, however I believe that it is worth it. Once you buy a ResponseCard device, they can be used for multiple courses which is great when you attend a university that heavily uses this product.

Pros

Seamlessl+ and used by many universities!! So doesn't need orientation with the algorithm.

Cons

Randomly doesn't record audio. Which is problematic as you can't rely on it. There needs to be a verifying mechanism that the audio is recording.

Pros

I like how much information I am able to access. I can look up student assignments, grades, how well they are collaborating or showing agency... all kinds of information.

Cons

It is hard to get used to at first if you have used other similar softwares before. Once you learn how to access everything, it's great!

Pros

test generator, testing, great access to information,Interactive powerpoints with results

Cons

subscription renewal when a student loses subscription info or when subscription expires.

Pros

I used ECHO360 integrated with blackboard in my University teaching. Lecture audio and screens were automatically captured. Really simple to quickly edit out dead space and erroneous material and have it online for students within an hour of the lecture.

Cons

I struggled with the lack of instruction help at first - likely my institution's fault! Once I'd managed to work through it once it became very intuitive and simple

Pros

Electronic testing. Eliminating the paper process that were in place.

Cons

Seems that we keep dropping our courses and having to reload all the time. Every time I close out turning point it says that it has stopped working.

Pros

Echo360 has been extremely helpful for my school lectures. I love being able to speed up, slow down, and pause lectures so that I can make my study time most efficient. I also really enjoy the feature that allows students to answer questions online during a lecture so that we can give class responses.

Cons

There is a dictation program that writes out what the lecturer is saying, but it is significantly inaccurate when lecturers have accents.

Pros

Makes learning fun, generates competition. Great reporting features, which not only help participants, but assist the Training Department to identify areas of focus.

Cons

None come to mind. I just hope that Turning Point does NOT abandon the Response Pads, as I have heard rumors to that effect.

Pros

This product has been useful in a classroom or lecture setting where audience participation is wanted. I have used Turningpoint in many classes when instructors have wanted to give a quiz, a survey, or take attendance for the class.

Cons

The functionality is great and I can see the appeal, but at times, people have trouble connecting with the server with their remotes. It has been a while since I have used it, but there must be a better way through an online portal, which the company may have fixed by now.

Pros

Ease of access, easy to create assignments and surveys.

Cons

NO option to provide students real-time test results immediately after completing an exam. No option to allow re-takes if assignment is incomplete or submitted in error by the student. NOT being able to share completed modules with other TurningPoint admin accounts. NOT being able to upload PDF and word documents. NO option that shows date/time when an assignment is submitted. Not being able to delete incomplete assignments from the guest accounts.

Pros

This product allows for excellent group communication, whether in a classroom or at a meeting, etc. Everyone can post votes or answer a question by using the app from their phones.

Cons

Everything is always so complicated to set up. It works great once all of the users are in, but getting to that point can be so buggy.

Pros

The software gives me a lot of flexibility for gamifying with groups. I have found it easy to use and I rarely have problems with getting large groups onto the participant portal.

Cons

When participants join the portal, all PPT slides are able to be seen, but videos do not play through the TP session. This causes participants to have to join the virtual class on a PC as well as on their phone (for the polling questions) to be able to participate (This is only if videos are embedded into the PPT).

Pros

We've been using this for several years for an annual meeting. This year the meeting was held virtually and Turning Point stepped up its game with the online and app version. Meeting was seamless and everyone commented how easy it was to use.

Cons

Nothing negative to say! Product is easy to use!

Pros

Instead of buying clickers, turning point allows you to make your phone into a clicker. It is very straight forward and cost efficient.

Cons

The only downside is that I have to type in the session ID every class, but that is only because my teacher changes it each class.

Pros

The software is relatively user friendly. Due to the nature of our industry, we do prefer to use the built in clickers, but having the option for smart devices is also a great benefit.

Cons

Wish there was some built in gaming options that do not appear dated. I know it can be built, but having pre-built options (outside of Bravo) would be great.

Pros

We've used this product for over 5 years, I like how it's evolved from the response clickers to phone & tablet app.

Cons

I would like to see an option to tell participants a response was incorrect during Self-Polling.

Pros

The integration with the Powerpoint toolbar is great.

Cons

You cant simply use the software, you have to register for a Turning Account which is a nightmare when you forget the password and 500 people are waiting for you to sort the problem out.

Pros

The technology allows my audience to interact with me in real time. When talking to salesmen about the needs of their teams it is always great to get real time responses to address some of the issues they may have in the field.

Cons

Not a whole lot. There is a small learning curve on how to start building power points.

Pros

I used ECHO360 integrated with blackboard in my teaching research staff online at the end of the week. Easy to share lecture and recoding along with notes. It makes my life easy to give session online instead of going onsite.

Cons

I did not find any issue using this software. Anyone can use it easy with minimum navigation to learn how to get maximum from this software.

Pros

TurningPoint is a great way to engage your audience on a new level. You can create ananomous polling questions and have audience members answer them using their clicker devices. You can also constomize how audience feedback is displayed on the screen.

Cons

TurningPoint is an expensive software that also requires you to purchase clicker devices for each audience participant.

Pros

Echo 360 was the newest technology in classroom recording software when we first started to use it. It's very well put together.

Cons

The set up on devices made things more complicated than originally thought, and wet had to update our hardware.

Pros

As I said, it works quite well about 60% of the time. When it works, it's stellar.

Cons

It's buggy and unreliable. As a user of both PC's and Mac's, I detest that the features of each version are different. Now going to Socrative or Kahoot because it's SO FRUSTRATING to have to re-discover all the changes and different stuff every time one version or the other gets updated.

Pros

It is an easy way to engage and measure the knowledge of students in a class and it also has a favourable customer service.

Cons

It does not give a chance to re-submit assignments which you might have submitted by mistake or want to amend errors you realized they have.

Pros

TurningPoint is a great way to poll your audience and create interactive presentations. You can also customize how the polling information is presented on the screen.

Cons

TurningPoint can be buggy to use. I have had several instances where the app crashed or the remote clickers would not connect.

Pros

TurningPoint is an easy to use polling software with an intuitive interface. It easily integrates with PowerPoint presentation. Our institution uses this platform for Pre and Post tests for instruction lectures.

Cons

There can sometimes be a lag between a PowerPoint update and a TurningPoint update which can cause functionality issues.

Physical clickers are becoming obsolete with the ease and availability of smartphone apps.

Pros

It fits our need because it handles weighted voting

Cons

You can now easily handle polling through almost any online platform for free

Pros

I like that it comes in different colors and that it recognizes anyone’s voice not just your own so anyone can use it.

Cons

I wish it came in great colors for teens.

Pros

I like the accessibility of creating post test and evaluation for our trainings. It is easy to manage the responses and to export them into excel. As well as creating and scheduling them.

Cons

Not being able to survey more than 100 people.

Pros

This is a really good tool to make activities of all sorts that needed votes in large groupes of people.

Cons

The only cons that I've encountered so far is that it can be kind of tricky if you want to mix 2 kits togheter... but when you have done that once, that is no big deal.

Pros

It is really interactive and is changing what class presentations look, feel and sound like

Cons

Relies on a good internet connection which is usually fine but on the odd occasion that can be frustrating particularly when you've planned a presentation around it