Top Hat is a teaching tool that enables instructors to engage students with compelling content and activities, online, in person, or both. Top Hat is a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) solution and students use their phones, tablets, or laptops to interact with the instructor and with each other. Several years ago, Top Hat was selected as a replacement for hardware-based "clickers".
This article provides a brief overview of what the Top Hat tool has to offer as well as some basic guidance on how to get started using Top Hat.
Primary Features of Top Hat
- Attendance
- Live Chat & Discussion
- Assignments
- Learning Insights
- Polls & Quizzes
- Inclusive & Accessible
Popular Uses
Some of the more popular uses of Top Hat include presenting interactive questions in class and generating conversation with Top Hat discussions.
Instructors find value in garnering more participation using Top Hat, especially in large enrollment courses. Responses can be displayed in realtime, which helps instructors gauge student comprehension and attitudes, depending on the question design. Attendance is another popular use of Top Hat along with assignments and quizzes.
See the "Top Hat - Learning is Active video", an overview of using Top Hat features to improve your students' learning and make teaching more fun and effective.
Getting Started with Top Hat
Instructors
Below are a few suggested steps to getting started with Top Hat.
- Add Top Hat to your Moodle course and create your instructor account via the instructions in the "Adding Top Hat Access in Moodle" article.
- Create a Top Hat account and course via Top Hat's Professor: Creating your account and courses article.
- Create Top Hat question activities.
- Conduct Top Hat activities.
Please complete the Professor: Quick Start Guide to master the Top Hat basics.
Students
NC State's campus license allows students to use Top Hat Pro at no cost.
To use Top Hat, students must create a student account using their NC State credentials. They will need a wireless device, which in most cases will be a web-enabled smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer.
Students can also submit most types of answers via text message using an ordinary cell phone; however, some question types cannot be answered via text messaging. For details, see Student: SMS/Text Message Submissions.
Once added to a Moodle course, the first time a student accesses Top Hat they will be prompted to create their account. They should ensure they select the student option and follow the necessary instructions to create their account. Students may also review the Account Creation section of the Student: Top Hat Overview & Getting Started Guide.
Browser Requirements
Web
For the best user experience, Top Hat recommends one of the following web browsers:
- Chrome (supporting last 3 major versions)
- Mozilla Firefox (supporting last 3 major versions)
Top Hat also supports the following web browsers:
- Safari (supporting last 3 major versions)
- Edge (supporting last 3 major versions)
Mobile
The supported iOS platforms are iPhones, iPads, or iPod Touches running either of the two latest versions. The supported Android platforms are phones and tablets running the latest OS version. Note that Android variants such as the Fire OS (Kindle Fire), Silent OS (Blackphone), YunOS, and the Nokia X Platform are not supported.
Top Hat Success Center
The Success Center is an essential resource for learning how to use Top Hat. Content can be displayed by role (professor or student.)
Use the Success Center to access:
- A searchable Knowledge Base with an extensive collection of articles
- An inventory of live and recorded Webinars about Top Hat
- Release notes for new features, product improvements, and bug fixes
- Information on support options including phone & live chat
Top Hat YouTube Channel
This channel contains a wealth of "how to" videos as well as pedagogical topics.
Top Hat Blog
The Top Hat Blog offers timely articles on active learning written by faculty and other experts. Be sure to subscribe for updates.
DELTA Workshops
DELTA regularly offers faculty workshops on using Top Hat. Look for our offerings on REPORTER by searching "Top Hat".
Additional Resources
Connect a Moodle course to Top Hat (DELTA YouTube)
Connect a Moodle Course to Top Hat (TopHat Knowledge Base)
Moodle and Top Hat Roster Sync (TopHat Knowledge Base)
Deep Linking Activity in Moodle (TopHat Knowledge Base)
Grade Sync in Moodle (TopHat Knowledge Base)
For additional assistance, please contact the LearnTech Help Desk at learntech@ncsu.edu or (919) 513-7094, or via the "Get Help" tab above.