Top Hat Support
Support Solutions
Notice: TurningPoint will not be supported after July 2018.
Top Hat is a web-based student response system and comprehensive teaching platform that instructors can use to engage students with interactive slides, graded questions, polls, assignments and more. Students can use smartphones, tablets, laptops, and ordinary cell phones to participate. Canvas integration is available for grade book synchronization.
Before You Adopt Top Hat
Please carefully review the Pedagogical Consideration Checklist. This guide helps instructors to understand if Top Hat is the right tool for their classes, and identify best practices.
Getting Started
Instructor accounts are free of charge and allow an unlimited number of courses.
If you are new to Top Hat, make an appointment with ITS by emailing zoujing@umkc.edu. We work with Top Hat to provide instructors with free services to facilitate your use or transition to Top Hat, including:
- One-on-one orientation with a Top Hat specialist.
- Follow-up meetings with a Top Hat instructional designer.
- Migrating existing PowerPoint files from TurningPoint to Top Hat.
Using Top Hat
- To Link your Canvas courses with Top Hat, follow the Integration instruction. The integration allows you to download student roster from Canvas, and post grades from Top Hat to Canvas.
- To create your Top Hat account and courses, follow the UMKC Instructor Quick Start Guide. This quick start guide also includes instructions on most frequently used features.
Contact Support
For orientation, training, or on campus support, contact zoujing@umkc.edu.
For technical support, contact Top Hat Support.
What is Top Hat?
Top Hat is a web-based student response system and comprehensive teaching platform that instructors can use to engage students with interactive slides, graded questions, polls, assignments and more. Students can use smartphones, tablets, laptops, and ordinary cell phones to participate.
Consult your instructor or the syllabus if you are not sure whether your class uses Top Hat.
Getting Started
Before using Top Hat for the first time in class, you will need to:
- Set up your Top Hat account online.
- If you are going to use a smartphone or tablet, download the Top Hat app to your devices.
- Purchase a Top Hat subscription.
Read the UMKC Student Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions, including how to use Top Hat.
Top Hat Subscription
Top Hat offers a free 7-day trial. After that, you will need to purchase a Top Hat subscription.
The following pricing options are available to UMKC students::
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One semester: $20
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One year: $30
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Four Years: $60
If your subscription expired a week or two before the semester ends, contact Top hat support for a free extension.
Where to buy?
Online: You will be directed to the purchase portal after registration for your Top Hat account.
UMKC Bookstores: You can also purchase a subscription card from campus bookstores and redeem online with your Top Hat account. Contact the bookstore directly for availability.
What if I only have a basic phone, or unable to connect to Wi-Fi?
For best practice, the recommended devices for Top Hat are web-enabled smartphones, tablets, or laptop computers.
If you only have a basic cell phone, or unable to connect to the Internet in class, you can still submit most types of answers via text messages. For details, see Student SMS/Text Message Submissions.
Contact Support
Contact your instructor for questions regarding participation and grading.
For technical support, contact Top Hat Support.
Top Hat Accessibility Guide: Utilizing Top Hat with Accessibility
In general, Top Hat is fully accessible for students with disabilities. It is however possible for professors to create materials within Top Hat that are not accessible for students with disabilities. This guide outlines the most common ways in which professors add inaccessible content, and provides alternatives on meeting the same objectives in a more accessible way.
Note: This is intended as a general guide only, providing suggestions on where to start, and is not a legally binding document.
Adding Images
Top Hat provides the ability to attach an image to questions. Images are not accessible to students with visual impairments.
Alternatives:
- Do not use images
- Provide information equivalent to image in question text
- Create an alternative question, that is not based on an image, specifically for the student(s) with visual impairments. This alternative question can either be activated for the student(s) at the same time as the other question, or at a more convenient time. Responses from both variations of the question will need to be manually combined in the gradebook afterwards.
Math Equations
Top Hat provides the ability to include math equations. These are represented by images in the app, which are not accessible to students with visual impairments.
Alternatives:
- Do not use math equations
- Provide textual description alongside the equation
- Create an alternative question, that is not based on an equation, specifically for the student(s) with visual impairments. This alternative question can either be activated for the student(s) at the same time as the other question, or at a more convenient time. Responses from both variations of the question will need to be manually combined in the gradebook afterwards.
Click on Target Questions
Top Hat has a question style called “Click on Target”. These types of questions ask students to click on a specific area of an image, which is not accessible to students with visual impairments.
Alternatives:
- Do not use click on target questions
- Create an alternative question, that is not based on an image, specifically for the student(s) with visual impairments. This alternative question can either be activated for the student(s) at the same time as the other question, or at a more convenient time. Responses from both variations of the question will need to be manually combined in the gradebook afterwards.
Multimedia
Top Hat provides a number of ways for professors to share video and sound with students. This media may not be accessible to students with visual or hearing impairments.
Alternatives:
- Do not use media
- Ensure media is fully accessible, for example with descriptive video and subtitles
Timed Questions
Top Hat questions can be configured by the professor to limit the amount of time students have to submit a response. Students with disabilities may require additional time to answer a question, and thus timed questions will not be an accessible option.
Alternatives:
- Do not use question timers
- Provide enough time for all students to answer the question
- Provide the impacted student(s) with extra time to answer the question at a more convenient time
Slides
Slide presentations can be uploaded and shared with Top Hat. When presenting a lecture this media is not currently accessible to students with visual impairments, but slides can be made accessible to students after the lecture.
Alternatives:
- Do not use slides in Top Hat
- Use the slides only as an optional, supplemental aid. Provide alternative materials (such as an audio recording of the lecture itself) as the primary materials.
- Provide the slides to the student(s) before the class so they can use accessibility tools to access the content separately
Support
Should you require further assistance with Top Hat, our Support Team is here to help! You can contact us directly by way of email (support@tophat.com), the Contact Support button on this page, or calling us at 1-888-663-5491.