Top Hat - Better Learning

The way that the professor utilizes this app is definitely important. Since you can't receive notifications for due dates, your professor will hopefully be diligent about that. Other than that, I think this is a really nice tool for classrooms. It's interactive, and has some cool question types (heat maps, clicking on images, matching, etc) although some of them are either difficult to use or don't work because my professors struggled. What's cool is you can go back and forward in the slides your professor has up so if you're a slow writer you can still get all the notes. Overall, this is a really nice idea and needs a little work but I enjoyed having it in my class. Definitely could do with more organization in the content, it's a little overwhelming when all the slides are posted and you're trying to study.

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I would always use the website on my Mac in class so I could split the screen and take notes. it would never load, I would always be three-four slides behind, and my quiz questions would hardly ever load in time for me to answer them. I figured I’d just start using the app, but I have the same issues on the app that I have on my Mac. the connection is always “poor”, and my professor can’t ever use it either - and will insist that the students are taking up the bandwidth and are causing the app to crash and lag (?? don’t know where he got that from), costing us our attendance points. and I know I’m not the only one, whether it be in my class or across everyone who has bought the app, that has these issues daily. if I have to pay this much for an app that simply takes *attendance* and gives mini class quizzes, I expect it to work 100% of the time, flawlessly. the rest of my university uses a free attendance app and I have never had an issue with it - ever. drop your prices, and fix your interface. this app is a whole mess, a money scam, and absolutely ridiculous. if they have to charge for the app to keep it running and whatnot, why not $.99, $2.99, $4.99?? where did the $27 and $50 come from? the people buying it are college students with little income who are forced to by their professors. incredibly pathetic for something that never works.

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I’ve had to use this app for 2 different classes now and every time, I run into bugs. It says my bluetooth is off, when it’s not. It will fail to connect. Often, it glitches when the professor is switching slides, or doing a quiz with too many pop-ups, or when I tap to answer a question it just won’t answer it. When I was trying to view/ join the slideshow, often, it just won’t work. Usually the only way to work around the issues is to close and re-open the app until it works. It is so difficult to keep up in class with so many bugs and glitches I’m spending way too much time just trying to get it to work. At one point I got added to a class I had the previous semester, after I had left it, and I couldn’t leave it again, it just has so many bugs. This app, in no way is useful as a reliable classroom tool.

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I am extremely disappointed with this app, it really delays me getting the work done. The app doesn’t even open certain pdf documents and in the beginning of the semester the videos weren’t even playing, I only use the website now but it continues to glitch, the letters on the answer choices get smaller and smaller. I don’t understand how such a program can have so many defects. I used it a year ago for a different class and I never had a problem with it but now it’s extremely disruptive and annoying. The letters won’t stop glitching so it’s hard to read and I have to continue to reload to look at the answers normal size before they get extremely small. Very sad and frustrating, this is taking a lot of time.

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I have a lot of professors who buy into tophat and force us to use it for in class quizzes. It seems easy enough on the professors’ end but for the students using their phones it is total garbage. It works like an endless string of popup windows and notification banners every time the professor opens a quiz. The lag is terrible and the submit button doesn’t always work. It won’t stop opening a banner letting me know I’ve been marked present every other question. I have to exit out just to get to the next question. There is not anyway for the student to turn off the constant pop ups. Piazza is a much better app for students. Further more they like to lock up your account and charge hidden fees mid semester! That is the definition of extortion!