Overview
What is Top Hat?
Toronto-based Top Hat offers their higher education teaching apps, comprising Top Hat Classroom supporting flipped classroom and gamified lessons, Top Hat Textbook for delivering course content, Top Hat Assignment for customizable quizzes and graded tasks or homework, and Top Hat…
Top Hat Review
Top Hat brought life to my classroom!
Top Hat is a worthwhile replacement to Turning Technologies
Pricing
Pro
$30
Basic
Free
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $30 per term (4 months) per student
Product Demos
Top Hat Demo
Back to the Rat Pack - Dean, Frank, Sammy & Liza - Demo
Folkmanis® Rabbit In Hat Puppet Demo
Newborn Elimination Communication Supplies Demo (2018)
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
What is Top Hat?
Top Hat Videos
Top Hat Technical Details
Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
Mobile Application | No |
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(3)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Top Hat is a versatile tool that caters to various needs in the education sector. Users have praised its ease of use and engaging interface, making it a valuable resource for both instructors and students. One of the key use cases of Top Hat is creating and administering quizzes, allowing educators to test students' knowledge and track their performance and areas for improvement. The platform also offers a feature for tracking participation, simplifying the process of allocating participation points at the end of the term. Additionally, Top Hat's ability to poll large classes during lectures promotes student engagement and improves overall evaluations. Instructors appreciate the opportunity to receive feedback from students during lectures, enhancing the learning experience. Top Hat is considered a user-friendly application for learners, making it easy for them to go through their lessons.
Another important use case of Top Hat is facilitating in-person and online quizzes and exams. Educational institutions commonly use this software to take attendance and administer quiz questions, with scores accessible through the app or website. Many instructors have found that running in-class quizzes has become easier to administer, simplifying this aspect of the course. The convenience of a user-friendly dashboard and accessibility through phone apps makes Top Hat a popular choice among users. However, some users have experienced challenges when using Top Hat for computer science or math courses due to issues with mathematical symbols and Unicode characters.
In higher education settings, Top Hat primarily aims to enhance student engagement, academic performance, and increase student retention. Users appreciate the ability to stay more engaged with class lectures, especially in remote settings where interaction can be challenging. The software's real-time assessment capabilities also make it a valuable tool for instructors to monitor student learning progress effectively. Furthermore, Top Hat benefits self-directed learning, interactive learning, and quizzing by providing active learning modules.
Beyond traditional educational settings, Top Hat has potential applications in businesses as well. It allows companies to ask questions and gather opinions efficiently. Moreover, the software enables great training and classroom management, allowing questions to be asked within large groups without disrupting the class. Large lecture-based classes particularly benefit from Top Hat, ensuring student engagement and collaboration.
Overall, Top Hat has received positive feedback from both instructors and students for its effectiveness in enhancing the learning experience. Whether it is used for creating quizzes, taking attendance, fostering student engagement, or facilitating assessments, Top Hat proves to be a valuable asset in classroom settings.
Effective tool for large classrooms: Users have found Top Hat to be an effective tool for quickly answering questions in large classrooms, where professors may find it challenging to monitor attendance. It has been praised by many reviewers.
Remote access via smartphone: The remote access feature of Top Hat through smartphones has received high praise from users. They appreciate the ability to claim attendance and bonus points even when they are not physically present in the lecture.
Versatile accessibility: Many users appreciate the versatility of Top Hat as it can be accessed from smartphones and the internet, allowing them to use it anytime and anywhere.
Complicated User Interface: Several users have expressed frustration with the user interface of Top Hat, describing it as complicated and difficult to navigate. This has caused trouble for a significant number of people who found it challenging to use effectively.
Glitches and Lag: Numerous reports have surfaced regarding glitches and lag when using Top Hat, particularly during times of high usage. These technical issues have been observed by multiple reviewers and have impacted the accuracy of attendance tracking.
Web Version Layout: The layout of the web version of Top Hat has received criticism from several users who consider it to be poorly designed and not very user-friendly. They have struggled with navigating through the platform due to its unintuitive layout.
Users commonly recommend Top Hat for its user-friendly interface, affordability in comparison to textbooks, and the convenience of its mobile version. They suggest utilizing Top Hat for remote classes and highly recommend it for both pre- and in-class activities/assignments. Users also advise conducting pilot-testing with students before fully implementing the software. Although some users have encountered issues with attendance, they still suggest using Top Hat's app alongside an in-person form of attendance. Moreover, users recommend exploring alternative cost-minimizing options in order to achieve academic goals due to the relatively higher cost of Top Hat for a single semester's use. In general, users highly recommend signing up for and testing out Top Hat, particularly for educators running classes.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-2 of 2)Top Hat brought life to my classroom!
It addresses the lack of students' interaction during lectures, with participation, discussion, attendance, and more. I personally use it for my face-to-face and online classes. I also have written a textbook using Tophat as a platform and it has been well-reviewed by the students. Overall, students are getting better grade distribution in my classes.
- I use Top Hat as a discussion tool where the students can write what they have learned or what they haven't.
- Exams are taken in class and are totally paperless with grades available immediately.
- It would be great if the exams could have settings to set-up start and finish times.
- The grade book still needs improvement in the formatting.
- Students are paying less for their course material
- Increased student participation.
Top Hat is a worthwhile replacement to Turning Technologies
- Easy to use.
- Many question types beyond multiple choice.
- Attendance.
- Gradebook syncing.
- If students are paying, it's a confusing onboarding process for students and instructors and could be better streamlined.
- The Android app not as well polished as iOS.
- A better, free, or ad-supported model might be more palpable to students.
- Integration directly with PowerPoint -- not requiring instructors to upload their slides to Top Hat.
- One of the better ways to track attendance in a mostly secure and automated way.
- Promotes more active learning, especially in large classrooms.
- Unpopular if students have to pay.