TCDpolls - Terms of Use

Who can use this service to create Polls with a Creator role?

1. Academic teaching, Research and Administration Staff

Trinity Staff members who have IT computer accounts can use this service, as they are assigned the creator role, to seek engagement from a participant audience. Staff can use the service for as long as Trinity has a valid licence for the service.

2. Teaching Assistants

Teaching Assistants (who are also usually postgraduates) who have IT computer accounts are assigned a creator role, who, as part of their role in supporting the teaching or research function of a Department or School, can use this service based on their Academic Staff member (Sponsor\Supervisor who the teaching Assistant reports) submitting a request on their behalf via the online form.

Teaching Assistant Usage Duration and Yearly Renewal

Teaching Assistants may use the service for 1 year. At the end of each academic year, IT Services will revoke access to this service for teaching assistants granted access during the current academic year.

If the service is required beyond a single academic year, the academic staff member must submit a new request to restore the teaching assistant's access for another year.

Who cannot use this service to create Polls as a Creator role?

1. Students

This service is not available to undergraduate or postgraduate students who do not have a defined role in supporting the University's teaching and research functions. 

Students with a Participant role may respond to Polls created by Staff using this service.

2. Trinity Visitors/Public

Any visitor without a Trinity IT computer account cannot use this service.

What can this service be used for?

This service allows signed-in users with creator rights to create 1. Polls with questions using PowerPoint or the TCDpolls web portal (TCDpolls.tcd.ie), 2. Short classroom feedback surveys and 3. Question-and-answer sessions in which audience participants can respond. This service can support the University's teaching and research activities.

Where can this service be used?

This service is online-based and can be used anywhere with network connectivity on the user's computer or device and the audience participants' network devices, such as University theatre and seminar class locations, from your university office or home office.

How can this service be used?

Creators can create and run polls in PowerPoint or via the TCDpolls web portal. They can also create short classroom surveys and question-and-answer sessions to generate a session ID that allows audience respondents to connect to the Poll on their own devices to respond to the questions.

When can this service be used?

This service is available 24/7, 365 days of the year, once the creator and audience participants have internet access.

Data Protection - Specific Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Anonymous Polls

The TCDpolls service allows anonymous poll sessions (set as the default) where unidentified audience participants respond to the questions.

Identified Polls

The TCDpolls service also allows polls, surveys, and question-and-answer sessions for identified audience participants, where specific personally identifiable information, such as first name, last name, and email address, is recorded in poll results and in downloadable poll reports for identified polls. Both Staff Creators and Teaching Assistants must be cognisant of this fact.

Purpose Limitation

The PII information should be used only for the purpose for which it was designed, to confirm who provided what poll answer to what question in identified polls, surveys and Q&A sessions; it should not be used for any other purpose. This is known as purpose limitation under GDPR Data Protection.

Data Minimisation

This service should not be used to collect any further personally identifiable information or any special personally identifiable information of audience participants.

Storage Limitation

The personally identifiable information of audience participants should be retained only for as long as necessary for its purpose.

Confidentiality and Security

The personally identifiable information of audience participants should not be shared with third-party persons.

Responsibility of the Academic Staff member (Sponsor) who supervises a Teaching Assistant

Accountability

For Teaching Assistants assisting an Academic with teaching, lab tutorials, etc., the Academic staff member must ensure that any Teaching Assistant is aware of their teaching-related responsibilities when using this service.

Users must adhere to the relevant college policies as follows

1. The IT and Cyber Security Policy at https://www.tcd.ie/media/tcd/about/policies/pdfs/IT-and-Cyber-Security-Policy.pdf
2. The Data Protection Policy at https://www.tcd.ie/dataprotection/assets/docs/dataprotectionpolicy/Data-Protection-Policy-16122020sep23.pdf
3. The Cloud IT Security policy at  https://www.tcd.ie/about/policies/assets/pdf/Cloud-Policy-2014-final.pdf

Data Protection Training

The academic staff member must ensure that the teaching assistant has completed and passed the Data Protection online module within Blackboard, referenced on https://www.tcd.ie/dataprotection/training/

Integrity and Confidentiality

The Academic staff member should clearly outline what the TCDpolls service should be used for to the teaching assistant, as the teaching assistant will usually be a postgraduate who has duel roles, being a postgraduate student and also a part-time teaching assistant, so some guidance is required at the outset before the use of the TCDpolls service, to ensure that integrity and confidentiality of audience participants’ responses and personally identifiable information is maintained.