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Top Hat

By Top Hat

4.0 out of 5 stars

How would you rate your experience with Top Hat?

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Top Hat Pros and Cons: Top 5 Advantages and Disadvantages

Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews

Generated from real user reviews

Users love the ease of use of Top Hat, making navigation and participation simple and effective. (2 mentions)
Users appreciate the ease of use and integration of Top Hat, enhancing student participation and accountability. (2 mentions)
Users find the sign-up process easy, enhancing their overall access and convenience to Top Hat's features. (1 mentions)
Users appreciate the seamless app integration with Canvas, enhancing grading and peer review processes effectively. (1 mentions)
Users appreciate the easy navigation of Top Hat, enhancing student understanding through quizzes and seamless integration with Canvas. (1 mentions)
Users experience delay issues during refreshes, causing a lag in receiving live information on both web and mobile. (1 mentions)
Users find Top Hat to be slightly costly compared to competitors like Clicker, which raises concerns about value. (1 mentions)
Users find Top Hat to be slightly costly compared to competitors, raising concerns about pricing fairness. (1 mentions)
Users experience slow loading times when refreshing, hindering immediate access to live information on Top Hat. (1 mentions)
Users experience slow performance with refreshing, causing delays in receiving live updates on both web and mobile. (1 mentions)

5 Pros or Advantages of Top Hat

1. Ease of Use
Users love the ease of use of Top Hat, making navigation and participation simple and effective.
See 2 mentions

See Related User Reviews

JS

Jonnah S.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for TopHat"

What do you like about Top Hat?

I love how as a new user, it's so easy to navigate. I downloaded it, and have been using it for over 2 years to gain student understanding of topics a

VS

Vee S.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Fantastic software!"

What do you like about Top Hat?

- Very easy to sign up using the code for a particular class/workshop/lecture - Basic allows for free use with vast features to allow for student pa

2. Education Platform
Users appreciate the ease of use and integration of Top Hat, enhancing student participation and accountability.
See 2 mentions

See Related User Reviews

JS

Jonnah S.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for TopHat"

What do you like about Top Hat?

I love how as a new user, it's so easy to navigate. I downloaded it, and have been using it for over 2 years to gain student understanding of topics a

VS

Vee S.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Fantastic software!"

What do you like about Top Hat?

- Very easy to sign up using the code for a particular class/workshop/lecture - Basic allows for free use with vast features to allow for student pa

3. Access Convenience
Users find the sign-up process easy, enhancing their overall access and convenience to Top Hat's features.
See 1 mentions

See Related User Reviews

VS

Vee S.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Fantastic software!"

What do you like about Top Hat?

- Very easy to sign up using the code for a particular class/workshop/lecture - Basic allows for free use with vast features to allow for student pa

4. App Integration
Users appreciate the seamless app integration with Canvas, enhancing grading and peer review processes effectively.
See 1 mentions

See Related User Reviews

JS

Jonnah S.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for TopHat"

What do you like about Top Hat?

I love how as a new user, it's so easy to navigate. I downloaded it, and have been using it for over 2 years to gain student understanding of topics a

5. Assessment Creation
Users appreciate the easy navigation of Top Hat, enhancing student understanding through quizzes and seamless integration with Canvas.
See 1 mentions

See Related User Reviews

JS

Jonnah S.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for TopHat"

What do you like about Top Hat?

I love how as a new user, it's so easy to navigate. I downloaded it, and have been using it for over 2 years to gain student understanding of topics a

5 Cons or Disadvantages of Top Hat

1. Delay Issues
Users experience delay issues during refreshes, causing a lag in receiving live information on both web and mobile.
See 1 mentions

See Related User Reviews

VS

Vee S.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Fantastic software!"

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

- Nothing for now really, the website as well as mobile app work seamlessly well. - The only thing I would say is that at times, refreshing is slow

2. Expensive
Users find Top Hat to be slightly costly compared to competitors like Clicker, which raises concerns about value.
See 1 mentions

See Related User Reviews

JS

Jonnah S.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for TopHat"

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

I think the only thing of concern for me rather than dislike is that it's slightly costly, especially in comparison to competition like clicker.

3. Pricing Issues
Users find Top Hat to be slightly costly compared to competitors, raising concerns about pricing fairness.
See 1 mentions

See Related User Reviews

JS

Jonnah S.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for TopHat"

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

I think the only thing of concern for me rather than dislike is that it's slightly costly, especially in comparison to competition like clicker.

4. Slow Loading
Users experience slow loading times when refreshing, hindering immediate access to live information on Top Hat.
See 1 mentions

See Related User Reviews

VS

Vee S.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Fantastic software!"

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

- Nothing for now really, the website as well as mobile app work seamlessly well. - The only thing I would say is that at times, refreshing is slow

5. Slow Performance
Users experience slow performance with refreshing, causing delays in receiving live updates on both web and mobile.
See 1 mentions

See Related User Reviews

VS

Vee S.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Fantastic software!"

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

- Nothing for now really, the website as well as mobile app work seamlessly well. - The only thing I would say is that at times, refreshing is slow

Top Hat Reviews (23)

Reviews

Top Hat Reviews (23)

4.0
23 reviews
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JS
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Review for TopHat"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

I love how as a new user, it's so easy to navigate. I downloaded it, and have been using it for over 2 years to gain student understanding of topics and test their knowledge through quizzes. Its also one of my favorite platforms for peer reviews, as it then integrates with Canvas and helps me grade students accordingly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

I think the only thing of concern for me rather than dislike is that it's slightly costly, especially in comparison to competition like clicker. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

VS
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Fantastic software!"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

- Very easy to sign up using the code for a particular class/workshop/lecture

- Basic allows for free use with vast features to allow for student participation

- Top hat allows participants to track the quality of their work, and how it gets better or worse with every class- making students more responsible Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

- Nothing for now really, the website as well as mobile app work seamlessly well.

- The only thing I would say is that at times, refreshing is slow and so it takes time for the screen to catch up with live information Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Andrew H.
AH
Education Specialist
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Top Hat encourages active learning"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

Top Hat is a great student engagement tool, useful in polling students on the fly or setting up assessments prior to class. The built-in LMS could be useful for tracking student progress, but the free version allows for excellent engagement with a large number of students. Some other polling platforms cap the number of students in the free version, making it difficult to use with large class sizes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

The LMS might be useful for institutions without their own institution-wide LMS; however, the reliance on the Top Hat LMS to use some of the advanced features makes the whole system somewhat obtrusive and tedious. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

EP
Associate Professor
"Don't use Tophat for courses with a lot of mathematics"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

The gradebook is great. It is easy to assign questions to students who may miss class. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

There is a bug when creating questions that involve mathematics. The error message says, "Answers cannot contain commas". I have pointed out this bug to them, but the response is "fixing this error is not a priority". This product is not useful for anyone teaching a course with a lot of mathematics. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Neisha P.
NP
Marketing Assistant
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Art History with Top Hat"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

As a student, I found it helpful that you could return at a later time and access course materials like PowerPoints, Review questions and videos. All the information was in one one location. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

Like any software there were glitches and we had to resort back to the old fashion PowerPoint. And then it took 10 minutes for rhe videos to load online. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Higher Education
UH
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Easy to use and works consistently"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

It’s pretty much always up. We’ve only had one downtime, scheduled or unscheduled. Mostly self-supporting, but if not, tech Support is accessible. Web accessibility seems like a priority and developers are responsive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

Always changing/developing/updating, which is good, but not very helpful to me as a member of the support team for our institution. Makes it difficult to keep up with training/self-help materials and tracking known issues/bugs. For Top Hat itself to keep up, too, since their published documentation is sometimes behind. Also, TH hasn’t been great about publishing organized and standardized release notes, though they started out with no notes published at all, so they’ve made progress. It’s like the original staff/management didn’t realize that clients would want that information available to them; but they’re catching on. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Monica Z.
MZ
Account Manager
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Great way to keep class engaged during lecture"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

The mobile phone option makes it easy to stay engaged while using your laptop for lecture and other parts of the class, especially in a remote setting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

I think there could be some improvements on allowable graphics. Sometimes it was hard to read a chart that you needed to answer a quick question on. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Clara C.
CC
Adjunct Lecturer
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Review for Tophat"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

I like a lot of features of Tophat! The slideshow sharing, and the ability for students to join the course with an access code makes it very easy for them to access the course. All the slideshows can be saved in Assigned material. Grading is very easy through Tophat, and I really like the geo-location feature in marking the attendance. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

There is a lot of lag sometimes while trying to access the time constrained attendance marker. I have also had issues with its layout for the web version - that's not very user friendly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

LS
Medical Student
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"A convenient and streamlined way to engage audiences"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

The layout of Top Hat is very straightforward, and really works well in large lecture settings in order to further engage the class and check in with everyone so that they're all on the same page. It's also very simple, which is perfect for making sure students can answer questions quickly within a lecture. In addition, it's a very effective tool for checking attendance when the class or room is too large to fully monitor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

I feel like the mobile site / app integration could be more smooth, and it was frustrating having to log in through the institutional log-in every time rather than being able to log in and stay logged in to the Top Hat site (although that might've been more due to my institution's policies than Top Hat itself) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AM
Engineering & Computer Science Student
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"A modern take on ye olde clicker of the past"
What do you like best about Top Hat?

High ease of use for both student and teachers. App integration to classroom activities was seamless. Even the most old-fashioned (technology-aversive) professor in our department is using it. If the student cannot get to the app for some reason, there's also an option to text their response to a 24/7 mobile bot [this is a much under-appreciated feature]. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Top Hat?

The only thing I dislike is the overall reliance this app has on a phone. What if a student does not have a mobile device? Arguably, that's uncommon these days. Nevertheless, this reliance excludes some young/pre-college kids as well as low-income students. Another case was shown firsthand when we had a student come tell us his phone's battery died in class. Thus, he couldn't sign in on TopHat for the day and, with the burden of proof on us, we excused him. Naturally, this leads a slippery-slope for any students seeking dishonest excusals in the future. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.