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Open source · virtUOS, Osnabrück University

The whole lecture hall takes part — anonymously, no app needed.

Abstimmbar brings live voting into your teaching: you put questions on the projector, and your participants answer on their own smartphones by scanning a QR code — no account, nothing to install. From a quick single-choice question to a mind map the whole group builds together.

Abstimmbar on the projector: a live-growing mind map “Digital study group” with five coloured branches

  • Anonymousno account, no IP addresses of voters
  • Ten question typesfrom quizzes to the four-field matrix
  • LTI 1.3integration into learning platforms such as Moodle
  • 1000 simulated participantsat the same time in the load test
  • German & Englishinterface and content

What Abstimmbar can do

One tool for a quick question in between, for quiz phases where everyone works on their own, and for ideas the whole group collects and rates together.

Result of a single-choice question on the projector with the correct answer highlighted

Quizzes and polls, live on the projector

Single and multiple choice, yes/no, Likert scale, priorities and ordering. Results appear in real time; you reveal the correct answer immediately, after closing the question, or never.

Word cloud on the projector for the question “What makes good teaching for you?”

Word cloud and free text

Terms grow into a cloud live, and spelling variants are merged. You moderate right on the projector — merge, hide, rename.

Four-field matrix on the projector with cards in three categories, stacks and a summary card

Mind map and four-field matrix

Collect and organise ideas together: as a tree of terms, or as cards between two axes such as effort versus benefit. Cards can be dragged, stacked and grouped.

Ranking after the rating phase: cards with point bars

Rate together

If you like, collecting is followed by a rating phase with points or plus/minus. The ranking shows what matters most to the group.

Participant page on a smartphone: entering the room code Participant page on a smartphone: answering a question

Join with your own device

Scan the QR code or enter the room code — done. The lightweight participant page runs in any browser and follows your presentation automatically.

AI panel next to the matrix with a suggestion for a summary card

AI assistance — optional

Suggest distractors, generate questions from slides, tidy up word clouds, summarise cards. Every suggestion is just a suggestion; your institution decides whether a model is used, and which one.

Question set with the sections Getting started, Collecting ideas and Rating ideas

Live poll, self-paced quiz or self-check

You lead live polls question by question. Self-paced quizzes run at each participant's own pace, and self-checks are available via a permanent link with instant feedback.

Results page with run selection, short report and CSV export

Results and export

Every run is saved and can later be compared, exported as CSV or archived — rooms and codes stay the same across semesters.

  • Made for the projector

    A footer bar with tooltips, keyboard shortcuts for presenters, a jump menu and a help overlay that labels every control.

  • Bilingual

    Interface in German and English; questions and answers can be stored in both languages. More on bilingual content

  • As a team

    Share rooms with colleagues, pass on question sets via a link, export and import them as JSON.

  • Recordings

    In recording mode, every question carries its own QR code — anyone watching the recording later can still vote.

Who it's for

  • Teachers


    For lectures, seminars and workshops: gauge prior knowledge, check understanding, spark discussions, collect ideas. A guided tour and an example room make it easy to get started.

    To the guide

  • Students


    Take part without an account and without an app, on your own smartphone or laptop. Answers stay anonymous — ideal for honest feedback.

  • Universities and IT centres


    Host it yourself with Docker Compose, sign in via your own identity provider (OIDC), integrate it into your LMS via LTI 1.3.

    To the installation guide

Privacy and openness

  • Anonymous by design

    Participants don't need an account, and voters' IP addresses are not stored.

  • AI only if you want it

    All AI features can be switched off and only run through the service your institution has configured — a self-hosted model is possible, too. Only content such as questions and answers is sent to the model — no names, identifiers or accounts of participants.

  • Open source

    The complete source code is available under the Apache License 2.0 on GitHub — to review, run and help develop.

  • Made at a university

    Developed by virtUOS at Osnabrück University — as the successor to the Stud.IP plugin Cliqr.

Installation

Abstimmbar runs as a Docker Compose stack of PostgreSQL, Django and Caddy on your own Linux server — with automatic HTTPS, sign-in via OIDC and optional LMS integration. The step-by-step guide assumes no prior Linux experience.