Back
Classroom Tool

Student Picker 🎲

Randomly select students fairly. Perfect for calling on students or forming groups.

Students

Pick Student

Enter your class list and pick a student at random. The point is fairness: cold-calling by memory reliably over-selects the same confident students and overlooks the quiet ones.

Random selection also changes how a class listens. When anyone might be asked, everyone prepares an answer, which is a different room from one where volunteers carry the lesson.

How to use it

  1. Enter your class list.
  2. Pick a name when you want to direct a question.
  3. Continue through the lesson, re-picking as needed.

Making cold-calling work rather than terrify

  • Ask the question before naming the student, so the whole class thinks about it rather than only the one selected.
  • Give thinking time between the question and the name. A few seconds substantially improves the quality of answers.
  • Let students pass to a neighbour and come back, which keeps participation without making it a public test.
  • Use it for questions with a range of valid responses rather than single right answers, so being picked is less exposing.
  • Be consistent. Random selection used occasionally feels like being singled out; used routinely it becomes normal.

Frequently asked questions

Is random cold-calling good practice?
It is well supported when handled carefully. It raises participation across the class, though it works best when the question comes before the name and students have thinking time.
What about students with anxiety?
Give advance warning that you use random selection, allow passing to a neighbour, and favour questions with several valid answers. The predictability of the system matters more than the randomness.
Why not just ask for volunteers?
Because the same students volunteer. Relying on hands up means a small group answers most questions while the rest disengage, which random selection prevents.