Top Hat Classroom is an interactive, cloud-based teaching platform which URI has an official partnership with.

Using Top Hat, instructors can pose polling questions and ask students to respond using their phones or laptops. Top Hat quickly collects and visualizes student responses, giving instructors a snapshot of student learning to inform class discussions and deliver engaging experiences for students in online, blended and face-to-face courses.

Top Hat is always free for professors and offers special pricing for URI students:
—-$28 per semester
—-$43 annual

Visit URI Campus Store for details. Learn Top Hat plan features.

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Top Hat Ace: AI-powered help for educators and students

Ace, Top Hat’s new AI-powered assistant, is designed to help create teaching and learning experiences for both educators and students, Ace offers AI-enabled support for studying and course prep.
Learn more and request demo >>

How to Log on to Top Hat

Navigate to cloud-based Top Hat at tophat.com, and select Login (as a Professor or Student) or Signup (if you don’t have an account). You’ll start by selecting your school and then enter your account details.

Log on to Top hat

How to Access Top Hat in Brightspace

In Brightspace, select the course you are teaching, navigate to Content tab on the Nav bar, select Existing Activities–>External Learning Tools–>URI Top Hat Registration to access Top Hat in Brightspace.

Log on to Brightspace

Access to Top Hat is integrated into the University Single-Sign-on (SSO) solution via the Office 365 portal at https://web.uri.edu/its/office-365/. If you are having problems with your SSO credentials, please go to https://password.uri.edu to reset your password. This process will synchronize all of your passwords except eCampus.

Getting Started Guides for Professors

Covers Top Hat basics, from creating your account through setting up your first course, to more advanced features like adding a teaching assistant and more.

Quick start guide for professors

Getting Started Guides for Students

Covers the basics of accessing Top Hat, recording attendance, answering in-class questions, checking grades, completing assignments, and more.

Quick start guide for students

Using Top Hat to Facilitate Content Delivery and Assessment for

Synchronous Lectures || Asynchronous Lectures. || Tests & Exams. || Labs. || Virtual Office Hours

Accessing Instructors Resources for Creating and Managing Courses

Training and Resources

Top Hat Knowledge Base

Answers to common questions and how-to articles

View Knowledge Base

Top Hat Webinars

Live and recorded webinars and tutorials on various topics

View webinars

Top Hat University

Training to elevate your teaching with technology tools from Top Hat

Access Top Hat University

For Assistance and Technical Support

URI Service Desk

Due to increased demands for support, all support requests must be logged as a ticket. Please submit your service ticket request to IT Service Desk.

Phone: 401-874-4357
Email: helpdesk@uri.edu
Walk-in: Lower level of the library

To receive immediate assistance:
Connect to a live service technician with Zoom
(active when available).

Top Hat Technical Support

Contact Top Hat technical support directly, if you are having difficulty using Top Hat, or are interested in learning to use Top Hat to enhance your online teaching.

Connor Clarkson, Account Executive
Email: connor.clarkson@tophatmonocle.com
Cell phone: #: 647-697-8109

Shannon Toms Customer Success Manager
(for current Top Hat users)
Email: shannon.toms@tophatmonocle.com
Cell phone: #: 647-990-0340
Schedule a meeting

Carrie Poteck Enterprise Customer Success Manager
(for new professors looking to use Top Hat)
Email: carrie.poteck@tophatmonocle.com
Cell phone: #: 437-373-5891