[1]Engaging Classroom Tool Encourages Students to Take Ownership of Learning & Move From “Learner to Leader”!
Kahoot! was launched in 2013 as a game-based classroom response system. Easily accessible by any device with a web browser and Internet connection, Kahoot! gives teachers a new and engaging method to test student knowledge and encourage classroom participation. Not only is Kahoot! used by teachers and professors, but by businesses and other users seeking a fun social experience.
Kahoot! [2] utilizes a game-based pedagogy that encourages research and creation in learners, which is then shared by the teacher and learners to their peers. Kahoot!’s game-based system is more entertaining than traditional quiz methods, pulling students together as they attempt to select the most correct answers and end up on the leaderboard. Since its conception, Kahoot! has been used in classrooms around the world by teachers of various grade levels.
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Creating an account with Kahoot! is free for all users, whether you are a teacher, student, businessman or simply want to enjoy it socially. The process only takes 30 seconds and only asks for basic profile information:
- Visit the Kahoot! registration page [4]
- Select your role as a user
- Provide your school (if applicable)
- Enter a username, email and password
- Select “Create Account”
Your account role is not set in stone - it can be changed by visiting your profile on your Kahoot! homepage. Your role does not change the appearance or function of your Kahoot! account - all users can still create their own Kahoot!s, access another user’s Kahoot! and so on.
Using Kahoot! in the Classroom
Kahoot!’s game-based pedagogy [5] is based around a loop from “learner to leader,” where students are encouraged to become leaders through the research, creation and presentation of their own quizzes. Conducting research on a given topic spurs students to learn and pass on that knowledge to their classmates. The cycle is not only empowering for the students, but fun when carried to completion.
The loop starts when teachers present their own Kahoot! in front of the class and have students answer the questions. The students then work to create their own quizzes about the topic, doing research and learning more about the subject. Once the students create their own Kahoot!, they amp up their leadership skills by playing them back to their classmates. Through the quizzes, teachers are able to assess the student’s knowledge of the topic at hand via the quality of the questions and answer selections.
A great feature of Kahoot! is that it saves results for each quiz that is played. When players join a quiz, they are required to enter a nickname to be identified by; this nickname is listed in the quiz results, along with the answer each player chose and whether they were right or wrong. The recorded scores are saved to the presenter’s Kahoot! profile, where they can be downloaded and saved for the teacher’s personal records. This makes grading via Kahoot! a breeze!
Kahoot!ing Your way to Improved Outcomes and Increased Engagement
When games are used in the classroom, students have the opportunity to learn while having fun. Students feel encouraged to excel because they are playing a game, not simply taking a pen and paper quiz. There is a great video of year 9 students in Eastbourne playing a Kahoot! [6] where a student is very excited to discover if his answer is correct. A celebration ensues by both himself and his classmates, showing how Kahoot! makes learning a more entertaining experience.
David Ceron, a 4th grade writing teacher at Ruben Hinojosa Elementary School, experienced such a huge improvement on his students’ scores that he had to share it with Kahoot!; though he only found out about Kahoot! three weeks before the exam, his scores went from 79% passing the previous year to 88% passing this year [7]. He credits a large part of the increase to Kahoot!, which helped his students enjoy learning before the writing exam.
Kahoot! is not limited to grade school education; Jorick Sheerens’ college class at Mediacollege in Amsterdam [8] showed their love for the game-based response system with laughter and cheers. Students of all ages benefit from using Kahoot! in the classroom. Since most students have easy access to smart devices nowadays - whether owning a smartphone or iPad or using school-distributed devices - Kahoot! makes group learning both simple and enjoyable.
Related Posts (if the above topic is of interest, you might want to check these out):
Gamifying the Classroom with Minecraft – the Possibilities are Powerful and Endless! [9]
Socrative – A 21st Century Way to Assess
The Answer Pad – Enhancing Student Engagement in a BYOD or 1 to 1 Environment [10]
Related Posts
[11]8 Engaging Ways to use Technology in the Classroom to Create Lessons That Aren’t Boring [11]- [12]20 Fun Free Tools for Interactive Classroom Collaboration [12]
[13]10 of the Most Engaging Uses of Instructional Technology (with Dozens of Resources and Tools) [13]
[14]Increase Student Engagement with the Top Hat Lecture Platform [14]
About Jessica Marello [15]
Jessica Marello graduated Alfred University with a Bachelors degree in English and a Spanish minor. She writes articles for HubPages [16] about video games and other topics. She also writes freelance for Host The Game [17], a Minecraft server provider. You can find her on Google+ [18], as well as on her personal WordPress blog [19].