Use “KAHOOT” to add excitement and fun to Class Quiz

Want to get rid of those boring quizzes and hours spent in checking them? Try Kahoot to engage your students in a fun learning environment.

Kahoot is a free game based learning tool that makes learning FUN. It is an extremely useful educational technology tool that requires minimum technical expertise for creating quiz, surveys and discussions. It can be used for learners of all ages and for all subjects. Currently this platform offers 41 languages to create exciting and engaging learning experiences.

The quiz is usually created by the educator/ trainer and the students make use of devices such as computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones, to respond to the quiz. It is a synchronous type of interaction where the questions are displayed on teacher’s screen and students have to reply using their devices. Watch this short video about How to use Kahoot.

How to use Kahoot

In order to start using Kahoot, user has to register at getkahoot.com, using personal email address. Once registered, users can have access to thousands of Public Kahoots already prepared by other individuals, teachers and professionals or can make his/her own Kahoot. The user has to project the Kahoot in the classroom, so all the learners can see the questions and responses. Students do not need to register or use their email address to participate in the quiz, poll or discussion. When the quiz is launched, a game pin appears on the screen. All participants need to have a device (mobile, tablet or computer) with internet access. Using their devices, students can log in to Kahoot.it using the game pin and their nick names. For a class quiz, students can use their roll numbers, names or nick names. Use of nick names allows users to stay anonymous for a poll or discussion. Anyone using an inappropriate name can be excluded by the teacher, simply by clicking on the participant’s name on teacher’s screen.

It is a teacher led quiz,that allows you to use pictures and You Tube videos to make it interesting. Quiz questions are displayed on teacher’s screen whereas students use their devices to key in the answers.

The names and marks of top 5 participants are displayed at the end of each question. Which creates a motivating and competitive environment. The fact that real time results are not only based on correct responses but also the time taken by each student to answer a questions, results in a higher level of competitiveness, motivation and engagement. Also, the back ground music adds a touch of excitement.

At the end of the quiz, it generates a report with details about the participants’ response to each question. The report spreadsheet can be downloaded and is a useful analysis tool for the teachers. It helps teachers to analyze students’ level of understanding of the topic under discussion and provides an insight about topics to reteach, in real time. The teacher can also share the results with students using google drive or social media.

Different ways of using Kahoot

An alternative to boring quiz

Instead of using the same old paper and pen quiz, use Kahoot for a lively quiz session. It can be used for all subjects and all grades. Personally I feel it would be convenient to use it for students of Grade 1 onward, as students have already learnt to read small text. Explore these examples of Mathematics class quiz for grade 1 and grade 6. They are helpful in adding fun and excitement to a boring lesson. In order to make it more exciting, small prizes can also be given to the winners.

Introducing a new topic

A Kahoot can give a quick picture of students’ prior knowledge of a particular topic or subject. Instead of providing new information by lecture method, start with a Kahoot and then discuss each question to discuss details of the topic.

Discussion initiator

A quick Kahoot discussion question on the screen can help get attention of everyone in the class/ meeting.  Exploring and discussing the correct and incorrect options, once the quiz is over can lead to deeper level of understanding.

For training purposes, Kahoot can be used by incorporating a mixture of information, some already provided and discussed and other prior information of the participants. If some participant are not aware of the unknown information, that can be explained while discussing the quiz answers.

Preparing easy to evaluate Surveys

Kahoot can be used for preparing a survey and get response of relevant parties. The survey results can easily be analyzed through the results available in spreadsheet. Surveys can be used in school, colleges or universities for various purposes. Use of survey, in class to get students’ feedback about relevant issues, may result in more involvement and engagement of students and can help improve the quality of teaching. The opportunity to use nick names and stay anonymous helps getting genuine feedback. Consider this example of a University Faculty satisfaction survey.

Reinforcing the taught concepts

As per the Review and Retention Strategy, a Kahoot can be used at the end of the sequence of the lesson as a recap of the knowledge learned.

Learning through Repetition

The “Ghost Mode” in Kahoot allows the students to play the same quiz multiple times. It can be helpful in reinforcing learning through repetition.

Learners creating their own Kahoots

The teacher can also ask learners to create their own quizzes on a related subject or topic discussed in class. This will result in learners researching for relevant content and building up the knowledge in order to create their own quizzes. Creating the quiz, choosing questions and answers will also help them memorize the concepts and theories. Learner created quizzes can be played back in the classroom. This will not only empower learners to become leaders of their own learning but will also assist teacher. The teacher can assess student understanding of the topic based on the content used for preparing Kahoot quiz and explanations given for correct answers.

Adding an extra layer of Competition

The excitement and competition may increase multi fold by letting students from different locations to play a Kahoot game at the same time, using screen sharing technology such as Skype, Google Hangout or Periscope. A virtual conference can be used to initiate competition between classes or schools in the same region or even globally by using Kahoot Global Classroom.

Advantages of using Kahoot in classroom

• It adds fun and excitement to a boring lesson and increase class participation
• It helps the teachers understand the weak areas of their students and assists in planning reinforcement of those weak areas
• It is a helpful tool for self-evaluation, as it challenge students in “Ghost Mode” to evaluate their own understanding and reinforce learning.
• It is an exciting tool for engaging students having short attention span
• It can be used to collate answers from participants easily and in an organized manner
• It is an interesting way of giving students a break during a long lecture
• It is an extremely helpful tool to get a quick survey of students’ feedback about issues such as the teacher’s pace of the lesson or method of instruction
• It can be used as an ice breaker in the first lesson
• It is a great tool for designing instant polls

Using Kahoot in schools with minimum technological resources

Ideally Kahoot can be used effectively in schools, college and universities where “Bring your Own Device” philosophy is followed. However, in many schools, mobile phones and personal devices are not allowed for security reasons. In such instances, the use of this gaming platform will remain limited but can be utilized in following ways

• Working with groups of students and providing them with few laptops with broadband access to answer the questions, in class.
• Using Kahoot only for revising the syllabus before the midterm or final exams, using computer lab
• Using Kahoot to conduct the inter-school or intra-school annual quiz competition.

Important points to consider while using Kahoot

• Avoid making quiz with long duration if students are using their mobile networks and devices. It is always better to provide students with the institution’s Wi-Fi connection. Also long duration may result in disengagement and fatigue.
• Before deciding to use this tool in classroom consider the users’ devices. If some students do not have smart phones or their phone are old and slow, consider providing them some other device. Disconnected users may feel dis engaged and may create problem in class.
• Kahoot is suitable for questions of 95 characters or less. It can be used for MCQ’s or true false questions but it would be difficult to use them for scenario based questions.
• Students have to choose from the given options and cannot key in their own response so it is not suitable for open ended questions.

How would you like to use it in your classroom? Hit comment and let me know, I would love to hear about your experiences of using Kahoot. If you need help creating a Kahoot or integrating it with the curriculum, send me an email. I read and respond to all emails.