Intro to Kahoot!
Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform with both ready-to-play games and tools to create unique custom quiz games. Ranging in cost from a free basic program to $14.99 per month for Kahoot!+ Max for teachers, Kahoot! can be accessible for any budget. Quiz creators can start with a pre-designed template or duplicate, combine and/or edit existing Kahoot!s. Visually the games are customizable and can incorporate YouTube videos. When playing, the teacher can host live in class or virtually via video conferencing, displaying both questions and answers on students’ devices. Students can play individually or in teams and the timing can be adjusted depending on the question’s complexity. This type of quiz can be used for assessment, to check student understanding and get feedback or to review previously covered material. Once completed, the teacher can download basic reports into a spreadsheet and create visual reports on class progress. The platform encourages sharing of Kahoot!s among users and games can be organized into folders by topic, etc.
Pros of Kahoot!
As an interactive game, Kahoot! is fun and can encourage student participation, while allowing teachers to confirm their students’ level of comprehension of the material already covered. Kahoot! also provides immediate feedback after each question, showing the class the correct answer and giving students a chance to learn from their mistakes, while giving the teacher real-time information on student understanding. The quizzes are highly customizable and can be adapted for students of all ages and abilities. The gamification can get students excited in reviewing material that they have already learned, helping to cement it in their minds. Since the game’s leaderboard only shows the top three players, it allows students to be competitive in an environment that doesn’t show who is doing poorly (win-win!). Additionally, the teacher is able to review which questions the class struggled with and knew easily after the Kahoot!, allowing them to know which subject topics need to be reviewed in class further.
Cons of Kahoot!
While Kahoot! can be engaging, it can also be a distraction if not used properly (e.g. students may focus more on the game aspect than on the content being taught). Since Kahoot! emphasizes answering questions the fastest, it can teach students that speed is more important than fully comprehending the questions or course material. Moreover, even for students who understand the material, they may not have the reaction time to answer quickly enough. The time limit on answering also restricts the types of questions that teachers can ask since questions that take time to calculate or involve deeper critical thinking skills do not fit within the Kahoot! model. Finally, Kahoot! requires a reliable internet connection and may not work properly in areas with poor connectivity. Glitches during class can interrupt students’ answering, changing their overall scores, and leading to frustration and disrupting the learning process. Students who do not have reliable internet access at home may also be at a disadvantage if Kahoot! is used remotely.
Online Review (from GetApp Canada):
Positive reviews praise how easy the platform is to use and that it is an excellent tool for remote teaching. Teachers have found that Kahoot! is great for student engagement and that it can get kids excited about different subjects that they might otherwise not be excited about otherwise. Reviewers also noted that the real-time data for teachers is extremely beneficial.
Negative reviews mostly focus on the limitations of the free basic Kahoot! platform. Apparently, it is difficult to find premade games that are compatible with the free version and when technical issues are encountered, customer service is inadequate to non-existent. Because the focus is on speed, some have found that students guess answers with an aim to be the fastest. Finally, many reviewers reported connectivity issues that affected response times and overall scores and noted that students must have a phone with data or access to a tablet in order to participate.
Kahoot! as the SAMR Model
| Substitution | Kahoot! can directly replace typical classroom evaluation methods like quizzes. |
| Augmentation | Kahoot! can allow you to insert videos and pictures into the quiz with ease and compare students’ success when these feature are added. |
| Modification | Kahoot! allows you to access pre-designed quizzes made by colleagues. |
| Redefinition | Kahoot! can allow you to get real-time results for students being quizzed in the classroom or at home. |
Kahoot! as the SECTIONS Model
| Students | High levels of engagement, students enjoy this visual and unique type of quiz. |
| Ease of Use | Functionally easy to use, so much so that it reduces frustration levels and stress around formative assessment. Creating the quizzes may be time-consuming, but unlikely to take any longer than normal quiz creation. |
| Costs | Teacher level account is $5.99 to $14.99/month depending on subscription level, however the free platform could meet the needs of many classrooms. |
| Teaching Functions | Because students are engaged, formative assessment for content knowledge can easily be performed. |
| Interaction | Energetic and lively, Kahoot! is proven to reduce boredom. |
| Organizational Issues | Requires a strong WiFi network that can support many devices.Requires the availability of technological devices across all students. |
| Networking | Kahoot! encourages teachers to collaborate and share their quizzes. |
| Security and Privacy | Kahoot! uses end-to-end standard encryption and encryption at rest. Students can use pseudonyms for an additional layer of privacy in the platform. |
How would we recommend using Kahoot!?
Based on our inquiry research and knowledge of the BC Curriculum, we can see a couple situations where Kahoot! would be quite useful in the classroom. Since BC’s curricular competencies focus heavily on being able to apply and use content knowledge to solve problems and think critically, Kahoot!’s testing of basic knowledge does not make sense as an end-of-unit summative assessment. Where Kahoot! would be much more useful is as a tool for students and teachers to check their understanding, such as a few simple questions in lieu of an exit slip at the end of a lesson or as a review quiz leading up to a final project or test. This way, both the teacher and student can know if enough content knowledge has been gained to successfully showcase critical and higher-level thinking.
An example of this in action would be in a 5E unit for middle school science, the teacher could run a Kahoot! at the end of the Explanation lesson to confirm whether students actually understood and retained what was explained. This would inform the teacher whether or not the students have enough knowledge to be successful in the elaboration phase where they would then apply that knowledge to create something of their own!
In conclusion, if prepared by a teacher, Kahoot! quizzes are at most an augmentative technology, but if students are tasked with creating the Kahoot!s to demonstrate their learning, this tool can be used to redefine learning in the virtual or physical classroom.
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