Kahoot!

Have you ever wanted to add Gamification to your courses?  Gamification has become popular in education and business as a way to use game design elements and concepts in areas that are not typically thought of in a game context.  Gamification is a way to encourage collaboration and team work as well as build leadership skills, jump-start a discussion or simply check-the-pulse of your class.  Gamification can include non-technology related activities, but there are technology tools, such as Kahoot! that make incorporating gamification into your courses easy!

Kahoot! is a free gamification cloud-based application (and the creators have promised it will always be free), which lets you set up  games (known as kahoots) in just minutes.  These kahoots work on any devices with an Internet connection and can be saved privately so they are available for your future use or you can share kahoots with other instructors.  Players do not have to set up an account and kahoots are simple to play, using a single click response.  Instructors have control over the response time, which makes this application useful for introducing a new concept as well as measuring understanding and mastery later in the course. Kahoots also let instructors insert videos and diagrams to make games dynamic and engaging.

Recently Kahoot! introduced their team-play concept, which works  great in a group learning environment.  The team-play concept also eliminates the need for every student to have a device.  Only one member of the team needs to respond for the group.  Additionally, the team-player application lets the instructor identify individual team members, which simplifies assigning points to a kahoot, if desired.  Points are assigned based on the correct answer and response time.  Therefore, if multiple teams respond with the right answer, the team with the quickest response time receives the most points.  This adds a fun/competitive element to the learning process.  The results for each kahoot can be exported and saved in a spreadsheet format, making future gradebook updates simple and convenient.

While Kahoot! is typically used in a classroom setting, you can also use Kahoot! with virtual meeting applications for your online classes. Create a kahoot for a live exam review and add a new dimension to your online courses.  Kahoot! works whether your students are in the same room or across the globe.

Are you excited about the possibilities of easily adding gamification to your courses with this application?  For more information about how to start creating your own kahoots or to search for existing kahoots you can use in your courses, visit:  https://getkahoot.com/how-it-works.