K is for Kahoot

Extend learning communities beyond the classroom

For a review game “killer app” recommendation, Kahoot is by far at the top of my list.

Kahoot, if you have not yet had the pleasure of being acquainted, quite frankly, is a riot no matter what your age.

 

 

Check out this short video to see Kahoot in action:

https://youtu.be/b6gER64oFgA

One of the best parts of my job as a professional development coordinator working with inservice teachers is to model the use of tools with the explicit intention of sharing the visceral experience and then unpacking together how the tool will support learning and engagement.

To that end on the opening day of our summer three-day workshop with teachers, Peoples Academy Middle Level educator Alex Bacheller and I decided to create review games with Kahoot as an icebreaker get-to-know-you activity, ones that modeled a way to learn more about each other by having us share in a playful way the goals and passions we hope to accomplish and explore in the coming year.

It’s a process we hope teachers will adopt in supporting students’ development of Personal Learning Plans.

Alex first created a google form with the questions:

• What are your strengths?
• What are your personal interests?
• Choose the core value most important to you in the list below.
• What is one personal goal you have for the future? (This year, 5 years, 7 years…)

She then created the Kahoot quiz built from these results.

Participants in the group competed to answer who in their midst shared that they liked “Anything adventurous and outside! I love mountain biking, trail running, skiing and paddle boarding” and whose personal goal was to “start an outdoor sporting good boutique, rental and repair adventure center that is a woman specific company”  or “to get back into the art studio.”

We were able to, in a few short minutes of playing, get a powerful sense of who we were as goal-setters and dreamers. We even understood quickly who in the group would make good goals partners for the coming year.

I’ve created a short video tutorial demonstrating how to quickly create your own Kahoot or to borrow from the extensive shared library to help you get started.

 

Kahoot a is a great tool not just for creating review games, but for extending the learning community beyond the classroom in a targeted, structured and efficient manner.

Need to catch up on your edtech ABCs? Check out the full series here.