Rationale

This software is very useful in order to implement a flipped classroom style. Effectively, for this to work, students should come to class having already read the material and being familiar with the content, so that they are in a solid position to answer questions in an informed manner. This way, using kahoot would allow students to get some practice, but more interestingly, it will also allow tutors to target common mistakes and clarify any misunderstandings.

Successes

This is the first year I have used this and so I only planned to use it in a couple of classes as an experiment. The result was that students very much enjoyed it and they requested I used it for all my classes. Consequently, I make as much use of it as possible.

The nature of the software allows for me to stop the questions, move on to something else, and then go back to using Kahoot; this has also proved very effective in maintaining students’ attention.

Lessons Learnt

It takes a couple of classes for students to get used to the routine of going to the Kahoot page, logging in and linking to the exercise, which at the beginning can be time-consuming. After a short while, students get very efficient at going through the process and they access Kahoot much more quickly. This is why I would suggest that it is only worth implementing it if there is a sense of continuity. Otherwise, if it is just a one off, it may not be worth the disruption.

Challenges

It is necessary to ask all students to ensure that they have a suitable electronic device with them and that their device has wifi access.

It takes some practice to gauge what the optimum amount of time is for students to answer questions, ie. too little time makes it stressful but too much time makes it boring. Students feedback and practice was the best guide for me. At the moment, I set most questions to take 30 seconds or up to 1 minute, depending on difficulty and this seems to work best for the particular kind of questions I ask.

Scalability

Scalability is not an issue. The whole point of using this software is to allow all students to engage and get instant feedback, regardless of the size of the class.

Suggestions for Transferability

I originally used this on my grammar lectures, but given the positive response from students, I am now using it on my culture and history classes too. This is a good way to get understanding and to make sure that everyone has done the reading before coming to class. Because to students it feels a bit like a game, it is a good activity to do even if it is just for 10 mins. before the end of the class.

Links

Kahoot, a game-based digital learning platform https://getkahoot.com/  (freely available online)

It allows open questions as well as multiple choice ones. It is also possible to attach pictures to the questions, which can be helpful and entertaining.