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Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that students love

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Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

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Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home.

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This page provides simple step-by-step instructions on how to use Kahoot! with your class

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How to Play Kahoot! in Class – Instruction @ UH

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Before playing a Kahoot! in classroom, you need to create a Kahoot! account and Kahoot! quiz. If you have not done them, you can view the following tutorials.

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This blog post goes through different ways teachers can use Kahoot! in the classroom

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One of my favorite technology tools from last year was Kahoot. It allows you to create interactive games made from a series of multiple choices questions. Students can use any web-enabled device to connect to the game using a unique code. Students get to choose their own screen names. After each question a leaderboard is presented that shows the current standings. Also, onn each device Kahoot will show the student exactly what place they are in.

There is some versatility in the questioning. You can embed videos, images, and diagrams. Better yet, the creator can even search the extensive database for Kahoots that were created by other users. It's super easy to copy them over to your own profile and play them as they are. You can also edit questions to meet the needs of your students. There's no need to re-invent the wheel if it's already been done for you.

4 Ways to Use Kahoot in the Classroom

1. Review for Assessment - The main way we used Kahoot in our classes is as a review for an assessment. Rather than give out a packet of review information, we would play Kahoot. In a typical 40 minute class period I could usually get through two 25 question games. The part I really like about Kahoot is it will show you the student answers as a percentage for each letter choice. I was able to easily stop the game if I came across a misconception or questions where less than 70% of the students had gotten it wrong. It does not show who got it wrong, so you don't have to worry about embarrassing anyone.

2. Check for Understanding - Kahoot could also be a great way to break up the middle of the class to check for understanding. You could easily throw together a 3-5 question Kahoot and have students answer the questions after they were presented with some new information. It's simply a fun formative assessment. This would provide you with immediate feedback. I could also see it being used as an end of class activity.

3. Team Up - I prefer to have every student adding value to an activity, but you could easily make this a team game where you split the class into several groups and take the total of each of their scores at the end. My only concern with this method would be that one students could tell everyone else what the answer is. You might want to throw in a rule about talking amongst others is forbidden. This format would benefit the lower students in your class that give up after 2-3 questions because they realize they don't have a shot to win.

4. Have Students Create Their Own Kahoots - I'm a huge fan of student choice projects. Students could take the material from a particular unit and create their own Kahoots. You could then spend the review day playing each of the Kahoots as a class or in smaller groups. Students would love this.

Integrating technology into your class doesn't have to be terrifying. Kahoot is about as easy as it gets.

What other technologies do you love using in your class? Let me know in the comments.

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One of my favorite technology tools from last year was Kahoot. It allows you to create interactive games made from a series of multiple choices questions. Students can use any web-enabled device to connect to the game using a unique code. Students get to choose their own screen names.

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This website allows teachers to create chatrooms where students can send drawings and messages

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PALMS Backchannel Chat | The new alternative to Todaysmeet

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How to Use YoTeach! to Create a Classroom Backchannel

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How to Use YoTeach! to Create a Classroom Backchannel

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This video provides a tutorial on how to create a chatroom with YoTeach!

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How to Use Yo Teach! to Create a Classroom Backchannel

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How to Use Yo Teach! to Create a Classroom Backchannel

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This blog post provides information about YoTeach! along with three ways to use it in the classroom

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When Today's Meet closed down last year, I was really upset. I had used it as my go-to backchanneling tool for a number of years. and, given the outcry on Twitter, I was not the only one who was heartbroken and in need of a new tool. Lo and behold, the fine folks at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University came up with a tool to mimic Today's Meet, and it might even be better (more features and no 140 character limit!). It is called Yo Teach!

For those who don't know, a back Channel is a digital conversation that can happen synchronously or asynchronously. You often see these when people tweet with a hashtag at a conference to have conversations digitally.

Yo Teach! allows users to enter their name and type comments that are displayed on the website. Rooms can be locked down by teachers or made public, a PDF transcription of the conversation can be generated, pictures even can be uploaded and annotated by the poster or others in the conversation. The conversations can also be password protected. ( See here for all features and how to videos )

1. Title your room and give it a description.

2. Check the boxes if you want to hide the room, password protect it, and enable admin features (I highly suggest doing this as this is where you can erase comments, generate the PDF, and have much more control of the "room".)

3. Hit create room.

4. Enter a nickname, agree to the terms, hit submit.

5. Get "talking"

If you enable the admin tools, you will have a pre-generated QR code, as well as a link, that you can share with students so they can access the room.

Pro tip: Have a set of norms typed out before you open the room and paste these as the first post. This way, everyone knows what is expected of them. My biggest norm is "if you would not showed it out in class, don't type it here".

Tools like Yo Teach! give an opportunity for all students to have a voice. Introverted learners, students with exceptionalities, English language learners (or English-speaking students in foreign language classes) all have a safe space and time for thought before sharing.

I use them in my classroom to give voice to those who might not otherwise participate. One year, for example, 1/3 of my students in a grade 11U English class were English language learners. They had brilliant ideas but weren't speaking class because they were not confident in their Mastery of the language. When I opened up the backchannel, it gave them time to think and in some cases even use tools like Google Translate, to develop their ideas before sharing. It most definitely made the conversations we had in that class far more rich than they would have been without a backchannel.

1. Use a backchannel during presentations so the audience can ask questions and make comments (they can be moderated if you enable the admin tools). This works in classrooms, school assemblies and/or faculty meetings. Backchannels in these events allows the audience to ask questions without interrupting the flow of the speaker.

2. It is also great during conferencing times when a student might have a question but the teacher is otherwise occupied with another student or group of students. Others in the class might be able to offer a solution before the teacher is free - like we always say - the smartest in the room is the room itself.

3. Use the picture upload or draw feature to capture ideas visually. You could annotate text, draw complex molecular structures, the sky is the limit.

This post is part of annual NaBloWriMo exercise wherein I write a blog post every work day in November.

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When Today's Meet closed down last year, I was really upset. I had used it as my go-to backchanneling tool for a number of years. and, given the outcry on Twitter, I was not the only one who was heartbroken and in need of a new tool.

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A free page that allows you to create fun animated gifs

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Free creative tools for everyone. Including the world famous Brush Ninja animated gif maker. Use for free on your web browser on any device.

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An article that provides tips and ideas for including GIFs in the classroom

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But the GIF didn't just represent an aha moment that added to my life-skill toolbox-it also transformed aspects of my teaching practice.

It's All About the Motion

When I thought about why the GIF was so transformative in terms of my learning, I realized that it was the combination of motion with images that made the difference. Neither diagrams nor videos worked alone, but when the two mediums were paired, the lesson clicked.

I asked myself how many times I'd presented my biology students with a static diagram and an explanation at different times... and immediately understood why neither sank in with some of my students. Traditional images, I reasoned, could help students learn the content I was presenting to a certain extent, but GIFs could lead to deeper learning.

My first experiment with GIFs in the classroom was with my environmental science section. I transformed a diagram that showed energy locations in an ecosystem into one that showcased how the energy flowed through it instead. Previously, in the same lesson I would have simply pointed at a series of static pictures and said, "This is where the energy is going," but with a GIF, my students could actually see that flow.

I saw immediately that they enjoyed seeing movement and that it helped them to visualize the content I was teaching-so much so that they requested more. That was when I took the approach one step further and put the creation of GIFs into their own hands, using Keynote.

Soon, multiple static images, including their own drawings, were re-created to form moving masterpieces covering everything from food webs to the path that food takes to reach their homes to global weather patterns.

GIFs Work Across Content Areas

Nearly anything can be transformed into a GIF, no matter what the subject. Imagine, for example, seeing numbers move in a mathematical equation for the conversion of logarithmic function into its exponential form so that the students could visualize the translation of the numbers between forms; check out this Reddit for other cool ideas for math GIFs. Here are a few examples of how they can be used to demonstrate phenomena, but they can also be used to create writing prompts and in ELA classrooms.

Tools for Creating GIFs

Depending on the technology available to you and your students, GIFs can be made in a variety of ways. You can export either a Keynote or Slides presentation as a GIF; when you export it this way, all of the transitions, animations, and movements on your slides will flow in a short cycle, depending on the time interval you set to be between each item. Another option is a website like Giphy, where the GIF maker tool can be used to create an animation in one of two ways: organizing a set of pictures into an animation (similar to creating a flipbook on a loop) or trimming videos into short, chunked pieces of information. Storyboard That also has a GIF creator, and you can export Screencastify recordings as GIFs, too.

Tips for Making Effective GIFs

If you're creating your own GIFs or asking your students to create their own, keep the following in mind:

Plan: Once you've got your topic in mind, storyboard the message. What are the key elements that the animation should have? How are they going to be displayed? What is the sequence going to look like? These questions should all be answered in the planning process.

Keep it short: An educational GIF animation should be around 10 to 20 seconds in length. Brevity provides an opportunity to chunk material that you are looking to present in the animation. For example, instead of focusing on the nitrogen cycle as a whole, create an animation that focuses on the transition of atmospheric nitrogen to the soil.

Also, keeping it short allows for the learner to rewatch it multiple times in a brief period.

Be creative: GIFs are fundamentally eye-catching, but they're even more so if the graphics you use are, too. When you draw part of a diagram for a GIF, think about attractive colors and shapes that can demonstrate a concept. The more engaging and fun the animation is, the more those watching will develop a deeper and enduring connection to it.

Include humor: There's a place for humor in instructional GIFs, just like there is in many pop culture GIFs. Students will appreciate humor in GIFs that you create and be more engaged if they have permission to infuse their own creations with humor. Also, if you can make students laugh with an instructional GIF, chances are they'll remember it better.

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But the GIF didn't just represent an aha moment that added to my life-skill toolbox-it also transformed aspects of my teaching practice. When I thought about why the GIF was so transformative in terms of my learning, I realized that it was the combination of motion with images that made the difference.

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6 Ways to Use Animated GIFs in Your Teaching (plus Tools to Create Them)

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6 Ways to Use Animated GIFs in Your Teaching (plus Tools to Create Them)

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Ideas on how to use GIFs in the classroom

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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6 Ways to Use Animated GIFs in Your Teaching (plus Tools to Create Them)

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A platform that provides reviews of educational web tools and apps to help educators, teachers, and students integrate technology in education.