We all know the importance of data in the classroom. We also know that students can lose interest and become unmotivated if they are constantly being assessed. What if I told you there are many sites that allow teachers to EASILY create assessments (many times you can use already created assessments/test items). Furthermore, most of these sites will organize your students' data into a convenient spreadsheet with graphs so you can quickly see who needs your immediate attention. I'll be reviewing two main tools during this issue.
Please feel free to comment with any other suggestions of tools or ways that you think these websites can be used!
Please feel free to comment with any other suggestions of tools or ways that you think these websites can be used!
Kahoot is one of my favorite tools for formative assessment because it is EASY to use and FUN for the students! Here are the basic steps to using Kahoot in your classroom.
Step 1: Create Your Account
Step 1: Create Your Account
- Visit getkahoot.com and create your account. For future reference, teachers always use this link to access Kahoot, while students will always visit kahoot.it The thinglink below explains the home screen. Hover your mouse over the image to interact with it. Click here to see my blog post about using ThingLink in the classroom!
Step 2: Creating Your First Kahoot!
- Creating your first Kahoot is easy, just follow the steps as you're prompted.
- Tips for creating a Kahoot!
- Be careful about assigning a proper amount of time on each question. Students tend to revolt when you only give them 20 seconds on a math problem that takes over a minute to solve!
- Adding pictures or tools can be helpful for students, but if you plan to use the picture for the main part of your problem/question be sure it will project clearly on the board. Sometimes they get fuzzy which leads to more student confusion.
- I almost always make the correct answer be the first answer choice. This helps me when creating quizzes quickly. Later in the game options, you'll be able to shuffle answer choices which will prevent the students from catching on.
- Only 2 answer choices are necessary. When doing true/false questions, consider switching the order to catch the students off guard.
- Have fun! Kahoot is a lot of fun for teachers and for students!
- The two images above show the next screen that you'll see. I would encourage you to play the classic game without team/shared devices unless shared devices are necessary. The smaller ratio to devices 1:1 or 2:1 will allow for greater teamwork.
- I always set my options to meet my needs. If you followed my advice and made the first answer choice the correct answer choice, be sure to randomize order of answers. I almost never have the Kahoot automatically move through questions.
- Students will need to visit kahoot.it (different than the website teachers access).
- Students will enter the game pin as shown below. I allow students to create funny names as long as their real name is in the name so I know which score belongs to which student. If you are uncomfortable with this, tell students to only use their first name.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You just set up your first Kahoot! I hope you enjoy using this program with your class in the future!
Keep reading to learn about Quizizz a very similar program with similar benefits. There are a few features that set Quizizz apart from Kahoot! that I appreciated using in my class.
Keep reading to learn about Quizizz a very similar program with similar benefits. There are a few features that set Quizizz apart from Kahoot! that I appreciated using in my class.
Quizizz is VERY similar to Kahoot! but it offers 3 main differences (I'm sure there are more, but these two stick out the most).
- No questions are timed! I loved this feature because I felt that some students would become unmotivated if they fell behind in the leaderboard because they weren't as fast as their peers. With Quizizz, the format is still the same, but students work at their own pace. The question and answer choices appear on the student device instead of teachers projecting the questions.
- Students work cooperatively to earn points rather than working against each other. Again, this cuts down on competitiveness. Let's say you have a Quizizz with 8 questions and 20 students. There are a possible 160 points your class can score (8x20=160). I would always display the number of questions correct. If there are 160 points, I would probably set a goal of 135 questions. That encouraged students to support one another and cheer each other along rather than shouting negative comments. Make sure you zoom in so that student scores aren't projected!
- Question banks are searchable. Unlike Kahoot! where you have to copy an entire Kahoot to use public resources, you can search and only copy a couple questions from public Quizizzes (is that even dramatically correct?) I liked this feature because it gave me the freedom to truly customize my Quizizz.
BE SURE TO LOOK AT YOUR DATA!
Quizizz organizes your feedback by student and by question. This means that you can see which questions each student misses and look to see which students missed certain questions. This is VERY helpful when you get ready to pull groups!
GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN! I think that both of these tools are very powerful in a teacher's arsenal. As always, please comment with other strategies for using these or with questions! I'll get back to you as soon as possible.