Maybe you’ve heard about Kahoot? Engaged in a game but always wondered about how to go about creating your own? Never heard of it but are curious? If you answered yes to any of these questions, stay tuned, as we dive into the fun world of Kahooting!

What is Kahoot? Kahoot is a “game-based learning platform.” meaning, that it facilitates teaching and learning through the use of an online, quick-paced game. Players log in to a game on their phone or computer, input a code to access the game assigned by their instructor, are shown questions and enter or choose a response. Speed adds points, which creates a competitive edge. The game can occur in real time during a class or presentation or can be accessed outside of class time for prep or review.

Why Kahoot? Kahoot is a very easy way to begin or break up a lecture or presentation, and get everyone involved with minimal risk of embarrassment. It also is a good gauge of what students know or believe, and can provide a way for me to correct misperceptions or clear up confusion.

What do I Kahoot? As an instructor, I create questions based on what my desired outcome is.

Is my goal simple engagement? Then I might ask some fun questions related to the topic or something relevant to what’s happening in our community, or a season, such as this question on Halloween (which also features a picture reveal):

If I want to see comprehension or content knowledge, my questions will reflect that:

As you can see, the “item stems” are not very long or complicated, which allows for quick play. Once the question is presented, students have 20 seconds (that can be adjusted) to choose their answer.

How do I create a Kahoot? It’s very easy to create a Kahoot game. Go to the site; https://create.kahoot.it and create an account. After that, you can start by clicking on the discover button and see popular games, but also search to see if there’s content already created for your topic that you can use. If you decide you want to create your own, click on the create button, and you’ll get this screen:

You can choose different options from all the drop down menus, and add as many questions as you like. Once you’re done, you’ll save it, and then it will be ready to play or invite others to play!

How long should my game be? It depends on the purpose. If it’s a stand-alone game, with the purpose of reviewing concepts, you can have more questions. I’ve found that the absolute max # of questions is 10. That gives newcomers time to learn how to play, and also allows for trends to develop and change-ups in the scoreboard to occur. Beyond that, and it loses its impact.

How do I invite users to my game? When you’re ready to play, you’ll click on “play,” and get the options on how you want the Kahoot to be played. In this case, I chose teach, which then opened another window with all sort of options. Once I’ve selected my options, I click on “play this Kahoot,” and the screen with the pin # emerges. You can either have students/participants open the game as an app, or go to the website (https://kahoot.it) and enter the pin #.

Any other tips?

Tip 1: I tend to use as many pictures as I can with my Kahoots, as can be seen with my group counseling theory Kahoot:

I find that it encourages more application/critical thinking that just plain regurgitation of content.

Tip 2: Also, I typically pause between questions to address the topic, learn what led to the different responses – even if there is just one wrong answer (a bar graph shows the distribution of answers).

Tip 3: Also, make sure they are prompted to only use “g-rated” nicknames.

Tip 4: Keep the sound on (it adds to the game-like feel) and don’t forget to stay for the end of the show so they can see who makes the podium – students get really frustrated when you exit out before that point!

Want to learn more? You can check it out at https://create.kahoot.it. And, here’s a quick overview: