Friday 31 October 2014

Vlog: How to Kahoot! (Updated with a new idea)


Hi everyone!  Here's a short video that I recorded to show you how easy it is to make a and use Kahoot.

Kahoot is a great web-based program to enhance student leaning.  I have used it as an assessment tool, and as a review tool.  Students really enjoy the game aspect of the activity, and there are a number of tools that educators may find useful.  As an assessment tool: I have used Kahoot as an assessment of learning, and as assessment as learning.

Assessment of Learning:  Kahoot's quiz game is a great and interactive trivia-style question and answer game.  Students sign in, read the question and answer.  Because points are awarded, students don't readily share the answers (in my experience).  During the game, students get real time feedback about why their answer was right or wrong from you and other students.  After the game, Kahoot has an option to download the results of the game into an Excel spreadsheet.  The information included on the spreadsheet is the student's name, the number of questions they answered correctly, the number of questions they answered incorrectly, and each response for the questions.  This can be printed and saved in your gradebook.  As a class, we like to look at the results together and talk about why we answered the way we did.  A great tool for enforcing metacognitive strategies.

Assessment as Learning:  My students are working on a project in which they create their own Kahoot quizzes for the class.  Students must write and assess various questions for their quiz, they must demonstrate understanding by adding pictures or videos for each question, and then they must present the game to the class for them to play.  As a group, we assess the efficacy of their quiz as a study tool for our theme using a class-created criteria.  From the student generated questions, students practice the material repeatedly, but in different and interesting and engaging ways.  

In order to make Kahoot work in your class, each student needs access to a tech device that connects to the internet.  I teach intermediate, so many of my students have cell phones, so that's what we use.  I have played Kahoot in a computer lab as well, and it was effective.

My students love playing Kahoot.  I can't keep them in their seats.
I really love Kahoot for French class.  The students are engaged, and actively reading and discussing the questions in French.  I hope that you try it. Please tell me if you do!

How else could Kahoot be used in the FSL classroom?

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UPDATE: One of my co-workers had a really great idea about using Kahoot for a listening comprehension quiz using video.  I thought the questions was great, so here it is with my response:

Question: 
Hi Stephanie,

Thanks for posting this video. I've started using Plickers which is a similar quiz/survey type app. The students really enjoy it and it's been a fun way to do a quick assessment.

What I really like about Kahoot however is the feature of being able to include pictures or even video. From your video it seemed like you are able to display a video before the quiz begins. If that's possible, I'm thinking it could be perfect as an oral comprehension quiz. I can have the students watch a video and then answer a series of questions. Can you let me know if that's possible.

Thanks, DS

  
Response:
It is possible to do that... But. The video is obscured by the prep information for logging onto kahoot. So the students would really have to listen well. But the video plays over and over until you start the game, so students would get amp,e time to listen and sign on. The only other thing is that the video must be on youtube to add it to the game. So you would have to upload it there if you got it from somewhere else.

Within the game, you can add videos before questions as examples or supports, but, it is still in the early beta of testing, and can be slow, or the video can chunk in and out. I've used video in the game twice and once it was flawless, the other time it kicked some of my students out. The second time I may have used too many videos. So there are a few options to use it for listening comprehension. What I usually do is watch the video outside of Kahoot, and then add clips to support while students are playing. Hope this helps! I'm going to add this discussion onto my blog, because that was a great question! Thanks,
DS! 




(**These opinions are my own, and Kahoot has not paid me to be their cheerleader.  I just really love their program!)

Friday 17 October 2014

Bonne Idée on Paper.li!

Do you have Twitter? I find Twitter is a great resource for FSL teacher collaboration. I think I should do a post about that. But for now, here are some headlines and tweets that I found and collected!

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Do you Lino?


Just a quick post today on an online app that I have been using in class.  Lino is a virtual post-it board that students and teachers can add to from anywhere (provided there is wifi and a device handy.)  Teachers need to create an account for lino, but its free and can link to you google account.  (If you don't have a google account, get one!  Its free and so many apps and programs can link to it.  You don't need 609 names and passwords. )

Lino is a great tool for brainstorming, reflecting and anywhere you would use post it notes.  In the above pic, my classes were using it as a reflection tool and exit activity.  Since I discourage the use of English in class, students can post their exit ticket in English.  Students are encouraged to read other students posts for ideas/ inspiration or to help them create their own reflections.

Lino is great for Inquiry-based activities.  Students can create post-it notes on the information they find and post it to the board for others to see.  The board updates in real time, so students see what is being posted as it happens.  I like to assign colors for each class or group so that I can keep track of who posted what note.


Today we are going to use Lino as a vocabulary collection point for our review on adjectives.  Students will be able to add words and pictures to create a living list of adjectives that they can access.

What I really like about Lino is that I can post the boards to our class blog:

This is the blog zoomed out so that you can see the header and the board.  You can change the size of the Lino board by changing the size settings in your post.
Students then only have to access the class blog to post their notes.  You can embed the lino screen only any website, Lino provides the codes for you to do so.  You can also hotlink to your boards, so if you use Twitter or another messaging platform to communicate with you students, you can add the link there for students to access the Lino boards. Pro-tip: make sure that you set the publicity setting to public, otherwise it will not show the board.  Another pointer, if you are using a mobile device the board will prompt you to download the app, but it is not necessary.  Just click the small "close" x in the top right corner and to will take you right to the board.

Another plus to Lino, is that you do not have to download the app to use the program.  It is accessible through the website www.linoit.com.  As long as students have a browser on their device, they can add to Lino.  The Lino app makes it easier to add to boards, but for creating and editing, I like the online version better.  Its more user-friendly and easier to navigate.

A third positive for Lino is that it keeps all your boards together so that you can look at them later.

This is a handy little app to use in class or outside of class.  I found that some of my students were adding to the Lino boards outside of class time, which is a plus!

What are some ways that you could use Lino in your class?