“My goal in the classroom was always to make sure they were having so much fun that they didn’t realize they were learning.” Rick Riordan
I always learn something new when I conduct train the trainer sessions and last week was no exception.
Have you ever heard of, used or created a Kahoot? Kahoot is a free game-based learning platform that can be used in the classroom to poll participants, test their learning, and even introduce and provide training.
I wanted to learn more about Kahoot and Plickers (a way to poll participants without devices), so I did some research and discovered that there are many classroom tools for gathering feedback- and they’re free!
Here are some of these learning response systems:
Kahoot
Kahoot is a web tool that delivers online quizzes and surveys to your participants. You can use a simple drag and drop method to create quizzes/polls/surveys, and send them out to participant devices (alternatively, the trainer can ask the questions verbally or show them on the board and participants can still respond using the platform). You can encourage participants to ask their own questions and have other participants answer as well, making it one of the more interactive options listed here (many are just trainer-participant). Kahoot is free, and works on any connected device.
A Blind Kahoot is a powerful way to teach new concepts by building and reinforcing knowledge brick by brick in a single game.
The basic structure of a Blind Kahoot:
- Introduce the game to let learners know what to expect, and that it’s about learning, not about getting all of the answers right the first time.
- Use a “Blind” question(a question about something completely new to them) to spark curiosity, so learners are more receptive to the explanation.
- Explain the answer.
- Reinforce using a series of questions focused solely on what they have just learned.
- Ask another Blind question that prompts learners to actively listen to the explanation – this is a great opportunity to teach subtleties, exceptions to the rule or to build on what they have just learned.
- Reinforce with another series of questions solely about the most recent Blind question.
- Schedule two series of reinforcements to help learners consolidate everything they have learned in the whole kahoot.
You can learn more and see a demonstration of a Blind Kahoot at https://getkahoot.com/blindkahoot
Plickers
Plickers works well if you don’t have many devises in the room. Nik Chatzopoulos gives a great description of how Plickers can work in a one iPad classroom in one of his previous posts along with a video tutorial here. Plickers uses cards with QR codes (which can be used for multiple classes, as long as they’re not happening at the same time) instead of individual devices.
GoSoapBox
GoSoapBox allows you to have participants respond to questions through their laptops, tablets, and phones. The Polls tool allows you to survey your participants by having them select an answer choice in response to a question. The Discussions tool allows you to have participants reply to open-ended questions. The Confusion Meter allows participants to simply say, “yes, I get it” or “no, I don’t get it.” The Confusion Meter, like all of the GoSoapBox survey tools, can accept anonymous feedback. You can use the Social Q&A tool in GoSoapBox to have participants submit their questions to you. Participants can see each other’s question submissions.
Poll Everywhere
Poll Everywhere works if you have a 1:1 classroom or just a classroom full of participants with phones. It enables you to create questions for live interaction, with poll activities that include: multiple choice, open response, live word clouds, clickable images, up- and down-voting for Q&A, and rank order. Questions can be written in almost any language, and can include images, LaTeX syntax (for formulas), and emojis. It supports international use with response instructions in 30 languages, along with international texting numbers. You can customize the chart of results and even embed it into your PowerPoint.
Socrative
Socrative allows you to create questions in various formats (like a quiz, a simple quick question, a space race game, or an exit ticket). It provides the answers in real time, and the interface is supposed to be easy to use for both trainers and participants.
Google Forms
Google Forms (as a part of Drive) enables you to create polls (including many different types of questions), integrate pre-formatted themes, and distribute the form via email or URL. As with the rest of Google tools, it is free and supposed to be easy to use.
PollDaddy
PollDaddy This offers the ability to create beautiful polls, view results in eye-catching pie and bar charts, and export results.
There are apparently many other options. Here are a few more that you might find useful:
Flisti https://flisti.com
Kwiqpoll http://kwiqpoll.com
Kwik Surveys https://kwiksurveys.com
Micropoll <http://www.micropoll.com>
Obsurvey http://obsurvey.com
Poll Junkie http://www.polljunkie.com
Yarp http://yarp.com
Please let me know if you have used one of these programs and any tips you can share.
May your learning be sweet.
Deborah
