Guest post – DigiLearn: To Kahoot or not to Kahoot? That is the question

Author: Rachel Imms, Lecturer in Occupational Therapy 

One of the modules that I lead includes anatomy and physiology for occupational therapy students. Teaching this has varied challenges, and arguably one of the most significant, is the huge amount of content that needs to be covered.  

The students have a variety of background knowledge, so it is important that I teach to all levels of ability, and yet provide some challenges for them too. Much of the learning is around remembering and recalling terms and names, so it became very evident to me that practice and regular summative assessments would be an advantage for the students.  

I have always enjoyed a quiz and felt this would be a great way to capture the students learning and hoped that they would enjoy it too. I found a new technology called Kahoot and watched a video on how to use it. I set up an account, and then took the plunge. 

The first time I did a class Kahoot, I was really nervous about how it would be received by the students; would the technology actually work? and had I actually set it all up correctly? Thankfully, when I announced to the group that we were going to do a Kahoot, there were actual “whooo hooo’s” and other yells of excitement – so I was reassured that I would not be booed out of the lecture theatre! More success followed, as I had set it all up correctly, the technology worked, and I noticed that almost all the students engaged with it. 

Since this, I have continued to use Kahoot in that particular module and in others. I find it user friendly to set up and deliver, and there is always a very positive level of student engagement and satisfaction. It is flexible as a resource, as there are different types of questions that can be used, and you can insert pictures – which for anatomy is useful. I will continue to use this as a resource and have also encouraged colleagues to do the same.