Just for Kahoots!

Our students have been LOVING Kahoot! Here's what we've figured out for staff and students that want to utilize this powerful web-based assessment tool. Kahoot! is a web-based multiple choice quiz game. The appeal is that it's accessible on any device with an internet connection, it gives immediate feedback to students after each question, as well as ranking them with other students and displaying a leaderboard for each question, and it has the option to download results to a spreadsheet for instant assessment data for teachers.

To play Kahoot! you need at least two devices connected to the internet. One will be game host (teacher) and the other ones will be the game players (students). It's recommended that the game host device be connected to a projector for larger games. Teachers need to set up a free account requiring an email and password with Kahoot by visiting getkahoot.com Once that's done you have a couple options - search and play a public Kahoot or create your own. Public Kahoots are created by other users and searchable with a variety of fields, including audience level or topic. Click on the title of the Kahoot to review the questions and see if it's what you're looking for. Then you can play directly from the search page or choose "Favorite" to add it to your personal list for faster access at a later date.

To create your own Quiz, Discussion, or Survey simply click the appropriate icon. It prompts you to add a title and begin creating questions. You can type a question of up to 95 characters. You can also add a related image or video for each question. Hint: If you require more characters for your question, print it and take a picture then upload that instead. Under each question there are a possibility of four multiple choice answers that usually allow 60 characters of text. You can choose whether the question is a "points" or "no points" question (used for calculating leaderboard ranking) and also adjust the amount of time students have to consider and answer the question before it automatically reveals the answer. You can reduce the amount of multiple choice options as needed but you cannot add more than four choices. It prompts you to select which answer(s) is correct before moving on to the next question.

When you've finished building your Kahoot it allows you to reread and reorder the questions, then it prompts you to choose a privacy level (public if you want others to be able to benefit and enjoy your hard work!), audience level, and add tags and a description. Finally, it allows you to add an image that will display once the Kahoot is launched or even a YouTube video that will play in the "lobby" while students are signing up and their names are appearing on the projector screen. Hint: To add a YouTube video simply copy ONLY the number and letter code of the video at the end of its URL and paste that into the box at the bottom of that screen.

When you're ready to play the Kahoot with students, fire up the game host (by going to getkahoot.com and logging in to your account) and select the Kahoot of choice and turn on the projector. It will prompt you to Launch the Kahoot and give you four toggle options. I recommend turning ON all options (except perhaps the "randomize question order" option if you've created the Kahoot in a particular order) especially the first one that will keep the Game Pin displayed at the bottom of the screen throughout the game. That way if student devices have issues or if someone comes in late, they can quickly and easily join the Kahoot already in progress.

On the game player device's end there's a few hints:
1. If they're joining the Kahoot they need a working browser (not Explorer, no surprise there) and they type in kahoot.it in the URL box (create a link if you're playing with younger ones and/or have networked computers where this is possible). If they type it in the Google search field or click any of the suggested links it will NOT take them to the right screen, this must be exact.
2. They will be prompted to type a Game Pin and then touch Enter. The Game Pin is only displayed from the game host device as are all the questions and answers so they must be seated in a place to allow easy viewing of the projector.
3. After entering a valid Game Pin they are prompted to type a "Nickname". We've established the norm that this means their first name only. It's not a big deal for "just for fun" Kahoots but if you allow them to type random things as nicknames for Kahoots you want for assessment then the data will be useless unless you have them submit their nicknames to you in advance. Hint: Teachers can eject a name from the game on the lobby screen by clicking on it. (Great update!)
4. Once all players have joined the game you're ready to begin! Hint: If students are using a device with a screensaver, such as an iPad, when the screen goes black their name will disappear from the lobby list and from the player count. Don't panic! As soon as they open the screen again it will reappear.

Playing the Game:
1. Teacher begins once all students have joined the game.
2. Students read the question and answers from the projector while their device shows a count down followed by the four (or less) colours and shapes. THIS IS ALL THEY SEE ON THEIR DEVICE. They must read all the text via the projector and then make their selection from the colour shape on their screen.
3. Their choice is displayed on their screen once made and their is no real editing of the answer. Hint: If you're using this for assessment have students seated and set up with something to block their screen from other students. It's also a good idea to have played Kahoot for a fun a few times to get the noisy excitement out of their system and discuss the noise expectations (such as not calling out the answer) during a "real" Kahoot just like they wouldn't do during a paper and pencil test.
4. The question will show the correct answer when the time is up, when all players have answered, or when the teacher selects "next".
5. Immediate feedback is given on the projector in the form of a bar graph of all the answers and which one was correct, followed by a leaderboard and also on their devices in the form of whether their answer was right or wrong and their ranking compared to one other student in the game. (Leaderboard and rankings seem to be determined by speed of answering correctly.) The "winner" of the game is whoever is first on the leaderboard for the last question of the game.
7. When the Kahoot is finished the next screen is a feedback screen which appears on their devices and allows students to rank their feelings and learning and recommendations for this Kahoot. Total feedback shows interactively on the projected screen.
8. Following the feedback screen the game host device is given the options to favorite, play again, play a different Kahoot, or return to previous screen. Students can refresh their browsers to bring them back to the kahoot.it Game Pin menu to play a new Kahoot.
9. For assessment, teachers select the fifth option on this screen Download Results. This will populate an Excel spreadsheet, opening on that computer that shows students ranked from best to worst performance and includes fields for their name, the amount of correct answers, the amount of incorrect answers, their points score, and their responses (colour-coded red for wrong and green for right) for each question. Fantastic time-saver!

Enjoy!

Exploring 'Explain Everything'

Recently we purchased the app Explain Everything for our set of iPads. Previously, students had been familiar with Show Me and really enjoyed it. However, the thing I liked about Explain Everything is that they can embed videos as well as images and drawings for screen capture. It's not as simple to use as Show Me, and that has provided some challenges, especially when we don't (currently) have Apple TV to allow sharing via the SmartBoard for tutorials, but I am muddling along! Here's a video I found for teachers that begins explaining the basics of using this screen capture tool... As I've been exploring various uses for Explain Everything, I like the versatility of the app and the range of age and education levels that find it useful and accessible. One thing I haven't discovered yet is how to get the project to automatically play multiple slides or how to play a video as part of the overall slide playback (without having to click 'play' for it). Perhaps this isn't possible, but since viewing the above tutorial, I suspect the thing that must be done is to import the video and then hit record for the entire piece, manually moving from slide to slide and choosing play on the video and then stop the screen capture recording at the very end. Playing THIS back SHOULD, if my theory is correct, allow for seamless playback of all elements... Stay tuned while I try is out a little later. I also need to discover how to upload these projects to my students' blogs so they become the most useful learning outcomes possible because of the authentic audience. More on that later...

More to do with AudioBoo!

I discovered today, upon viewing a youtube tutorial @audioboo posted on Twitter, that boos can be recorded using laptops as well as mobile devices and iPads. I further discovered that they could be embedded within blogs, etc.! This is exciting because it opens the door to our students doing more with AudioBoo. Fluency Station participants can now post their read alouds to their own blogs, and students are not limited to the availability of the iPads. I created a test boo, and posted it on several of our class blogs to be used later.

listen to ‘Welcome to AudioBoo!’ on Audioboo

Here's the tweet I read...

Wow! @sconlineteacher has made an awesome Audioboo tutorial for teachers: youtube.com/watch?v=PFlnBA…

— Audioboo (@audioboo) April 15, 2013

Responsibility Rap

listen to ‘Responsibility Rap’ on Audioboo

Audioboo for iPhone

Here's an example of a rap created by our Grade 7 class around the Character Education Trait: Responsibility. Each class prepares for an assembly around a different trait and the Sevens decided to create a short movie and rap. This was before we had purchased iMovie unfortunately, so technical difficulties limited the quality during final presentation somewhat. :(

They recorded the rap on the iPad but using an iPhone app called "Audioboo" (not to be confused with the iPad app of exactly the same name that does NOT allow for recording audio but only listening). It has an option to post directly to this blog, apparently, because I was surprised to see it posted here! LOL

This is what the iPad version app icon looks like (less the title)

We have yet to discover how to pull the "boo" off the program for an offline copy. However, it appear Audioboo has released a version 2 which supports downloading. The new iPhone version's icon is IDENTICAL which is annoying when I have iPads with both apps installed. It also appears that the user account with the boos from version 1 does not grandfather in to version 2 (although it accepts the same Twitter login, which is convenient, no record of the recorded boos are listed that I can see, at least).

Record screen from Version 1

Record screen from Version 2

I discovered this app when I observed Mrs.Wideen using it to improve oral reading fluency during Literacy stations with her Grade 1/2s. We are in the process of incorporating it into Library Literacy stations as well. I'm finding I need to train one or two "Station Masters" who can then train others when it is their turn to visit the station for the first time. Finding leveled books in the Library for an independent reading "just right" fit seems to be a bigger challenge for the primaries than first expected, so we are working with the homeroom teacher to solve this issue as well.

Learning to Share with ShowMe

Via www.showme.com

Our Grade 3 science class is learning about forces. With the arrival of our iPads they are more excited than ever to share what they know (and suddenly realize what they don't know). I introduced them to the app called ShowMe (follow @showmeapp) or visit online.

ShowMe is one among a host of interactive whiteboard apps that I'm really excited to explore. I have heard Explain Everything is the leader in this field and when we are able to download it our Grade 3s will compare and report back! But for now, they love ShowMe. ShowMe records whatever is drawn on the screen, provides a variety of colours, and allows images to be imported and annotated in real or paused time. It allows voice recording at the same time as drawing and can pause voice recording to update drawing pages as needed. It is extremely simple to use and easy to share creations. The students' imaginations were sparked about how many things they could create to share with and teach others using a ShowMe.

As a demo, I created a sample ShowMe with them about a force we'd already talked about.

We started this before our school's iPads arrived with only the single iPad we'd received for the exceptional work by our EcoTeam (Go, Panthers!). I let two pairs of students have a turn creating a ShowMe about a mini-experiment we had just completed for either magnetic force or static electric force. Next class, we viewed their ShowMe's and talked about what made them effective and what we should avoid next time. We created an anchor chart to help us.

Then our iPads arrived so the students were very excited not to have to wait several classes before their turn.  After we had reviewed and discussed our very important iPad Norms they went to work. We created and viewed a few more in that week and decided we needed to back up one step and make sure we had really thought about what we wanted to show the world. 

Here's what I've learned so far from using this app with our students:

• Letting the ShowMe be a finished product motivates students to talk and write about their learning in order to plan what they will record. Create a plan first!
• Creating a template for their planning allows all students to include good communication basics in their presentations. 
• Viewing "examples in progress" is much more effective at transferring an understanding of what works in a ShowMe than trying to explain it any other way.
• Students love that their creations are immediately uploaded to our class twitter feed!
• The online site has an option for student accounts to be created within a teacher account but so far I haven't discovered how to actually access those accounts so the kids can put their personal ShowMe's in a separate spot than my main folder...? If you know how to do this on the iPad I'd love t hear from you!

In addition to finding out about the above question, I plan to discover what "creating a stack" means and also show the students how to embed their creations on their own blogs. We want more traffic! ;)

Introducing Popplet to Grade 1

I was introduced to a wonderful app called Popplet (follow @poppletny). It has an online version and an app for our iPads. I'm told if you start online you cannot transfer to iPad and vice versa. Right now, we are using the lite app until our administrator is prepared to purchase it (after March Break, I'm told) #fingerscrossed! We began using it in my Grade 1 and 1/2 Science classes in our Energy unit. We have been learning about the most important source of energy for the earth, our sun.

I adapted an excellent organizer I saw Mrs. Wideen using when I visited her school. She was using an ARE CAN HAS chart for her student's nonfiction books about animals.

She modeled everything using the SmartBoard for one animal with her students and they created each part of the nonfiction book together first. After creating the organizer together, they wrote onto their own sheet, selecting three items from each column. After that, they transferred their learning into a popplet. I thought this was a brilliant idea.

After all of THIS, students also selected their OWN animals and went through the process again on paper for that animal. Culminating task will be to take their paper book and use it to create a digital book using the Book Creator app (another one I hope we will be able to buy soon!).

I know great teaching when I see it, so of course I began making plans about how I could incorporate these ideas into my classes right away! ;) We introduced the organizer about the sun using the verbs IS CAN MAKES and generated a lot of discussion about it, creating a class chart. This became the springboard to introducing them to the popplet app. It's a work in progress, taking quite awhile, as it should because we first have to create and review iPad Norms and teach the basic working of an iPad. After that we can introduce Popplet, but without an Apple TV or VGA solution there are challenges at keeping attention around a small screen on the carpet.

Nevertheless the children were excited to be able to use the technology. Some of them were confused and asked if they would get to touch it when they were in an older grade and were so pleased to discover that we were trusting them to learn with and care for them RIGHT NOW. They even seemed enthusiastic about the organizer. One student came to school today with a paper chart where she had recreated her own IS CAN MAKES organizer from memory with what she knew about the sun! When student's are choosing to do homework all on their own, I must have found something right! ;)

Doing homework just for fun!
PS - It's Hawaiian vacation day in Social Studies,
that explains the grass skirts and lays.

After a couple Science classes (plus a usurped Library period) here's what I've learned about Popplet Lite so far:

1. There doesn't appear to be a way to open works in progress to edit, therefore children must complete the popplet within one sitting.
2. Popplets can be exported in three formats - pdf, emailed jpeg, or saved jpeg. jpegs save to camera roll so they can be shared or annotated with available apps.
3. Because of the time limits and the newness of the app I am tweaking the following things:

• Students only need to create one sentence finisher for IS CAN and MAKES instead of three for each.
• To help the students understand about breaking the sentence into its parts (The Sun) (verb) (sentence finisher), change the colour of the frames to highlight the different parts needed. Then I can say, "Ok, I see you have your orange sun, but I only see two red verb popples, what do you still need? This red popple is missing a yellow finish, can you use the chart to find something to type?")
• Modeling how to navigate Popplet itself needs more time for some. Perhaps I will have students show me in a quick conference how they know how to do things and those that are good to go can begin independent work while I work with some Guided Tech groups to be ready to show their learning independently.
• Some students need to refer directly to the class chart to help them type the proper letters into their popples.
• They love being able to sit anywhere in the Learning Commons to do this and I have never seen them more engaged!