Kahoot! vs. Quizizz, Which Side Are You?

        

        

        Every day there are new and exciting things, such as platforms for students to learn. This time I will review the attractiveness of the Kahoot! and Quizizz platforms! 😀    

    Kahoot is a platform where you can create engaging quizzes for student assessment, assign homework, issue challenges, create surveys and polls, or even play live quizzes. It is considered a super fun and addictive application with plenty of games to play to make learning easy and exciting.

    Quizizz is also a student-paced formative assessment platform with plenty of academic games. Quizizz is user-friendly and accessible on any device. Teachers use Quizizz for group work, unit tests, exams, pre-test reviews, and impromptu tests. It is a fun and engaging platform that fosters self-reflection and student-led learning, allowing students to assess themselves. With Quizizz, students can challenge their peers, host live games, and even lead their study groups. Students can work at their own pace and the feedback is instant.

    Both platforms allow users to create and take quizzes in a more fun and engaging way. But they also possess unique features that differentiate them from each other.

          Ease of Use

        Kahoot is a highly interactive platform. Its gamification way of assessing knowledge is fun and exciting. Its interface is easy to use, and it allows both teachers and students to get immediate feedback and response. Once you log on, you are free to create your own kahoots or games or copy from other users and customize them to your needs.

          Quizizz, on the other hand, is also easy to use, with tutorials to help access answers and processes effortlessly. The search bar helps you find topics, while live chat helps you clarify things. The layout is pretty straightforward too. Taking the quizzes is quite intuitive, and what’s more, you can access them from any device.

           Unique Feature Comparison

• Kahoot has a versatile mobile app that allows you to create games on the fly. You can also host a Kahoot game from a mobile device and even add photos from your camera roll. As a student, you’ll be able to take part in Kahoot challenges against your peers and fellow students.
• Kahoot keeps tabs on each student’s performance, including the scores for each question. When playing in ghost mode, the platform displays your former attempts as ghosts. This makes it easy to compare your previous attempts with the current ones to view your progress.
• If you’ve ever battled naughty nicknames in the Kahoot game, you know that the generator will let you select from three nickname options.
• Quizizz have the homework mode that allows you to assign your homework to be completed by the deadline through homework mode. This means you don’t have to complete your game in person.
• Quizizz have Power-ups are given to students who’ve answered questions correctly. They include immunity (for giving a correct answer on the second attempt), power play (if you get 50% more points in 20 seconds), and x2 (double points for a single question).
• As you create new questions in Quizizz, you can use the icons next to them. For example, the media button will let you upload an image or audio, while the math button will give you a keyboard with math symbols.

           Student Experiences 

           Both Kahoot and Quizizz use fun music and bright colors to make the learning atmosphere more energetic and game-like. When using Quizizz, you can see the questions and answers through your device. With Kahoot, your device will only display the symbol and color choices. To view the actual answers, you have to use the classroom screen. While this seems a bit limiting, it unites the lesson and encourages participants to look up. On a positive note, this drives lively classroom engagement.

        From all the comparison above, which side are you? 😄😄

How To Use Pear Deck

    

    Pear Deck is a Google Slides add-on designed to help teachers create engaging slideshow-style content for the classroom and remote learning. Since this is Google-integrated, it allows teachers to create or edit presentations right there from within their own Google account.

    Create formative assessments easily using templates that are designed to work at the beginning, middle, or end of class. From custom questions to audio additions, Pear Deck offers lots of personalization for teachers. The idea is to combine slide presentations with interactive questions to help advance inquiry-based learning. This allows students to work independently both in the classroom as well as remotely. It is easily accessible from many different devices and is, amazingly, free to use.

How To Use Pear Deck with Google Slides?

1. Create the slides that you want to display to your students.

2. Then, use the sidebar menu to add interactive elements to each slide. You can do all of this with PowerPoint slides, too. The bonus with Pear Deck: You can turn any of those slides into interactive slides. While building, you can pick from four question types: 

• Draggable questions with agree/disagree or thumbs up/down.
• Drawing questions with free space or a grid for students to draw in.
• Free response questions with a short text, long text, or number capabilities.
• Multiple choice questions with the response of yes/no, true/false, or A, B, C, D.

Pear Deck also has a slide library where you can choose pre-created activities such as:

• for the beginning of a lesson (check prior knowledge, ask what students are curious about)
• during the lesson (summarize, assess learning, gauge understanding)
• at the end of the lesson (retell what they learned, share feelings)

3. Last, let’s get students connected to it so they can interact!

Why Some Teachers Use Jamboard?

    

    Have you heard of Jamboard? 😮

    It creates whiteboards that are a lot like slides. This free Google tool isn't just about expensive interactive displays. You can use the app for free on any device! It works with Google Drive and allows you to present your whiteboard to people viewing remotely. Which makes it a great online whiteboard option for distance learning. Jamboard is a digital whiteboard that lets you collaborate in real time using either the Jamboard device (a 55-inch digital whiteboard that works with G Suite services), web browser or mobile app. 

    With Jamboard you can:

• Add sticky notes, drawings, images, text and more.
• Search Google and insert images or webpages.
• Move images, texts, notes and drawings around on the screen easily.
• Drag and resize text and images with your fingers.
• Share your "jams" with others and let them collaborate.

    Some teachers use Jamboard because Jamboard can enhance classroom participation by allowing students to visually portray their learning and thinking. This also helps teachers gain knowledge on what their students are comprehending in real-time. It is a great tool for collaboration in in-person, online, synchronous, and asynchronous settings. Would you like to try using it? 😃

What is Information Technology in Language Education?

    

    Information technology is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology. In education, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been used for several decades now, not only through in-class and out-of-class activities but also through online activities.

    Modern language teaching and learning technology can facilitate faster and more comprehensive language progression. For example, the application of multimedia content in class could integrate print texts, video, learning games, and the internet to familiarize students with language vocabulary and structure. Information technology can supports language education by:

Creates a better learning environment

Flexible classroom spaces is where the classroom are connected devices, audiovisual tools, and purposeful furniture that are integrated facilitate positive engagement of students.

Increases the possibility of a much wider range of language teaching methods

Compared with traditional language teaching methods, modern language teaching strategies primarily utilize multimedia, communicative approaches, various available resources, and educational games giving students opportunities to meaningfully increase their exposure to language and thus make their own knowledge.

Connects the classroom with the real world

Technology in the classroom such as videos, images, and software solutions empower teachers to incorporate the larger real world into the classroom. Turning the theories into practical experiences motivates students to practice and be deeply immersed in language learning.

In sum, the use of technology provides teachers with additional resources to reach learners with different strengths and needs. Technology encourages learners to learn individually and to acquire responsible behaviors and develop higher-order thinking skills. It helps them solve their learning struggles and find methods to use what they learn in ways that are effective and meaningful.