What is Kahoot: Everything you need to know

Kahoot! is one of the most popular and effective educational platforms currently available. It has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, partly due to its intensive use during lockdown, when students and teachers needed interactive tools to continue distance learning. Kahoot's proposition is simple: turn learning into a game to make students actively participate and reinforce knowledge in a fun and competitive way.

This has allowed Kahoot! to not only be used in schools, but also to expand into other environments such as entertainment and even the business world where, for example, it has been used at corporate events or even social gatherings. But what exactly is this platform, how does it work and what makes it so special? Let's break it all down in this complete guide.

What is Kahoot! and how does it work?

Kahoot! is a Free learning platform based on the creation of interactive questionnaires, available both in its web version and through a mobile app. Basically, a teacher —or any user— can create a set of questions on a specific topic, either to reinforce academic content, carry out assessments, or simply to play with friends in a more relaxed environment. These questions are answered individually or in teams, which encourages participation and motivation.

The process is very simple: the creator of the game, usually the teacher, creates a series of questions with several answer options. Students connect to Kahoot! via a PIN code, allowing them to easily join from any type of mobile device, computer or tablet. Players must answer questions within a set time, and the faster they do so and the more correct they are, the more points they earn.

At the end of the questionnaire, the platform generates a score ranking and displays the results instantly, which increases competition between students and keeps their attention. In addition, these results can be exported by the teacher, allowing for a more detailed evaluation of the participants' performance.

Key Features of Kahoot!

One of the reasons why Kahoot! has gained so much popularity is its flexibility and adaptability. Among its main features are:

• Interactivity: Kahoot! allows students to actively participate by answering questions in real time from their devices.
• Personalization: Teachers can create custom questions tailored to the knowledge they want to assess, and choose from several pre-existing templates.
• Competitiveness: The possibility of seeing the ranking and earning points based on the speed and accuracy of responses creates a positive competitive environment, which increases student motivation.
• Multimedia: Images and videos can be inserted into both questions and answers, making quizzes much more engaging.

Kahoot! also has a library of over 100 million games created by users from all over the world. This is especially useful for teachers who do not want to create quizzes from scratch. They can simply search for ready-made content on the desired topic and adapt it.

Uses of Kahoot! in education

Kahoot! has been designed primarily for use in the educational field, where it has proven to be an effective tool for reinforcing knowledge. One of the most notable advantages is that, Being based on the contest, it becomes a fun way to review before exams., which can reduce the stress and anxiety that often accompany traditional assessments.

In addition, questionnaires can be used as formative assessments, These are small tests throughout the course that allow teachers to identify the areas in which students need more help. In this way, teachers can adapt their classes to the needs of their group.

this platform too promotes cooperation, as it allows playing in team mode. In this format, several students can join together to solve the questions together, which encourages teamwork and collaboration.

How to create your own Kahoot!

Creating a game in Kahoot! is a very simple process and does not require advanced computer skills. You just need to register on the platform, either through the website or the app, and follow these steps:

1. Go to the app or website and register with a username and password.

2. Once registered, select the 'Create' option from the main panel.

3. Enter the quiz title, description, and language. Then, start adding questions.

4. Each question can have up to four answer options, and at least one of the options must be correct. You can choose from several types of questions, such as multiple choice tests, true or false questions, or questions that involve ordering elements, among others.

5. Add images or videos to make the questions more dynamic.

6. When you're done, just save the quiz and share the PIN code with your students so they can access the game.

You can edit or clone your quiz at any time to make changes. You can also share your Kahoot with other users to use and vice versa, making the creation process much more flexible.

What else is Kahoot! good for?

Although Kahoot! has been designed for educational purposes, It has also become popular in other environments where participation and competitive spirit are essential. For example, in the world of corporate events, where it has been used for group dynamics or to make meetings more interactive and enjoyable.

Even at family gatherings or with friends, this type of game can be a great way to break the ice and to promote fun. There are countless topics and categories of questions, from general knowledge to more specific topics such as geography or movies.

In short, Kahoot! is easy to adapt to almost any context, making it one of the most versatile tools when it comes to gamification.

Over the years, Kahoot! has proven to be much more than just an educational tool. It is a system that, through a methodology based on gamification, allows both students and adults to improve their knowledge and skills in a completely dynamic and entertaining way. Whether used in the classroom, at home, or for family games, Kahoot has managed to become a standard in the world of interactive learning.