Kahoot, Socrative, Quizziz: Hot or Not?

With the rise in digital teaching tools, as well as the increased interest in engaging students with classroom technology, the options available to teachers have expanded, too…which can be exciting, but a little bit overwhelming to figure out which one is best for your needs. A simple place to start is with online quiz games.

And, yes, online quiz games are HOT right now.

The three options discussed below are either completely free or have a robust free option, but you will need to create an account.

Online quizzes are quick and easy to make, and provide two quick wins:  technology use for formative assessment + “gamification” of the classroom!

My first online quiz game love: Kahoot

When the digital trend started at my school, I first heard the buzz about Kahoot.  You can create a multiple-choice online quiz game in a matter of minutes and share the link with your students who then “join” the game by entering a code and their name.

Tip: I suggest using real names so that you can check for student understanding later in your report.  Yes, there is a report generated which lets you know student performance on each question – pretty cool!  This is a great way to notice trends and target skills for re-teaching and check on individual student progress.

For the advanced and daring, there are several features of Kahoot which make it even more engaging and adaptable for your classroom use:

• Team Play – I just learned this exists and am excited to try it out!
• Jumble – Up the rigor!  This is a new feature just rolled out by team Kahoot.  Instead of choosing one correct answer, students must put the answers in order.
• Ghost Mode – Encourage students to compete against themselves, playing the game multiple times.  For those who are into progress monitoring, this could be a great way to track an increase in student performance by giving the quiz at the beginning/end of a unit.  Read more about this “Blind Kahooting” trend HERE.

Next up:  Socrative

This app has a lot of different options, including the ever-popular “Space Race,” an individual or team quiz during which students can see and track visually who is in the lead. Multiple choice, short answer, true/false question types give you more flexibility than Kahoot.  You can also ask an on-the-fly question to get real-time feedback, use for an exit slip or “ticket in the door” (formative assessment quick wins!).  Like Kahoot, there are reports which you can download to assess student progress.  You can even download them to Google Drive with the click of a button.

Last, but not least:  Quizziz

I’ve saved my favorite for last, friend.  This is a recent classroom technology find, and I love x3 it!  Plus, my students love it!

Maybe they’re tired of Kahoot and the novelty of Quizziz thrills their souls.  Or, maybe they enjoy the memes, avatars, leaderboards, and chance to review their answers & correct answers at the end of the game.

I’ve played this “live” in class (individual or team) and assigned as “homework” – both options allow students to work at their own pace and keep track of their avatar’s progress.  Either option shows the leader board which is fun!

Oh, and the feature I love BEST?  While Kahoot has a character limit, Quizziz does not. That’s like English teacher gold, opening up possibilities for questions about text excerpts and exemplars.  You can up the time to allow for students to read a short passage and then answer a question about it because they’re working at their own pace.

Thanks for stopping by!

I’m curious which platform is your favorite and how you use it in your classroom – leave a note in the comments below!

Hey, if you loved this post, I want to be sure you’ve had the chance to grab a FREE copy of my guide to streamlined grading. I know how hard it is to do all the things as an English teacher, so I’m over the moon to be able to share with you some of my best strategies for reducing the grading overwhelm. 

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