Summary

• A new term kahooting has hit up English dictionaries, as the learning app Kahoot took over the education system.
• After the official launch in 2013, Kahoot gained a lot of recognition from worldwide sponsors and has had 4.4 billion users since its launch.
• The Quizzing app requires a smart device that has good connectivity to the Internet. The app is being used in both corporate and school environment.

Just how ‘google’ and ‘googling’ made it to official dictionaries, the story behind an interactive platform Kahoot! is no different.

Thanks to this Norway invention, children and teachers around the world have been learning in a more fun and playful way. All you need to have is a smart device with a good Internet connection – voila, you can kahoot!

What is Kahoot?

Kahoot is an online interactive system that can be used for teaching and testing students through online quizzes. The system is completely free-of-charge and has shown drastic positive data in educational systems across the globe.

Kahoot offers creativity every time an education quiz is made, as it allows users to create questions and the layout from scratch. There are more than 100 million Kahoot games in existence with more than 218 million contests held in the last 12 months as per Kahoot’s website on 24 October 2020.

With an online account for quiz organisers and the provided link for the participants, Kahoot is easy to join and play. The contestants have a colourful choice between several answers to a given question, often coming with visuals that help with the correct response.

What is Kahoot’s mission?

The creators behind Kahoot believe that humans learn throughout their lives and, the cycle never stops. That is why they wanted to make Kahoot as a studying experience that would bring all age groups, subjects and abilities closer together.

The staff believes every individual can achieve the potential of learning new things. Studying does not need to be only in a traditional form of textbooks. Kahoot offers an online element that leaves the students more satisfied after getting the correct answer.

Kahoot employs more than 125 individuals worldwide who support the company’s principles. The learning business has international offices in Europe (London, Oslo, Helsinki, Paris) and in the US (Austin and Paolo Alto).

Key statistics

Since its official start date in 2013, about 4.4 billion users players used Kahoot. In 2019 alone, the app had more than a billion participants that decided to take the more fun way of studying through quizzes.

Kahoot has been popular in more than 200 countries worldwide. However, the US seems to be leading in this statistic, as a significant number of teachers and students in America implemented Kahoot in their educational system. According to Kahoot, more than six million teachers have used the app for scholastic purposes.

Not only did teachers and student use Kahoot, but so did corporations and other business environments. Research has shown that more than 20 million corporate players kahooted in 2019, and 97 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have used Kahoot for several business activities.

Most importantly, Kahoot would probably not be where it is now if not for investors that recognised the company’s potential. Norwegian and international investors teamed up and boosted Kahoot with more than US$110 million. The most recognised investors were Creandum, Northzone, Datum Group, M12 (as known as Microsoft Ventures) and Accelerator Investments LLC (Walt Disney Company owns them).

Who can use Kahoot?

The app is online based, so Kahoot users do not need to download any third-party apps. As long as users have access to a quiz link, they can access Kahoot on their smart devices. Kahoot is accepted in most gadgets so laptops, tablets, mobile phones with either iOS or Android software can use the learning system without too many problems.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shut down many school doors, teachers needed to adapt to online classes. Kahoot significantly helped the change and made the app fast and efficient through Microsoft Teams. It allows teachers to collaborate with their colleagues and make Kahoot quizzes together.

How to play?

Apart from being used in the school environment, Kahoot allows users to organise a video conference where all parties could contribute.

When choosing the shared option (in school), all questions are shared on a display for everyone to see it. Students pick the right answer from multiple-choice issues and usually have a few second to make up their minds. Afterwards, the correct choice is shown to all students on their devices. After the learning game, teachers can analyse the answers and see what strategy to use to keep the learning productive.

Now with distance learning, Kahoot adapted and offered self-paced kahoots. Players can participate using their own devices from different locations, while still having the same questions as everyone else.

There is also a single-player mode for the ambitious students that want to upskill by themselves for practice.

Has Kahoot proved to be effective?

There are several studies that have tried answering this question, and most of them proved that yes, Kahoot is an effective way of learning.

Most studies demonstrated that Kahoot showed positive learning effects on all generations (both university students and those in lower education). It also revealed that students got a better understanding of technology, science math, nursing and other fields, as well as of learning language.

Kahoot proved to be efficient in improving the class dynamic, as 33 studies concluded the positive effects of the app. Students were interacting better with other classmates and teachers because of the atmosphere that Kahoot made in the classroom.

Ten out of twelve studies found that Kahoot decreased anxiety levels in students, relieving them of additional stress that traditional study methods can produce. Kahoot showed to be a non-judgemental environment where all students are welcome to join, without discrimination if it comes to failure. It was also found to bring more humour.

Even though Kahoot generally has positive effects on the classroom environment, there are still challenges that the app faces. Technical difficulties are believed to be the biggest challenge, as students cannot access Kahoot without Internet or a good device. The other difficulty might be the limited timing for each question, as individuals can get stressed out due to this feature.