Kahoot equals easy, fun, gamified assessment

Fun to see Kahoot mentioned on HistoryTech. I was introduced to Kahoot at EdCampMSP a couple of weeks ago, and have played it with staff and at a session I presented at a teacher workshop last week. It has great possibilities — and when I tweeted that I was testing it, the Kahoot folks tweeted right back! That’s responsiveness!

Since I’m not teaching a classroom of kids, but rather usually doing PD with teachers or other museum staff, it is important to me to have an interactive tool that has a very short learning curve. People need to pick it up quickly. The teachers in the session last week needed very little help getting going. There were a few glitches, but overall it went really well. We explored the download of the results — teachers were very excited by this.

I plan to use it in the next few sessions I present. It’s a big hit!

glennw's avatarHistory Tech

I know none of us have ever been to a bar and played one of those trivia games with the special keypad. But I have heard of them. Perhaps you have as well. Questions come up. The time counts down. The quicker you type in the correct answer, the higher your point score. After every question, you see everyone else’s score – giving you the chance to compare your score with the rest of the group. It can be incredibly addictive and a lot of fun to play.

I mean, that’s what I’ve been told. I would never sit in a bar, playing some silly video trivia game over drinks and snacks with friends. Because that would be, well . . . okay. Yes. I’ve played video trivia games over drinks and snacks with friends. It’s incredibly addictive and a lot of fun.

All good games have three basic elements…

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“Informal” Learning

My daughter despises her science classes at school. She’s never liked them. I had assumed it was the subject. But I’m not so sure.

Turns out she watches science videos on YouTube — for fun. For example, she loves the ASAP Science Series. Go ahead – watch and test your hearing.

Maybe it’s not the subject so much as the atmosphere….. Filling in the bubbles on tests, memorizing a bunch of random information and having to write meticulous, pre-scripted lab reports isn’t exactly exciting.

Blogging Away

I recently heard that our school district will be rolling out blogs for principals! I’m very excited for this change – it represents a complete shift in openness and communication style.

I ran across an excellent post by George Courous, “Isolation is Now a Choice Educators Make” about why principals should blog. As I’m sure some of the principals aren’t so sure about this new tool, I wish I could send them all to George’s blog, and this one post in particular,

An excellent concept for principals reluctant to make this change:

Blogging is an opportunity to open the doors to our classroom.

Hopefully, they want to open those doors.

George also discusses how blogging has opened his world. I saw this in action at the recent TEDxBurnsvilleED event I attended. He tweeted about how blogging is so important. It was obvious that many of those in attendance knew about George from his blog, and he was so enthusiastic to talk to everyone. Blogging has become key to his professional development, and I would concur. Hopefully these principals new to blogging find that as well. And, hopefully, the district is preparing them to make this transition!

Museums and 21st Century Learners

In November 2013, I presented at the Museum Computer Network conference about helping museums learn to meet the changing learning for 21st century learners. My panel colleague is Darren Milligan of the Smithsonian.

I’m posting this not so you watch but so I can find this video easily as it is a handy reference for my work. (I mostly reference Darren’s talk, not mine!)

Opting Out

I was sent an article from our local paper about a family that is opting out of the state standardized tests. WOW! “Process is more important than filling in circles.”

I am excited. I will be calling the district first thing tomorrow to do the same. Interestingly, last year I was told we couldn’t opt out of the MCA’s (state tests) because they were required for graduation. I believe they actually were then — but the legislature passed revisions in the spring.

I can’t find anything about this on the state education site or our district site. Here’s what the state site says:

Based on new legislation, the graduation assessment requirements have changed. Additional information will be provided as soon as possible once a comprehensive review of the new requirements is completed.  cite

I might go so far as to contact the reporter. Wouldn’t it be awesome to get a group of parents together to talk about opting out of these tests?

Update

I’ve tried calling the district. No response. I’ll keep trying, then will perhaps try to find my way through the maze of the Dept. of Ed to get an answer.

The scarier part for me was talking to my daughter about this. She’s a junior, so would be up for the Math MCA. If it’s true that they no longer need it to graduate, there is no benefit to her of taking the test. I proposed the idea of opting out. She did not like the idea, I think because it would make her different. It would rock the boat, yes. But it is a bigger concern to me that she’s been “brainwashed” into doing whatever the school says without questioning why.

I don’t Like Testing

I don’t. I don’t like the reliance on standardized tests. I don’t like that my kids have to spend so much time “prepping” for tests. I see on my district calendar that kids are already testing…. I don’t like the fact that schools/districts have to have a staff person to coordinate the testing  – money that could be fund other types of staff, like teachers! I don’t like that my children are defined by the scores they get on the test.

I appreciated this article yesterday in Salon, “America’s Toxic Culture of Testing” by Luba Vangelova. I love the main quote:

Our country’s testing obsession benefits corporations, not kids.

That pretty much sums it up, although she has a number of other excellent points:

  • test prep eats time that could be used for other things – such as play
  • costs a great deal of money
  • teaches students that they can’t be “wrong”
  • labels kids
  • leads to a less creative environment

Just read the article.

Video

The Learning Revolution

I had the honor of hearing Jonathan Mooney speak recently. This is an excellent quick peek at his message of the need for a different look at education. We can no longer define intelligence as just reading, as the good kid is the one who sits still.

Just watch it. It’s only 7 minutes.