Beyond a classroom's daily use of a LMS or Learning Management System such as Google Classroom, Canvas, My Big Campus, or Blackboard there are tons of websites and apps to use to help assess student learning. The one that I am going to focus on today is Quizizz.
If you have been using Kahoot and enjoy it then Quizizz might just be your new best friend.
First, lets talk Kahoot basics, if you are not already familiar. If you are just go ahead and skip to the next paragraph. Kahoot is a easy to set up, easy to use assessment tool that for the last few years teachers and students have really enjoyed using. Even the least "techy" teachers have jumped aboard. Kahoot is helpful and easy but it does have some downfalls. The downfalls for me were that you always had to complete it as an entire class. Sometimes I really would like students to be able to play on their own when they are finished with an assignment. The questions and answers do not show up on the student devices only the projected screen and sometimes it proved tricky to get students to click what they actually meant to click, then causing frustration and less than perfect feedback. However, kids were exited. It is great for review. It is easy and quick to set up and it doesn't limit me on how many questions I can put on a quiz. To try it out, if you have not, you should! Go to https://getkahoot.com to sign up for a free account. There is a whole library of free options to see what it can look like for you.
Quizizz is another option for assessment. It is also easy and quick to set up and gives you plenty of options. The benefits of Quizizz over Kahoot fall in the options. With Quizizz you can schedule quizzes, you can assign them as homework for individual students to complete or you can let the whole class take it together. Like Kahoot students can race each other and get more points based on how fast they answer. As a teacher you can project the quiz and move through the questions together or you can request students to complete it on their own. For students, they can actually read the questions and possible answers on their device without having to look back and fourth with the confusion that Kahoot sometimes can cause.
The feedback on Quizizz is also nice. It is very colorful and easy to see what questions student's know or are possibly struggling with. As a teacher you can also access student reports later on, so you do not have to worry about logging out and losing information.
To try using Quizizz for yourself you can visit http://quizizz.com/ to set up your free account. Quizizz also has a library of pre-made quizzes to try. In my experience so far my students did say that they prefer Quizizz over not only Kahoot but also Quizlet Live. They said they like the format and being able to see the questions and possible answers on their individual device was really something that won them over. They also shared they they felt it was equally competitive so it kept them involved and trying. Another winning component of Quizizz for the students were the correct/incorrect memes that were shown in a humorous way between questions on their individual screen. The memes seemed to keep the learning fun and interesting as students moved through questions, the memes were like pleasant, funny surprises.
If you have a specific question or thought please share in the comments!
