Sunday, November 15, 2015

BYOD Part II Is Quizizz better than Kahoot?


Quizizz is similar to Kahoot. Both involve students using a smartphone, computer or tablet. Both are visual and help the repetition aspect of memorization. Both are colorful. Quizizz is potentially competitive, whereas Kahoot is inherently competitive. I use both in my classroom.
The main differences are 1. With Quizizz, the students see the answers to the multiple choice questions on their phones. 2. Quizizz is student-paced rather than teacher-paced. That means students go on to the next question without waiting for everyone else. The questions and answer choices are randomized to minimize cheating. Another interesting thing about using Quizizz for assessments is that it's much faster than a traditional bubble sheet. Filling in ovals with a pencil takes time. I just gave my students a 72 question final and they finished it very quickly. That means I can make the tests longer or I can allow them to retake the test immediately to use their time. Quizizz is much easier to create with. After you start to create a quiz you can search other teachers' quizzes and "borrow" questions from them. With Kahoot, you have to "borrow" the whole quiz and alter it. Another advantage quizizz has over Kahoot is the homework feature. Students can now be given a code where they can take the quiz on their own time. Certainly this can be a problem if you have students who would cheat, but my students don't care enough to do something like that. (One advantage of teaching inner city!) Quizizz stores data on its website for you so you don't have to remember to save it right then and there during class. There is no need for a projector since everything the students need is on their device. So which is better? That depends if you want a class activity or an independent activity. I use both in my class. I use Kahoot as a minor quiz grade and Quizizz as a major test grade. While Kahoot is like a game, I turn off the competitive feature of Quizizz. I always make sure to uncheck the feature where it displays all the answers at the end of the quiz. I don't want students doing a screenshot of all the answers. Often, I turn off the feature where it displays the answer after they select theirs. Sometimes I leave it on if I want them to learn from their mistakes.

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