I have absolutely zero connection with Kahoot. This is a plain old explanation of how the ‘join’ side works and why it’s, in fact, a perfectly legitimate thing to have in the classroom.
Today, games are part of our lives in a huge way if you think about the various ways they can be utilized. You’ve got the classic quiz and the reasoning type of game (i.e., answering questions), which is obviously good for the brain, and you’ve got the simple games, which are just good for brain power. Today I’m going to be talking about a game called Kahoot Join, which in itself is going to be of massive benefit in a number of ways to help you learn and improve your brain power. It’s a quiz-based game that offers a whole range of learning experiences to help you in your work, your school, and indeed your higher education in one all-encompassing game for students, friends, and families. There are a massive number of different lessons available, which will all be of benefit in helping you to learn in a fun and engaging way. I came across the game whilst I was at Alpha School Austin and heard about it there.
It’s dead easy to get in by just entering your PIN and heading over to ‘Kahoot Join‘. If you want to be the host, then it’s just a case of going to ‘Kahoot‘. It’s a great way to play and have a lot of fun with your family and your relatives. You can just make your learning far more awesome and far more fun. If you go any further into Kahoot Join, you’ll see all the different plans available (Kahoot Plus, Kahoot One, Kahoot 360, and Kahoot Edu), which provide a whole range of features for educators, students, and for personal use as well as your ideal learning experience, whatever that may be for you (for yourself, for your business, for your profession, or for side-by-side learning in a classroom environment). Ready to make your learning awesome? Join up and play with your friends and your students in some proper playful learning.
Here’s what that looks like in practice, starting with the bit that people are most likely to be searching for.
Two doors, two addresses
Kahoot splits into two entry points, and it’s very easy to confuse the two. Players go to kahoot.it. Hosts go to kahoot.com.
That split is good design. The player side has one job, which is to get you into a live game as quickly as possible, and it doesn’t ask you to understand anything else about the product.
Getting into a game
I evaluate join flows in the same way as I evaluate landing pages: how many fields are there between you getting there and you actually doing the thing? In the standard live game, it’s two.
- Get the game PIN from your host (it’s on the host’s screen once the game has opened).
- Open kahoot.it in a browser on a phone, tablet, or laptop.
- Type in the PIN and confirm.
- Enter a nickname when asked.
- Just wait for the host to get going and then answer on your own device.
A PIN is for one live game only, so a code from yesterday’s game won’t get you in.
Personally, I quite like the game via the PIN that you get from your host, as it’s absolutely straightforward to get in at the outset. We weren’t actually aware of how you actually go about getting the PIN and joining it; we just got the instructions from the Kahoot documentation. We’re a group of friends who all get together and play this quiz-type game on Kahoot. It was loads of fun, absolutely was. It was just so much fun to be playing against each other, giving the answers, and going through the reasoning questions. We learned loads of new stuff, and it’s brilliant for us.
Whatever happened there, the join screen asks for absolutely nothing, and that is its biggest advantage.
Joining or hosting: what each side costs you
Joining is free and requires absolutely no setup at all. You get a code, you type it in, and you’re playing. The downside is that the host sets the pace and the questions.
Hosting on kahoot.com gives you complete control over what gets asked and when. You do need an account, and you do need time to set up the questions. The paid plans (Plus, One, 360, Edu) are in a constant state of flux with regard to their features and restrictions, so I won’t go into any pricing at all. Always check the current plan pages before you make up your mind.
“It’s just a game, so it isn’t studying”
This is the objection I hear most, and it’s completely wrong. Answering a question from memory is vastly superior to simple re-reading in terms of improving recall. A quiz is a retrieval exercise, and the game aspect makes people want to do it again.
The join screen just asks for a PIN and a nickname, so age and background aren’t an issue at all. That’s why you can use the same tool for a classroom, a family night, or a team session.
At Alpha School Austin, they’ve changed the way they teach the kids. They’re using AI as well as problem-solving games to get the kids more engaged with the learning. It’s just fun. That’s what I like about it, really, the way the system is moving into the future. As I was at Alpha School, I came across a very popular game called Kahoot, which I quite enjoy. It’s all maths and quiz-type questions, and the kids are playing that game as well. That’s great, that’s the next level.
There is absolutely no restriction on this game. Anyone from anywhere in the world can play it. So when you go to Kahoot, there are really only two options. You can go to https://kahoot.it/ and just enter the PIN that your host will give you (they’ll tell you how to join the game). The other option is if you want to host the game and create it yourself and have people come and join you, in which case you’d go to the Kahoot website https://kahoot.com/. This is not a piece of promotional content for any particular game.
I’m just here to pass on some of my own thoughts and experience on the subject of how these types of games can be of benefit in the learning process. There’s no need at all to go out and buy into that sort of game. I’ve written a number of articles on all sorts of different topics over the years, some of which have actually been of use to people who are in the tech world. I write articles on all sorts of topics, including the ones I’ve been writing about recently on my blog Techgup.org. On that site, I go into detail about how you can improve your technical knowledge by reading the articles on Techgup.org, and I also do comparisons of various gadgets around the world.
Where I land
The best thing about Kahoot Join is that it removes every single excuse not to join in.
I’d recommend this game to every student, every teacher, and indeed to anyone who wants to improve their general knowledge and their presence of mind. It’s a fun, entertaining knowledge game.
That’s the verdict, and it’s the same whether you’re joining as a student or as a teacher.
If you like explainers in that plain style, then I’ve also put together what TechGup.org is all about and how you can get the most out of it.
