I wrote a descriptive post about Gimkit last year around this time after learning about it at TCEA 2019. This online quiz game resembles Kahoot, but has some distinct differences which you can read about in my first post.
Since last February, I’ve used Gimkit quite frequently with my students in grades 8-12. It hasn’t lost its novelty, and quite a few of my students asked for it every week. In order to do this, I had to do something that I rarely choose to do with educational resources – I decided to pay for it. (For a great explanation of why Gimkit has chosen to go this route instead of a full-featured free version with advertising, you can read this blog post.)
Why would I pay for something that is available in other versions for free? Because this game is different than anything out there. Not only do students get to “purchase” fun upgrades during the game, but those upgrades can change based on different game themes that the developer (a high school student!) provides throughout the year. For example, “Thanos” was a such a huge hit with my students last spring that when it was offered again for a limited window of time I scheduled an unscheduled review game just so they could play. And don’t even get me started on the buzz that “Humans vs. Zombies” created in my classes in October.
In the past year, the developer has:
- improved importing questions from other platforms, such as Quizziz
- added “KitCodes” – a mode designed to get your students moving around the classroom instead of just sitting there playing the game
- bulked up its website and customer support
- continued to be open to educator and student feedback (you can get a sense of this from blog posts like this)
Gimkit takes risks with new ideas constantly being rolled out. In December, the company mysteriously touted a “Winter Challenge.” I told my class we were trying it out, but that I had no idea what we would be expected to do. I hit the button, and everyone’s screens went black. The groans were probably heard downtown. But then numbers started showing up on their screens, and it was clear that this was not a game glitch, that we were supposed to do something. I had no idea what it was, but that didn’t matter. The students started talking it out, and collaborating. As they slowly figured out what was going on, it became clear that some leadership was needed. Again, my presence was superfluous. Natural leaders rose to the occasion, and with everyone’s help, the challenge was accomplished.
The Challenge wasn’t even part of my review. (That began after they completed the Challenge.) Instead of a waste of time, though, it taught my students so many things that I am constantly yammering about anyway – Growth Mindset, Collaboration, Communication, Perseverance. Multiple choice quizzes are generally not very deep learning, but this Challenge threw problem solving into the mix, and that was a huge bonus.
Some of my favorite classroom memories have been made using Gimkit in the past year: students choosing wild nicknames so their classmates won’t know who to target, kids snickering as they “ice” each other, groups gathering around a few classroom monitors because they want to see how the champions fare against each other, cheers and groans when the “Thanos Snap” lists its victims, and everyone clapping when we finally solved the Winter Challenge.
I don’t work for them, and I get no compensation for writing this post. I just really like what Gimkit does for teachers and for students.
