Daria Golubeva 5 Apr 2017

Social learning and the power of play: Kahoot! co-founder talks about our pedagogy

What makes social learning so powerful? How does Kahoot! disrupt the old classroom norms? Where does “Kahoot!” name come from? Hear the answers from Jamie Brooker, our co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, on Talking About Everything podcast.

Here’s an overview of the insightful conversation about Kahoot! pedagogy Jamie had with Harry Hawk.

Amie Brooker, the cofounder of kahoot!

Educational engagement company? Sounds accurate!

Harry, the host of the podcast and a big education enthusiast, introduced Kahoot! as an ‘educational engagement company’. We’ve never used this elevator pitch before, but it sounds pretty accurate!

We are on a mission to make learning something that everyone wants to connect with. For us, engagement is about unlocking everyone’s potential. It means bringing that student from the back of the class to the front and letting everyone become the classroom superhero.

Play is our first language

Play is the way we choose to make learning really engaging, because it’s one of the ingrained habits we’re born with. As babies, we all begin to learn about the world around us through exploration, which is also a form of play. Later in life, particularly at schools, play hasn’t always been encouraged. We at Kahoot! set out on a mission to change that and bring play back into learning, because it’s part of human nature.

Gameplay is motivating, not distracting

This way, Kahoot! disrupts the old classroom norm that considered gameplay a distraction. We, on the contrary, think gameplay increases motivation and heats up the interest in the topics students are learning.

That’s, by the way, how we came up with the name Kahoot!: ‘to be in cahoots’ means getting together to do something you shouldn’t really do. Teacher and students playing together?! They certainly are in Kahoot! 🙂 Have a look:

Unlocking the power of social learning

Play together, learn together – social is another pillar of Kahoot! pedagogy. The way Kahoot! is designed is that instead of looking down into their textbooks or gadgets, learners are encouraged to look up while playing and connect with each other.

Learners to Leaders

The next step of Kahoot! experience the teachers can (and should) facilitate is helping the learners to become the leaders. Planning classes, designing their own learning games and leading discussions develops strong 21st century skills. It motivates collaboration, develops presentation communication skills and trains more critical thinking.

Alright, enough teasing! You’d better hear it all yourself. Listen to this episode of Talking About Everything podcast to get a deeper dive into our pedagogy vision, learn how to become a great game designer, hear about interesting Kahoot! use cases from Jamie and find out why Kahoot! is also a storytelling tool.

Jamie can passionately talk about Kahoot!’s pedagogy model for hours. But he’s also very good at explaining complex things in less than 140 characters 🙂 So, if you’ve got a question or comment, don’t hesitate to reach out to him on Twitter!