Enhancing Learning Experience in University Engineering Classes with Kahoot! Quiz Games

Abstract

In this short paper we present a study examining students’ experience using a gamification quiz platform, Kahoot!, in two engineering courses in a private Japanese university. We ran Kahoot! quiz game regularly at the end of each lecture session throughout a semester. Students were encouraged but not forced to engage in discussions with peers during gameplay. We evaluated our approach using an original questionnaire designed to probe students’ opinions of the usability and usefulness of the quiz games as well as their preferred play mode. The results showed that overall students had positive experience playing the Kahoot! quiz games in class, though many of them had no prior experience using Kahoot! or any kind of online quiz platforms before taking the courses we offered. Surprisingly, their interest in the quiz games did not wear off, and they enjoyed the fun and competitive atmosphere throughout the semester. Consistent with findings in prior studies, our analysis showed that many students considered the quiz games useful in helping them to concentrate in class and to develop a deeper understanding into the technical content. To a less degree, students found the quiz games motivating them to learn more about the subject. Students’ preference of the play mode split, which suggests the importance of diversifying the play modes to meet the needs of different types of learners. We reflected over the nature of our quiz questions using the revised version of the Bloom’s taxonomy. Our current design was centered on the ‘Remember’, ‘Understand’, and ‘Apply’ levels of factual and conceptual knowledge. Future studies are needed to expand the quiz game design to support the development of higher-order cognitive skills at the ‘Analyze’, ‘Evaluate’ and ‘Create’ levels, as well as adding additional objective measures for the assessment.