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Technology In Practice

Tips For Teaching w/Technology

We'll Support You In Class!

Do you want help introducing a tech tool to your students?

Aidan, Kris & myself are more than happy to help introduce tech (remote, or IRL) to your class. We can also spend time, or an entire Digital Essentials class period helping your students, or supplementing an existing project in your curriculum!

If it makes sense for one of us to come in more than other (ex: Do you want Kris' database, or Sora expertise? Aidan's website building skills?) We can come into your class even if we don't regularly teach Digital Essentials in that grade. 

Just let us know as a team in advance, & we will work out the logistics.

We are also as excited as you are to help in a more significant way with interdisciplinary projects. Let's collaborate!

Manuela Aronofsky

Gimkit

About Gimkit:

​Gimkit is an online quizzing & studying platform, which can be used for any subject or content area. On Gimkit, teachers can create their own study "Kits" with terms & definitions for students to study. These Kits can then be turned into live quizzes, or assigned to classes as homework.
There is an also an extensive selection of pre-created Gimkit Kits, that can be assigned to classes, or used in a Live format just like the ones you create.
Gimkit is sort of like a mixture of Kahoot & Quizlet - it has more of a "game show" feeling than Quizlet (like Kahoot), with added features like earning in-game "cash." However, the Kits are more flashcard-based, and can have more complex questions than in Kahoot (like write-in answers).
Quiz question formats in Gimkit include:
  • Multiple Choice
  • Text Input (write-in, or fill in the blank)
  • Flashcards

Technology Requirements:

Teachers can create Kits on Gimkit (the term used for study sets) from any device. However, it is probably easiest to set up your Gimkit sets on a laptop.
Students can play Gimkits from any device (iPad, or Chromebook), once the Kit (or Live Game Code) has been shared with them.
There is currently no Gimkit app.

Account Information:

There is a free ('Basic') version of Gimkit that anybody can sign up to use, and create Kits on. The Basic version limits teachers to 5 Kits. The tech team has also purchased Gimkit Educator accounts for the 2021-2022 school year. Please follow the steps below to activate this.

Creating an Educator Gimkit Account:

These steps will set you up with an Educator Gimkit account, which offers unlimited Gimkits!
  • Click on this link
  • Click "Continue with Google" and sign in with your Berkeley Carroll email address.

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  • You should then get a popup saying you have been added to a Group Subscription
  • You can also check your account status by clicking "Me" in the upper right-hand corner, and then scrolling down to "Account Information." After signing up with the above link, it should say "Educator"

Signing Into Your Gimkit Account:

Make sure you are continuing to sign in with Google, once your account has been created. You can log into your Gimkit account at any time by:

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Creating a Kit:

The video below shows you the basics of creating a Kit.
Remember, a Kit is your quiz, or set of questions that your students will be answering.
You can watch this Tutorial as a video, or view it at your own pace as a scrollable list of steps (Select "View it - List" and scroll down on the dropdown menu for this option.)

1 From your Gimkit dashboard, make sure you are on the "Kits" view

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2 Click New Kit

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3 Name your Kit

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4 Click Language to select the Kit's language

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5 Click Subject to select the Kit's subject

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6 Click Next

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7 Choose an image for your Quiz (Gimkit provides stock images)

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8 Click Add Question on the left-hand menu to start adding questions

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9 If you have Multiple Choice selected, type your first question in the Question field

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10 You can add a Photo or Audio to the question itself. This is optional.

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11 Input your correct answer, as well as incorrect answer choices

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12 You can choose to add keyboard symbols (good for Spanish) and/or images to each answer.

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13 Click Add when your question is ready to go

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14 Click Add Question to continue adding questions to your Kit

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15 For a written answer, Click Text Input

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16 Input your question in the Question field

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17 Put the correct answer in the Answer field.

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18 You can add alternate correct answers by clicking Add another correct answer

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19 Click Add when your question is ready to go! You can add as many questions to your Kit as you'd like.

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20 Click Finish Kit when your Kit is complete

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Here's an interactive tutorial

https://www.iorad.com/player/1688782/Gimkit---How-to-create-a-Kit

Creating a Class on Gimkit:

I strongly recommend that you choose the Create Class Without Account option. This way, students will not need to set up Gimkit accounts (which are restricted to 13+ and do not completely comply with children's privacy laws), to play your Kit. If you create your class without the account requirement, you will still be able to keep track of who participated.
You can watch this Tutorial as a video, or view it at your own pace as a scrollable list of steps (Select "View it - List" and scroll down on the dropdown menu for this option.)

1 From your Gimkit dashboard, click Classes

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2 Click New Class

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3 I strongly recommend selecting Class without student accounts

Gimkit does not completely comply with children's privacy laws. With this second option students will not need to set up accounts with Gimkit in order to play your Kit.

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4 Name Your Class

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5 Select a Color for your class

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6 Enter your Class Members' names

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7 Scroll down and Click Create Class

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Here's an interactive tutorial

https://www.iorad.com/player/1688789/Gimkit---How-to-Create-a-Class

Sharing a Kit:

This tutorial shows you how to both:
  • Assign a Kit as Homework
  • Start a Live Game
You can watch this Tutorial as a video, or view it at your own pace as a scrollable list of steps (Select "View it - List" and scroll down on the dropdown menu for this option.)

1 The first steps of this tutorial are for assigning your Kit as self-paced Homework.

From your Gimkit Dashboard, Click Assignments.

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2 Click New Assignment

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3 Click Select a Kit to choose the Kit you want to share (you must have created the Kit already)

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4 Click Select a date to choose a due date, and due time (optional)

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5 Click Select some classes to choose the class want to assign this Kit to.

You need to have already created your Classes in order to do this (watch the previous video)

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6 If you'd like, change the "Target Cash" and "Max Time" options, then click Create Assignment

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7 You can then click Copy Link to paste it onto any platform your students can access

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8 Or, you can click Google Classroom to automatically assign your Kit to a class through Google Classroom

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9 To start your Kit as a Live Game, click Kits to select the Kit you want to play

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10 Click Play Live

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11 Select which game option you want to play: Time, Race, or All In (there is an explanation for each one).

You can also customize the time limit.

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12 Select which Class will be playing your Kit

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13 Select Classic (for a 1-on-1 game, like a Kahoot), or Team Mode for a team challenge

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14 Click Continue

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15 Your game code will then appear. Students can enter this code by navigating to gimkit.com/play on their device.

Click Start Game when all of your players have entered the code

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Here's an interactive tutorial

https://www.iorad.com/player/1688790/Gimkit---How-to-Create-an-Assignment---Start-a-Live-Game

Below are a few more "Frequently Asked Questions" that may help you use Gimkit in your teaching practice:

1. What is "KitCollab"?
2. What is "Seasons"?
3. How do I create a Flashcard-style quiz in Gimkit?
4. How do I assign one of the pre-created Kits?
 
1. What is "KitCollab"?
KitCollab is a feature of Gimkit in which students create the questions in a Kit. Once you invite students to join a KitCollab game, they can start to submit questions (you can approve, or reject them), and then they can play the game with their own submitted questions.
Here is a video explaining "How To Use KitCollab" (accessing KitCollab is slightly different now, see the screenshot below!)

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2. What is "Seasons"?
Gimkit Seasons is a way to keep track of your students' Gimkit activity, progress & accuracy throughout several Gimkit games (the length of time you choose being the "Season.")
Here is a video from the Gimkit creator explaining Seasons in more detail.
To start setting up a Season:
  • Click on "Seasons" from the Home Page.
  • Then it will ask you to set up your Season duration, and which Classes you would like to participate.

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3. How do I create a Flashcard-style quiz in Gimkit?
  • Click "New Kit" from your profile dashboard.

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  • Click "Create with Flashcards" from the left-hand menu.

   

  • Then Click "Create Flashcards."

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  • Start entering your terms & definitions.
  • When you finish, click "Create" (You need at least 4 Flashcards, and Gimkit will generate the multiple choice Flashcards with correct & incorrect answers).

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4. How do I assign one of the pre-created Kits?
  • Search for a pre-created Kit by Clicking "Search for Kits" from your Gimkit home page.

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  • If you find a Kit you like, you can start a Live game with it (Click "Play"), Share it with your class (Click "Share"), or Copy it for yourself to edit (Click "Copy") from the left-hand Kit menu. It's important that you look carefully through any pre-created Kit, before sharing it with your class.

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Here are a few ways you might use Gimkit - have students...

  • Practice vocabulary by having students write in answers, or select correct definitions (in English, or Spanish!)
  • Perform self-assessments of other class content
  • Participate in "Live" games against one another - for fun, or covering class content

Below are examples of Gimkit in practice:

(Under construction! If you have any Quizizz videos you have used in your teaching practice, send them my way!)

Here are more resources from the Gimkit support pages:

​Do you have a specific Gimkit question that you can't find the answer to?
Email Help Desk: helpdesk@berkeleycarroll.org with "App Request" in the Subject Line.

Do you want to see how other educators are using Gimkit? Interested in updates, or how they're approaching Remote Learning? Browse their Twitter feed!