Kahootz is a learning community. It combines a unique CD-Rom-based multimedia tool-set with a diverse, active community of classrooms eager to interact and exchange. In Kahootz you can be a movie director, designer, inventor, animator and artist rolled into one. This notion of fostering a learning community is one of the primary aims of Kahootz.


Philosophy

The power of Kahootz is not just in the creation of engaging and innovative content, it is in the shared stories, collaborations, incidental learning and knowledge transfer that occurs when you engage children to challenge each other.

Children are able to experiment with the various library components with the aim of creating a device, a machine, or a piece of technology. It can be imaginative and whimsical, or complex and intricate.


Outcomes

Use of Kahootz in the classroom over an extended period of time has resulted in a range of outcomes being identified by educators. Some were obvious with initial use; others became evident over time.

Below is a summary of the key Kahootz features singled out by classroom teachers:

Children teaching children

Once one child published content that pushed the boundaries of the Kahootz tools (eg using animation and linking to create interactive game elements), hybrid versions containing the same components would be published within days of the original going online.

Children of all ability levels were able to 'open up the bonnet' and see how the 'engine' had been constructed, without needing to understand any form of coding or scripting. The result was that the skills and knowledge to develop innovative and creative content became accessible to all.

Collaboration in a learning community

Because Kahootz provides a potential audience for the content produced by children, the type of content teachers encouraged their children to develop changed over time.

Encourages the development of engaging content

As children began to realise that others could scrutinise their work, they became much more interested in developing content that might engage others.

In a sense they began asking the same questions as a publisher. How does my story interest someone else? How can I construct my creation to be interactive and engaging? How do I encourage feedback from the others who see my work?

Based on responses from the children who saw their work, children began re-drafting, adapting and embellishing their work. They were also able to leverage the expertise of others and learn from each other how things were done.

Facilitating non-text-based learning

The ability for children to develop content that does not necessarily rely on text to convey meaning or a narrative has been a very powerful outcome identified by teachers.

Children from non-English-speaking backgrounds, those with learning disabilities, or those simply at the formative stages of developing literacy skills, were generally able to use Kahootz to create content that in some cases displayed quite developed narrative that effectively used visual objects, sound and animation.

Promoting construction and design

A number of teachers have described Kahootz as a kind of perfect virtual tinkering space. Children are able to experiment with the various library components with the aim of creating a device, a machine, or a piece of technology. The parts of the machine created move in relation to one another. Sounds can be added that illustrate how the machine might work. It can be imaginative and whimsical, or complex and intricate.


Summary

Kahootz is not a passive medium. It encourages children to explore what others have created, discover how something has been made and hopefully inspire them to develop their own unique content and share it with others.

The real challenge for the ACTF is to excite children with innovative possibilities that they can seize.



Peter Maggs
New Media Education Specialist
Australian Children's Television Foundation

Peter is running a workshop at the Digital Childhoods conference on 6 March 2003.


February 2003