Kahoot! is an online game based polling platform. I was introduced to Kahoot! at a staff meeting earlier this year. I had been creating polls for my classroom as a formative assessment tool using polleverywhere.com, but its free version only allows you to see the number of correct responses. Participants do not create usernames in Polleverywhere (unless you subscribe to the paid version), whereas in Kahoot!’s system, users must create a username when logging into a poll. Participants are awarded points for correct answers as well as how quickly they answer. In my experience, students love using Kahoot!, and in fact will often request a Kahoot! at the end of a lesson. They love the competitive aspect of the game and end up cheering, hooting, and hollering when the game gets close to the end: they all want to answer quickly and correctly to compete for first place!
As far as Kahoot!’s relevance to investment opportunities, I believe it is the data collection (not of students and teachers – logins are not required on the part of players), of when and where particular quizzes are used, that may be of particular interest to those wishing to invest in educational technology. The ‘freemium’ model, where the initial game or service is free, and ‘add-ons’ or upgrades come with a fee, has paid off for various other services and apps, and may become fruitful for the makers of Kahoot!. Their model for revenue seems to still be in development, as my Prezi indicates. But for now, I am reaping the immediate benefit as a teacher of fun, engaged, and gamified learning on the part of my classes.
Link to Prezi: https://prezi.com/0eoyu29w-c_r/kahoot-gamifying-the-classroom/