In advance of next week's ISTE conference, Kahoot has unveiled some new features that teachers have been asking for. Now when you create a Kahoot game you will have 25% more space to write your questions. You'll now be able to drag-and-drop your game questions into a new order. And, finally, Kahoot has added autosaving of your work in progress.
One of the features of Kahoot that I often show to people is the ability to duplicate public Kahoot games and customize those games for your students. Now Kahoot will make question suggestions based on the type of game you're creating and questions you've added. This is similar to the Google Forms feature that will suggest question types when you're writing a quiz.
One more Kahoot update that teachers should note is that you can now extend response timer for a question to four minutes. That's twice as long as the previous time limit.
Back in March Google launched "Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego?" for use in the web and mobile versions of Google Earth. Then in May a second Carmen Sandiego game was added to Google Earth. Today, Google added a third Carmen Sandiego game to Google Earth. Just like in the first two games, the new game has students interview witnesses and pursue clues around the globe.
Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? isn't the only game that you can find in the web, Android, and iOS versions of Google Earth. If you go into the Voyager mode in Google Earth you will find other games and quizzes to try. The quizzes are neat because when you answer a question correctly you automatically zoom to the Street View imagery of the location. Check it out in my video below.
Thanks to a Tweet from Mike Tholfsen this afternoon I learned about an exciting new feature that is coming soon to PowerPoint. That feature is called Presentation Coach. Presentation Coach is a rehearsal mode that you can use in PowerPoint (web version only, it appears) to get instant feedback on your presentation including your pacing, redundant use of words, and use of filler words and noises like "um" and "ah."
Presentation Coach will give you suggestions on how to replace filler words and how to alter your pacing. Presentation Coach will alert you if you're just reading from your slides instead of speaking from your memory. And when your rehearsal is completed Presentation Coach will give you a report about your presentation.
Applications for Education
Presentation Coach should be a PowerPoint feature that students and teachers will embrace when it rolls-out later this summer. Students will be able to practice and revise their presentations with the assistance of Presentation Coach as many times as they need to before speaking in front of their classes.
An updated presentation theme design tool is coming to PowerPoint later this summer too. You can read more about that update here.
