Preliminary use of kahoot as an interactive tool for self-assessment of theoretical concepts related to animal breeding

Resumen

Previous academic experience of the group of Animal Breeding of the University of León in Spain (@MEGA-ULE) has identified a need to encourage active learning in the students of the different degrees. Kahoot! is a popular eLearning tool that can easily be used to increase students' engagement in the classroom. We have previously used Kahoot to obtain a rapid feedback survey regarding practical activities of a subject in the Degree of Veterinary Sciences. However, the use of this tool in theoretical classes seems limited for big groups (more than 100 students per class). Considering the low size of the groups in the Degree of Agronomic Engineering of the University of León, we have tried to use Kahoot as a self-assessment tool in relation to the theoretical concepts of Animal Breeding included the subject of “Nutrition and Animal Breeding”. For that, at the end of the different sections of the theoretical lessons, we performed 10 questions with the interactive Kahoot survey tool. The questions were addressed to basic concepts explained in the classes. The students showed a very positive response to the surveys and they recognized to dedicate more time to its study to prepare the interactive tests. In addition, a very positive response was obtained, in general, when they were asked about this interactive tool for self-assessment. The participation in the surveys was considered as a positive point of the overall mark, and the proportion of students that passed the subject was higher than in previous years. Overall, we consider that Kahoot has been useful to increase the interest of the students in this subject. Future efforts will be addressed to implement this self-assessment approach in subjects taught by the MEGA-ULE group involving larger groups of students.