First year nursing students’ evaluation of Kahoot! to facilitate learning and testing knowledge. A pilot study in Ireland and Italy

Abstract

BackgroundKahoot! was implemented as a strategy to help students in two programs meet problem-solving competencies. Kahoot! is an on online interactive quiz which utilizes competitiveness, music and count down clocks as motivational engagement for students in learning, and provides opportunity to enhance skills such as problem-solving and thinking in time-sensitive situations. There is a paucity of evidence about nursing students’ evaluation of using Kahoot! both for learning and testing knowledge. MethodsA single stage observational cross-sectional study was performed in Ireland and in Italy to evaluate first-year nursing students’ experience of Kahoot to evaluate their knowledge before skills laboratories. ResultsFirst-year nursing students (n = 83) were involved in this study, 41 in Dublin and 42 in Rome, respectively. About 66.19% of students reported strong agreement with the tool's utility. ConclusionsFindings show that students found Kahoot easy to use, helpful for learning especially in relation to formative assessment and impactful in preparing them for the practical part of the course. Educators could use game-based learning to engage students especially for the practical laboratories that are an important part of the nursing course.