Gimkit Review

Gimkit is a gamified learning platform designed to make learning fun and enjoyable for young students.

Originally created as a high school project, it has grown into a popular educational platform used by teachers in schools across the country.

With gamified features such as an in-app currency that can be earned by answering questions correctly, Gimkit aims to transform education into a fun experience.

Let’s take a closer look at Gimkit and what it has to offer.

Gimkit Overview

Gimkit was created as a high school project by Josh Feinsilber, also known as “John F.” He realized that games helped him stay engaged in school, and he wanted to create something that would help other students enjoy learning as well.

It’s free to use, and with a wide selection of games to choose from, you can make your class or homework assignments something your students look forward to every day.

With that said, let’s review the features of Gimkit.

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Gimkit Features and Walkthrough

Signing Up

When signing up for Gimkit, you are prompted to select your school and age level. The purpose of this is so that you can access kits made by other teachers for your school.

Signing up is quick and easy and doesn’t cost any money. Students can sign up for a free account as well; simply select the option for students.

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Kits

Kits are question sets with which you can quiz your students. You can create a new kit from scratch by clicking on the New Kit option, as shown in the screenshot above.

Alternatively, you can click on “My School” to find kits already created for your school.

When creating your kits, you will be prompted to enter a name, language, and subject for your kit. The next step will be to choose a cover image for your kit.

Your options are to select a stock photo from Unsplash or enter an image link if you want to use a custom photo.

Next, you will need to enter your questions. There are a few ways to do that.

In addition to the KitCollab option (more on that later), there are a few other options.

One is to enter your questions manually. Alternatively, if you already have a spreadsheet of questions and answers, you can import the spreadsheet.

Yet another option is selecting and importing ready-made questions and answers from the Gimkit Question Bank. More on the Question Bank in the next section.

Finally, you have the option of creating a kit in the form of flashcards. Flashcards can be created manually or imported.

Of course, you can also stick to regular multiple-choice questions and add several potential answers to a question. Students will then have to figure out which answer is the correct one.

You can add photos and audio recordings to your questions and answers.

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Question Bank

The Question Bank is a collection of ready-made sets and questions you can add to your own question set. For any given topic or search phrase, you can find ready-made sets.

On the left side, you will see the sets, along with how many questions they have and the author of each set. Click on any set to see a list of the questions contained in the sets, which will appear on the right side of the screen.

You can then import individual questions from the set to your own set. Of course, you have the option of importing questions from kits you previously created to your new kits.

It’s really easy, but keep in mind that the quality of the questions can vary since they are created by different teachers and not by Gimkit itself.

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Live Games

Once you’ve created a kit, you can play a live game. You can actually play live games using public kits as well, although you won’t get game reports for them.

Simply click on “Play Live,” and you will be able to select a game mode. There are many games to choose from, such as Fishtopia and Farmchain, although not all of them are available to free users.

You can then invite students to join your game with an invite code.

Assignments

Assignments are a great way to make homework fun. You will see this option next to the Kits option in your dashboard, towards the upper left of the screen.

You can also click on “Assign HW” next to a kit to assign it as homework.

Once you have selected a kit to be assigned as homework, you will proceed to select a game mode. Again, multiple games are available, but obviously, game modes that require more than one player are not, since kids will be doing the homework alone.

You can also assign a due date for your homework assignments.

Students will be able to access assignments via a special link you share with them. Meanwhile, you will be able to see the homework reports to verify that your students have completed the homework and how well they have done.

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Classes

Next to the Assignments tab, you will notice a Classes tab. This feature serves an organizational purpose.

You can provide your students with a special link, with which they can create an account on Gimkit and join your class on the platform. You can require them to use their real names, and you can edit their names yourself at any time.

That prevents students from joining with inappropriate names, a common occurrence when students join without an account using only a game code. That keeps them anonymous and allows them to use inappropriate screen names.

In addition, if you set up a class, your students will be able to join your live games instantly, without a game code, as long as they are logged into their accounts.

Finally, another benefit of classes is the ability to track your students’ progress easily.

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KitCollab

KitCollab is a feature that allows students to submit their own questions. This has a useful purpose.

Mainly, it allows students to make you aware of questions that have been bothering your students. Perhaps you may not have thought of those challenging questions; inviting students to collaborate on your kits is a great way to do it.

Rewards

When students answer questions correctly, they can earn in-game XP rewards, which they can use to level up. When they level up, they will earn Gimbucks.

Gimbucks can be used in the virtual store to purchase virtual rewards, such as stickers and fun virtual items.

It’s a great way to incentivize students to do their best.

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Gimkit Creative

Gimkit currently allows teachers to create their own games, worlds, maps, and more with Gimkit Creative. It’s still in beta mode.

In the Discover tab of Gimkit Creative, you can find maps created by other users, such as escape rooms and hide-and-seek maps.

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Pricing

One of the best things about Gimkit is that it is entirely free to use. Not only that, but there are no limits as to how many players you can invite to a game on the free account!

That is something that really sets it apart from other popular gamified learning platforms.

Not only that, but you can create classes and get reports on the free plan as well.

So, what does Gimkit Pro give you?

Some game modes are only available for Pro subscribers. Another feature of Gimkit Pro is assignments – you can’t assign homework on the free plan.

Gimkit Pro costs $59.88 a year or $14.99 a month. For updated pricing information, see this page.

A free trial of Gimkit Pro is available for 14 days upon signup.

You can also purchase a group plan for your school.

The Department plan costs $650 a year and gives up to 20 teachers access to Gimkit Pro. The School plan costs $1,000 a year and allows unlimited teachers to access Pro.

See updated group pricing here.

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Conclusion

Gimkit is one of the best gamified learning platforms.

It doesn’t put any limits on how many students can join a game, and the ability to set up classes for free is another plus.

The only disadvantage of the free plan is that you can’t assign games as homework. Other than that, though, you can access most features, including the ability to reuse question sets created by teachers across the nation.

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