GimKit:

Bringing gaming into the classroom and digging the data

Professional Development and Online Learning Module

Missy May

FRIT 7739: Practicum in Instructional Technology

Georgia Southern University

Spring 2022
Ila Elementary School (IES) GimKit Professional Development

General Audience: The primary audience is teachers from multiple grade levels, with various years of

experience, some are departmentalized, and others are specialized (SPED, ESOL, etc.). The audience instructs

students from grades K-5, and they have varying technical abilities.

Problem Identification: I conducted a needs assessment for Ila Elementary School. Based on the needs

assessment, data was a driving point. Gimkit will allow students to have fun while implementing technology

and provide data. Based on the topic of this professional learning, I also had additional participants join from

other schools.

Demonstrated Need:

Ila Elementary School, alongside the Madison County School District, is continuing to grow a formal

technology plan to promote student engagement and growth. Gimkit will empower teachers to promote

engagement, learning, and motivation in students. The technology-based professional development I created is

based on the Google Form Needs Assessment to determine their confidence level with using technology in the

classroom and determine the area of need for professional development. The greatest need presented from

surveying 27 teachers was student engagement, motivation, and meaningful data. Our survey was based on the

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) teaching standards.

Surveying the teachers was for them to rank their confidence level on the use of general technology and

reflect on a specific topic or area they need support in. Upon analyzing the data, teachers showed a significant

deficit within the following standard, "I explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative

digital learning environments that engage and support learning." Though many teachers use technology in the

classroom, their confidence in engaging, supportive, and effective is drastically suffering. To conclude the

needs assessment, an open-ended question was proposed: "If you could have professional development on any

specific topic or in any specific area within technology, what would it be?" The overwhelming majority of the

responses referenced engagement and data. The findings led me to demonstrate the use of gaming in the
classroom. The survey supported the idea of researching and providing professional learning on an engaging,

educational gaming platform.

After much research and professional opinion and experience, I decided Gimkit would be an effective

and essential platform for engaging students and maximizing instructional time with consistent practice of

reviewing questions they have not yet mastered. By utilizing Gimkit, teachers can create formative assessments

for all subjects and pull informative data from each Kit completed. Data collected through Gimkit can be

analyzed and used to create flexible grouping to maximize instructional time and student mastery of content.

Professional development will focus on using Gimkit and empower teachers to be more confident in using this

engaging technology platform, all while relating to students in the 21st-century.

Goals and Objectives

After completing professional development sessions, all 27 of the teachers at Ila Elementary School will

have received training on what Gimkit is and be aware of its benefits and uses in the classroom. All teachers

will have successfully created a Gimkit account and have completed at least one formative assessment during

the professional development sessions. Teachers will demonstrate confidence in the instructional platform and

show competency in using Gimkit as an instructional tool to improve student learning and engagement.

Objective 1: Teachers will learn how to create a "Kit" in the Gimkit platform and execute an assessment

with their students.

Objective 2: Teachers will analyze student data from assessments given through Gimkit.

Objective 3: Teachers will analyze Gimkit assessment data and evaluate student growth.

Instructional Design Summary: The professional development will be held in an online setting. The PL is

being offered to 26 teachers from IES and HSES. The teachers from both schools teach in grades 3-5. I will

conduct the professional development through a Google Meet, where I can share my screen and walk teachers

through, starting with GimKit. Participants were given a one-week timeline to implement GimKit in their

classrooms. Some participants have a GimKit account previously created but have not used it. The feedback and
evaluation I receive from this professional learning will support the use of this program being purchased for our

schools or district. This platform promotes gaming in the classroom, where we can meet our students. The

virtual lesson I will present will instruct teachers on how to create a kit and look at data provided from the

questions. The first step for teachers is to create a 10+ question GimKit for their students to be used as an

assessment. Step two will be for them to pull the data provided by GimKit and analyze the data.

Assessment Plan:

 Pre-Professional Development Survey - collect data on background knowledge of GimKit.

 Formative - Teachers create a GimKit

 Formative - Teachers create a KIT

 Summative - The teacher implements the Kit and analyzes the data report

 Post-Professional Development Survey

Program Evaluation: To ensure teachers have understood GimKit and the program's functions, they will share

their created KIT with me. I will provide feedback on the development of their KIT. They will also share their

data report with me to understand how to pull the data report. It will be essential to assess the learner's ability to

complete the plan. There are multiple individuals within our district interested in this program. This will ensure

I refine this PL before presenting it to the district or other schools. Once I complete the evaluations, participants

will complete the Post-Professional Development Survey. that will provide feedback from the users.

Instructional Goal  Evaluation 

Objective 1: Teachers will learn how to A pretest on teacher knowledge about Gimkit will

create a “Kit” in the Gimkit platform and be emailed to teachers prior to the Professional

execute an assessment with their Development via Google forms.

Teachers will report their data from class poll of

 students. their preferred game modes.

Teachers will be evaluated via rubric (Appendix A)

Objective 2: Teachers will analyze Teachers will complete a Data Tracking and

student data from assessments given Analysis Worksheet in Google Docs (Appendix

through Gimkit.  B). 

Teachers will be evaluated via rubric (Appendix A)

A post test will be given to teachers on  creating

Objective 3: Teachers will analyze
Kits in Gimkit. All teachers will be required to
Gimkit assessment data and evaluate
create a kit in Gimkit, collect and analyze data on
student growth.
student achievement.

Teachers will be evaluated via rubric (Appendix A)

Presentation Outline - GimKit

1. Review the GimKit Agenda shared with links to the pre-assessment survey, post-assessment survey,

and resources.

1.1. Open gimkit.com

1.2. Sign in to GimKit with Google (at this point I will share information about free plans vs.

subscription plans)

2. You will now be in GimKit home and look at Kits.

2.1. Demonstrate how to look at kits within your school that other teachers have made.

2.2. Demonstrate how look at premade kits.

2.3. Ask a member of the PL to share a topic they are studying with me and search it.

2.4. Demonstrate how to look at premade kits once you have searched the topic.
 2.5. Click on the kit and you will see the questions and click on show answers.

2.6. Demonstrate how to search a kit and make a copy.

2.7. Demonstrate how to look at the kit and edit the kit.

2.8. Demonstrate and explain how to play live vs. assign for homework.

3. Teachers will learn how to pull a report and dig the data from the kit.

3.1. Hover over the three dots, and click reports.

3.2. Show the percentage of questions answered and click the percentage.

3.3. Demonstrate reviewing the student overview.

3.4. Click on a student’s name to see individual data.

4. Discuss sharing kits among other educators within the district.

5. Open the floor for questions.

Pre and Post Survey Data - GimKit

Pre Survey Question 1:

Post Survey Question 1:

Pre Survey Question 2:

Post Survey Question 2:

Pre Survey Question 3:

Post Survey Question 3:

Using the same questions for 1-3 allowed me to see the growth of the participants from before

participating in the demonstration and once they saw the demonstration and began playing with GimKit.

Participants grew from no content knowledge to basic content knowledge in most areas. With additional

practice and implementation, participants could move to advanced and superior.

Post Survey Question 4:
Post Survey Question 5:

The excitement shown in questions 4 and 5 left me with the hope that I had shared something valuable

with fellow educators. Two days after I delivered this, I saw just that! I had a teacher call me with excitement to

tell me their school had purchased a subscription, and she used a kit with her students. Her words, "You would

have thought they had hit the jackpot! They loved it!"

Reflection:
 Originally, I had created this PL to be completed over three sessions with activities to complete prior to

coming. There seemed to be some stress and that was the last thing I wanted for my fellow teachers. I had to do

a little last minute changes especially when admin granted me one afternoon to deliver this professional

development. Springtime in education is the busiest time of year. I knew how thin many teachers are stretched

right now, so I condensed everything into one session. I still built my website around having three sessions. I

felt this would be most useful for individuals unable to attend or who needed to refresh themselves once they

had gotten into the gaming platform. One thing I wish I would have done differently, and this hit me mid-

delivery, I should have done their pre and post-assessments/surveys on GimKit. However, I don't know that it

would have been as effective and provided me with meaningful data due to the topic. After delivering this PL to

IES and a few others who joined, GimKIt was a buzz at the district admin meeting. My administration came

back to share kind words and excitement from other administrators. I had a teacher in my building who asked if

they could join. I thought, why is she getting on, she always uses GimKit? Well, what I didn’t know is she

didn’t know how to pull the data report. Now, it is a gamechanger for her. All you need is to plant a seed, tend

to it gently and watch what can grow!

Appendices:

Appendix A
Appendix B