Collaborative learning in action
Collaborative learning, whether done in-person or virtually, sits at the heart of both student and parent preparedness for the admissions process. Below is one such example of collaborative learning that demonstrates how deliberate instructional design and the careful application of educational theory spell out an engaging and informative experience for participants.
In this session, we delivered a brief presentation on how best to handle multiple-choice questions through various testing strategies. After the presentation, which was constructed via Canva, attendees participated in a fast-paced Kahoot! quiz that asked participants to apply what they had just learned. At the end of the exercise, participants engaged in a structured debrief to review what they had learned, including various learning theories that had been used to create the activity.
Our team divided into two teams - one created the initial presentation using Canva and the other created the Kahoot! quiz. We determined that Kahoot! was an ideal collaboration technology, as it is easy to use, holds participant interest, and is scalable to any group size (Tang & Chan, 2026). As a member of the group creating the Kahoot!, I used a carefully-crafted Claude prompt to create a list of classic horror literature-themed quiz questions.
Due to a lack of time, we chose to make both the lecture and the quiz on the shorter side, limiting the number of slides and subsequent quiz questions. Participants were engaged and excited, although the quiz was slightly longer than anticipated. After the completion of the quiz, we revealed which learning and collaboration theories we had incorporated into the exercise.
Design & facilitation Experience
theory in practice
We deliberately employed several learning and collaboration theories during the construction and facilitation of this exercise:
Social Constructivism: group participation and interaction were present in the Kahoot! exercise, even though it was nominally an individual exercise. Using Kahoot! as a platform also allowed us to pace through the activity as a group, debriefing questions and sections together (Barros et al., 2022). The Canva-based instruction prior to the quiz was an example of limited scaffolding.
Behaviorism: the style and graphic design of Kahoot! delivers a strong hit of dopamine in the form of bright colors, sounds, and graphics. Participants are competing for points within a gamified framework, which gooses the reward centers of the brain.
Cognitivism: the lecture and subsequent knowledge application portion of the activity called upon participants to engage in long-term memory retrieval regarding classic Gothic horror.
Key takeaways & Future Applications
Through this process, we learned the value of intentional and deliberate instructional design. The process of incorporating learning theories and effective digital tools allowed us to more closely align our activity with the desired outcomes. This process can be applied to any and all future activities in order to ensure broad audience participation, student excitement, and knowledge retention.
