Kifi: The New Way to Build Your Knowledge

Kifi contains hundreds of articles about a variety of topics users can search. After launching and registering with Kifi, users must first select topics of interest, and their choices include: foodie, student, science buff, traveler, animal lover, and more! Once selected, Kifi suggests articles that match their interest, and users can browse these articles by tapping the “Kifi” button on the bottom left of the screen. When users see an article they wish to read, they can access it by tapping its headline. They can also tap the “upload” button to share it over social media, chat about it, and view it online among other options. If users want to save the article, they can tap the “Keep It” button, which lets them add it to one of their libraries. Users can also choose to “follow” the article’s author, so they are notified when the author publishes new articles. By tapping the “Magnifying Glass” button on the bottom of the screen, users are able to search for articles by keywords. Users can also receive and send messages and notifications by tapping the “Mail” button. Finally, by tapping the “Profile” button on the bottom of the screen, users can manage their libraries, view who they are following, and check to see if they were invited to join a group. Lastly, users can tap the “Gear” button on the top of the “Profile” screen to update their interests.

Instructional Ideas

1. For a current events activity, teachers can have students research, read, and report on 1-3 articles found in this app each week. Students may choose articles based on their interest and then read them. To report on the article, students will need to write a summary of the article, explain its main idea and purpose, and provide an overview of what they learned or what makes the article relevant to them. Teachers can provide specific length requirements for the reports. Students can email their report to the teacher or post it to class website.
2. As a bellringer, teachers can connect their iPad to a projector and select an article for their class to read. The students and teacher can read the article together and then students can journal a response to it. Ideas for journal prompts include: (1) What was the point of this article?, (2) If you could tell the author one thing related to what he/she wrote in this article, what would it be?, (3) What did you learn from this article? What information do you still want to learn or read about that was not included in this article?, and (4) If you were going to add some information to this article, what would it be? Students can share their journals aloud or they can post them to a class website.
3. When researching a topic, teachers can allow students to search for their topic in this app and use the articles as references in their report.
4. To support reading comprehension, teachers can allow students to choose an article in this app. Next, students will read the article and create multiple-choice questions that aligns to it. Students can then post the URL to the article (the URL can be found by tapping the “Upload” button when viewing the article, the “More Options” choice, and the “Open in Safari” button) and the quiz to a class website or send them to the their teacher. If sent to the teacher, he/she will be able to review the questions and create a quiz based on them.
5. After becoming familiar with the types of articles and styles of writing found in this app, teachers can have students research and write about topics that are important and relevant to them. The article students write will have to model the articles found in this app, and students can write their article(s) using an Office app. Once written, students can post their articles to a class website, where their classmates can then read and comment on the article.

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