How to Upload Photos to Gimkit Without a Paid Account [2024]

How to Upload Photos to Gimkit Without a Paid Account 2024 Here we, I’ll explain a clever workaround that lets you upload photos to Gimkit completely free. With just a few simple steps, you can add images to spice up your kits without needing to pay anything. Whether you’re a teacher on a budget or a student looking to juice up your homemade quizzes, this trick has you covered!

An Introduction to Gimkit

Before we get into the details, let’s quickly go over what Gimkit is for those who aren’t familiar. Gimkit is a game-based online learning platform founded by Josh Feinswog in 2017. It’s mainly used by teachers to create interactive quiz games for students.

Here’s a quick rundown of how it works:

• Teachers can build quizzes called “kits” with multiple choice, true/false, and open-ended questions.
• These kits include fun elements like timers, themes, music, and power-ups to engage students.
• Students then compete to answer questions correctly and earn points. The more correct answers, the more points earned.
• It’s free for teachers and students to use Gimkit’s core features, with paid subscriptions offering additional customization.

So in a nutshell, Gimkit takes boring old quizzing and turns it into a stimulating game for students. The kits make reviewing material more enjoyable.

One feature exclusive to paid Gimkit memberships is uploading images. Photos can help provide visual context for questions or just make your kits look more polished.

Unfortunately, free members are not able to upload their own photos. Or at least, that’s what Gimkit wants you to think…

Why Upload Photos to Gimkit?

Before we get into the image upload workaround, you might be wondering why you’d want to upload photos in the first place.

Adding relevant photos in your Gimkit kits has several benefits:

Makes questions more clear and memorable

Rather than describing something in words alone, you can show an actual picture. This helps relay the question’s context much faster. Visuals also tend to stick in people’s memory better than plain text.

Breaks up blocks of text

Staring at a wall of questions quickly becomes tiring. Throwing some pictures into the mix makes things more visually stimulating.

Allows assessing visual knowledge

You can test students’ ability to recognize key people, places, events, artwork, etc. This goes beyond fact recollection.

Matches different learning styles

We don’t all process information the same way. Many people understand concepts better when presented visually. Images help reach those visual learners.

Makes your kits look more polished

This may sound superficial, but a kit full of nothing but walls of text looks dated and uninviting. Sprinkling in appropriate photos makes your quizzes seem well-designed and modern. Students perceive this as you putting in extra effort, making them more inclined to engage.

Sets your quizzes apart

Adding unique, relevant photos is something that takes time and effort. Doing so makes your kits stand out from the countless other boring Gimkit quizzes out there.

So in summary, uploading images takes your Gimkit kits to the next level. Visually reinforced questions lead to better engagement and retention from students.

The only catch is that photos require a Pro membership…or so Gimkit wants you to think!

How to Upload Photos Without a Paid Gimkit Account

The truth is, any Gimkit user can upload photos regardless of account type. Gimkit just makes the upload feature much easier for paying members by integrating it into the kit builder.

But with a simple workaround, anyone can upload images to Gimkit completely free.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Host your photos online – Since non-Pro members can’t upload directly, you need to first get your photos hosted somewhere online to link them from Gimkit. Imgur is a great free image host to use here.
2. Paste image URLs into question descriptions – Once your photos are online, all you need to do is paste the direct URLs into your question text where you want the images to appear.
3. Embed images in descriptions – To actually see the images in your questions rather than just links, embed the URLs using basic image embed code.

And that’s the gist of it! I’ll now go through each step in detail, including extra tips to polish your image implementation.

Step 1: Host Photos Online

First, you need to upload your photos somewhere online to generate public URLs to them. You can use any photo sharing platform: Google Photos, Dropbox, Flickr, etc.

Imgur

However, I recommend Imgur.com specifically for hosting Gimkit kit images. Here’s why:

• No account required – You don’t need to create yet another account. Imgur allows anonymous uploads.
• Max file size up to 50MB – Big enough for most standard image types you’d use in kits.
• Direct photo URLs – Imgur gives each upload a direct URL to the image file itself, unlike other hosts that just link to the post page. This direct linking integrates better.
• Reliable uptime – As one of the largest user-generated content sites out there, Imgur offers extremely reliable uptime to keep your photos loading.

Uploading to Imgur is a breeze:

1. Go to https://imgur.com/upload
2. Drag and drop your photos to upload
3. Once finished, click each image to expand it
4. On the right side, copy the Direct Link (ends with file extension like .JPG) – this is the URL you’ll paste into Gimkit

Repeat for all your photos. The URLs will look something like this example:

https://i.imgur.com/Rpvuk7B.jpg

And there you go – all images now hosted online and ready to integrate!

Step 2: Paste URLs Into Question Descriptions

Now comes the fun part – getting your images actually into Gimkit!

With your photos uploaded to Imgur, all you need are the direct URLs. Head into Gimkit kit builder:

1. Create a new kit or open an existing one to edit
2. Add a question and fill out the main details
3. In the Description field, paste your first image URL – hit enter after to put it on its own line:

https://i.imgur.com/Rpvuk7B.jpg

What historic figure is shown here?

4. Repeat with all questions you want to add images for

And that’s it! With just the raw URLs in the descriptions, you’ve successfully inserted custom images without a paid Gimkit account.

Well…almost.

The problem is, right now those URLs will simply display as unusable links, not visible images. We need one more tweak to fix that…

Step 3: Embed Images Using Markdown

By default, Gimkit just treats pasted URLs as links in the description text. To actually render them as images, you need to embed them properly using markdown image syntax.

Here is the structure to use:

![Image Description](Direct image URL)

So for an example Imgur link, it would become:

![Washington Crossing Delaware](https://i.imgur.com/Rpvuk7B.jpg)

What historic figure is shown here?  

Now when you save the question, Gimkit will detect the markdown coding and insert the image properly.

The text in brackets is the alt text – a description of the image for accessibility and in case it fails to load. Use something short but descriptive.

And that’s all there is to it! With your online-hosted images now embedded using markdown, they will display beautifully right in the question descriptions along with the rest of your text and formatting.

Image Placement Tips

Now that you know the underlying method to insert images without a Gimkit Pro account, here are some tips to use photos as effectively as possible:

Put images above question text

You generally want the visual first before the actual question for context. Embed images on their own lines above your question wording.

Use captions for clarity

Consider adding captions like “Figure 1” or “Shown below” just to eliminate any doubt about interpreting visual elements.

Vary image sizes

Insert full-width big pictures for more prominent visuals, or smaller centered images to mix things up. Markdown supports sizing syntax.

Use alt text strategically

Writing the perfect descriptive alt text is an art itself. Use just enough detail to clearly summarize

the image without giving away answers.

Enable image zooming

For particularly detailed images, allow students to click to zoom in and inspect elements more closely. Add this using markdown syntax.

Link images to sources

If using public domain images, consider linking back to source sites like Wikimedia to properly credit.

Mix up visual styles

Use a healthy blend of photos, illustrations, diagrams, charts, and other graphics to target different learning styles.

Reserve images for key points

While images are great, overdoing it lessens the impact. Use only your most important visuals strategically.

Double check relevance

Every image you add should directly relate to and enhance the paired question. Don’t add fluffy pictures just for the sake of it.

Consider accessibility

Images pose challenges for visually impaired students. Provide rich alt text descriptions and allow non-visual question completion.

Now let’s dive into some specific examples of how to leverage images for different subjects:

Final Thoughts

Hopefully this gives you plenty of ideas and best practices for uploading and using images effectively in your free Gimkit kits! Visually reinforced questions require more effort up front, but lead to much higher student engagement and recall in the long run.

Just remember these key points:

• Host kit images online via Imgur for direct URLs
• Paste URLs into question descriptions
• Use markdown syntax to properly embed images
• Place photos strategically above question text
• Write quality alt text for accessibility
• Vary visual formats like portraits, diagrams, artifacts etc
• Connect concepts to real world depictions when possible
• Check accessibility through supporting text, high contrast options etc

So go forth and visualize your kits! Ditch the boring walls of plain text for stimulating imagery paired with awesome quiz questions. Just because Gimkit restricts uploads behind the Pro paywall doesn’t mean you can’t take matters into your own hands!

Have fun coming up with clever ways to implement photos using this workaround. As always, reach out with any questions!

FAQs