Online Flashcards: Using Web 2.0 To Learn
Students today know that it takes more than a book to learn a subject. It takes a variety of methods, including study partners and flashcards. This week we’ll be taking a look at how flashcards have moved online, and how they offer more than the index card ever did.
As we look at the applications FlashcardDB, SocialDecks, Quizlet, and Flashcard Friends this week, we’ll be looking at how these applications handle the flashcard process, judging them on interface, features, and ease of use.
Much like their paper counterparts, individual flashcards in these applications are called “cards,” and groups of cards are called “decks.” Flashcard applications will present users with the opportunity to quiz themselves but unlike traditional cards, users can mix them up, tag them, and import/export their cards.
Finding new sets (or cards, or decks) is made easier by the tags, and a search field that is common to flashcard applications. Users can mark their favorites, combine cards, form groups, and exchange messages with each other. Some offer widgets to export flashcards into social networks and mobile devices, and some offer learning games.
Some applications follow new methods, such as the Leitner Method, to reinforce what users have learned. The Leitner Method works well with flashcards, moving the cards with difficult to understand material to the front while pushing the understood to the back. Imagine that you are studying French, and you find that you understand verbs easily. Using the Lietner system, once you got the the cards with verbs right, they would be moved back further in the stack for repetition within a day or two. Adjectives, which you think are hard, stay in the front to make sure you get it. Once you do, it moves further back. If you get the verbs right a second time, the cards will be pushed back even further, so that there is always something you need to study at the front of your deck.
As the week goes on we’ll be taking a closer look at these applications, but if you would like to find out more about these applications and discover other applications like them, there is the Listio search: flashcards+learn.
Next in this series: SocialDecks: Flashcards That Are Tagged
New to Listio? Our tag cloud search offers an easy way to narrow your hunt for the perfect web application or service. No more second guessing of search terms. Just click on one tag, then as many more as you'd like to narrow your search results. It's easy and ensures you get to the listing you want. Finding web 2.0 was never so easy.
Tags: Flashcards, learn, personal, students, study
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