I have decided on Quizlet as the next Web 2.0 tool I would like to implement. After browsing the site, I find it very easy and quite intuitive for using and creating study flashcards. This is definitely a site I will send my students to in preparation for a quiz or exam.
When I did a search through standardized tests and selected the College level, I found a nice, broad collection of already created flashcards for every possible standardized entrance exam you can imagine. I also found a location for “college groups” where my students could join other college students on-line to form study groups. This is really great stuff!
Further browsing revealed that there are even practice cards for driver’s testing! If you are a trivia buff, there are flashcards provided for non-academic purposes, such as quotes and scenes from movies. This would be a great play site for kids or adults who are into trivia activities.
After exploring the Professional & Trade links, I followed the Computers link to see what I could find that is relevant for my IT students. I followed the Parts of a Computer study link and loved what I discovered! There are several options for study under each of the links: (1) you can familiarize, learn, and test out on the terms and definitions; or, (2) you can play several game options such as Scatter, Voice Scatter, Space Race or Voice Race. The Space Race requires the student to quickly read the definition for a computer component and type it into the provided field in order to “crash” the words before the time is out. How quickly this is done determines how many points the gamer will win. A scoreboard is presented the end of the game and students can engage in competition with other students. I tried this game myself and found it challenging and thought provoking as it caused a rapid recall of the term based on the definition provided. The race to beat the time caused that emotional connection between the term and definition that creates a memory map to the understanding. This is good, mind-mapping engagement.
I will most definitely incorporate this into my IT intro level courses. This is a great study site and I can see the benefit for the students in an academic as well as engagement manner. I can also create specific flashcard sets for my students. This will be very good for particularly difficult terms and definitions to remember. There is a site blog that is very active and provides ties into Twitter and Facebook. The most recent announcement on the blog indicates that image uploads will be coming soon to the site. This will definitely increase the usability and viability of the site content. A great Web 2.0 tool.
Quizlet image courtesy of www.quizlet.com
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