Thursday, July 5, 2012

Thing 13.2--Interactives; Flashcards

In my former life I was a Spanish teacher and I used a Website called Quia. This fantastic tool is quite similar to Quizlet. I created flashcards that students used for a variety of games & practice. Quia is a bit more robust than Quizlet in that I could create different classes, with calendars, grading etc. 

One important thing to note about using online flashcards is that there is a learning curve. Students have to be taught HOW to effectively use flashcards. It isn't enough to learn just one side. They have to be able to go both ways. Adding voice, image and making other differentiations may be useful for many students, but remember that how they learn and study the terms is how they should be expected to recall them. So make sure your assessment matches. If they have to be able to match or define terms, learning / recalling a picture won't be of much use to them. If they need to simply understand a term to demonstrate it in a project, that allows for more flexibility in creating the set. 

Either way, flashcards provide a quick, concise way for students to become literate in any discipline and represent an priceless addition to their strategy toolbox. 


1 comment:

  1. Carol,

    You are right on when you say that students need to learn how to use flashcards. From my experience as a teacher, I found that many students that struggled with assessments didn't know how to study. They thought that they were studying by looking in the book or reading flashcards, which just didn't work. For some of them, this style of studying just didn't work. For others, they just weren't using the flashcards in a meaningful way.

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