Thursday, January 9, 2014

Quizlet

I need to get back onto the blogging wagon, and I have been trying unsuccessfully.  So instead of blogging about something thoughtful, I'm just going to share something I learned about at our PD technology day on Monday:  quizlet.com

On this site you can create "sets" of flashcards and study them in many different ways.  Since I've been working at pushing vocabulary in my intervention class, I decided that this would be something to try with them.  Some of the reasons why I decided it was worth trying:  it has a math option for "language" and you can add pictures to the flashcards.  A set can be public, so a set I create my students can use to study.  Also there are apps available for both android and apple devices.

So I created a set for students for this week's vocabulary and had students create an account and join the class to practice for a while today.  We are a google apps school, so I had students use their google account to create a quizlet account.  Then I had them join my class so they could easily access my set, but you can share it by link like this:  Variables and Expressions Set.

What I like is that the students can do several things with the flashcards:

  • use them as flashcards...front - back - front - back - etc
  • "learn"...it gives definition; student types in word
  • "speller"...it says word and gives definition; student types in word
  • "test"...set up a test with x fill-in-the-blank questions, y matching, z multiple choice, and w true-false
  • "scatter"...a matching game where students drag word and definition together; if it matches they disappear
  • "race"...definitions move across the screen and student has to type in the word before it gets across; speed GRADUALLY increases
I think both of the last two will keep a rank of the students and that helps encourage some healthy competition.  I played first so they would try to beat me :)  (However when using the app it doesn't record their scores in comparison to the rest of the class.)

I can think of a lot of things this would be useful for, but you can figure it out too.  So far I'm using the free version, but a better version is available for $15/year or even better for $25/year.  

-Kathryn


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