Anki - Secretly powerful multimedia flash card download built for syncing between your computer, online or iPhones and similar device.
CoboCards - This well-designed, easy to navigate web application focuses on collaboration perhaps more than any other site on this list.
Cramberry - Good online application for vocabulary and other things you could fit in just one line of text (that's the limit). Works on your iPod Touch/iPhone as well.
FlashcardExchange - This site has a large web-based library of ready-to-study flash cards, and a free account allows you to create and study online. More advanced options (like sharing or printing your cards) required a paid membership.
Flashcard Machine - Collaborative, multimedia web-based application great for teachers; they can set up a stack of cards that can be accessed without registering for an account on the site.
Genius - Simple, no frills text-based flash cards. [Mac only]
Memorize.com - Simple, web-based virtual flash cards for yourself or collaboration with others. Setup email reminders to make sure you study, and then do so in a variety of ways.
Memorizer - Forget about fancy user interfaces. This download is as utilitarian as it gets, but it has one key feature: Your simple, text-based flash cards popup randomly while you're using your computer for other things, so you're always studying (sort of). [Windows only]
Mnemosyne - Perhaps the most interesting software on the list, when you use Mnemosyne, you can contribute to research on human memory and how "flash card" style repetition and studying works.
Pauker - This free, open-source option is simple and text-only. It works on all platforms, but you must have Java installed.
Quizlet - More than just flash cards, Quizlet is a web-based application that allows you to both create study materials and quiz yourself (or others) on the materials. It's also a good option for those that want to share via social networks like Facebook.
Study Stack - This website's best feature is its well established collection of already created study guides. Or maybe it's playing hangman or a crossword puzzle with your flash cards.
Teach2000 - Powerful, option-rich download that has a handy USB drive versions, which is great for those of us that can't install programs on our school computers. [Windows]
Did I leave your favorite free application off the list? Do you have any positive or negative reviews of any of these? Share your thoughts in the comments.
7 comments:
Have you seen my personal favorite, Cramberry (www.cramberry.net)?
Dont forget http://www.ediscio.com , it really has an amazing set of features.
I read this a couple of days about flashcards, reviewed a couple of sites and have been thinking about it.
One of my mentors has been teaching since the early 1960's. Three of her daughters are educators, one a principal in a Houston area private school.
When I posed the multiplication problem (students don't know the multiplication tables, sigh), she said that in everything she's done, the best return on investment for teacher, student and parent has been flashcards.
She emphasized, however, that those flashcards must be made by the student him (or her) self to see the best, fastest, and longest-lasting impact.
She left teaching in the 1970's and today, in 2010, still runs a successful tutoring service in the Clear Lake area of Houston.
Food for thought. . .
Sarah: I agree that students should make their own cards, but do you mean that they have to create them by hand? If that's the case, I don't see the difference between real and virtual cards, especially since the virtual ones are actually more versatile.
If you're arguing that they should make their own instead of relying on pre-made cards as some of these sites offer, I think that's a good rule most of the time. But that doesn't mean there's no value in using already-built stacks of cards.
Mr. D,
She was talking about her students handmaking their cards--as you would study cards at the university level.
Remember that her experience predates brain studies. She, admittedly anecdotally yet over a long stretch with many students, noted that when they used handmade cards they learned them better and faster.
Tutoring at the college level, I found it "engages" more of the brain. Physically, you handwrite the card. As you do so you are seeing it (visually), and, in the case of my students, saying (verbal) it as you write it out and hearing it (auditory.)
With Algebra students, they worked from a single 4 x 6 card. The student added new items to it that needed to be memorized. For instance, the exponent rules. One, at most two cards--both sides--got them through the semester. When not in use, they stayed in the textbook: one marking the current place; the second marking the answers in the back of the book so that they could check their work.
In both cases (early learning and later), more of the memory is engaged when the cards are referred to. Seeing it in your own hand, saying it again in a different setting, hearing the response and using it written relates it back repeatedly to the original input during the creation of the cards themselves.
This is speculation. Absolutely no proof except in the pudding: I developed this after my first daughter went off to college and struggled with math. The second daughter ended up with a Masters in Math and the third, an artist, finished her college math requirement before graduating from high school.
None of my tutoring students failed; most made B's or better.
I absolutely required them to use those study cards (at the higher levels) until they no longer needed them.
So, when my mentor told me that this was, in her experience, the best way. I felt pretty sure of it.
Yes, by hand. And they can become as versatile as need demands.
I think there's a lot of value in making traditional flash cards--it's something I did often myself as a student, and something I've advocated to my students. I hope that no one gets the impression that I shared these resources assuming they're better--my intention was to give teachers, parents and students an idea of the options out there.
That being said, I do want to point out some of the distinct advantages that these apps can provide:
*For teachers without a lot of funding for school supplies, they can save on the cost of hundreds of packs of index cards (not to mention any other supplies used to make them).
*They allow for pictures, videos, sounds and other multimedia content
*No worries about the cards being lost or damaged over time.
*Easy collaboration and merging of cards. For example, classes working on different parts of a topic could create sets of cards that then would be brought together into a single deck, instantly available to all students (without any time spent rewriting or copying).
*Some sites have games and quizzes using the information on cards--in other words, providing more ways to study the same information.
*Almost all of the sites use what's called a "spaced repetition system," algorithms that adapt your studying to make sure you're focusing on the areas where you need the most help.
Whether or not you think these features are valuable is certainly up to the individual.
Thank you Sarah for your always thoughtful comments!
Here's a new entry into the flash card app arena (it's free as well): StudyBlue Creates Flash Cards from Your Notes and Lets You Take Them Anywhere via Lifehacker.
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