Revising with Quizlet
Lets be honest. Revision is tough...
Learning new things is interesting, but remembering things you already know can be less exciting. The problem is, we need to do it. We need to motivate ourselves to commit information to memory, even when our minds aren't that excited about it.
What is there was a way to make this a bit more fun? What if you could do this in short bursts, literally whenever or where ever you liked?
What if you could even turn your own notes you'd taken in class or handouts your teacher had given you, into interactive games, with almost no effort at at all?
What if you could challenge yourself or your friends to get the best score in those games?
What if this was ENTIRELY FREE?
Sound good?
You need to know about Quizlet...
Interesting. Tell me more....
1: Quizlet has an app for Android and iOS and will also work on any browser of any laptop/computer.
2: Quizlet uses your college identity so you don't need to remember another log in. (Yay! one less thing to learn!)
3: Your teacher can create and send you Quizlet files, but you can also access all the tools they can and make 'cards' and 'games' for yourself and share them with your peers. A brilliant way to take control of your own learning and split the burden of revising between you and others on your course.
4: There is a premium version which allows you to add a bit more information (better images for example) to your cards but the free version is brilliant and will almost certainly be all you need.
5: It's great for lots of subjects. Remembering the key words from a History topic, acquiring language in French, matching scientific terms to their definition, different kinds of lighting equipment in Drama and so on and so forth. If you need to remember, it can help.
6: It won't stop you needing to revise in other ways, but it might make the task of remembering what things mean, learning how to spell terminology and revisiting topics throughout the year to ensure they stay fresh in your mind quite a lot easier to manage.
It really does sound good. Can I see it though? I'd like to have a go!
Here is a (slightly silly) example.
I've created a set of 'key words' related to the generic topic of revision. You can see how quizlet works (i.e. how you can play the different games/exercises) by clicking here or using the embedded set of cards on the site. Try both as you'll get a slightly different set of options.
Have a play around, try different games and imagine how you might use this for things you actually really do need to remember instead of the silly generic 'revision' topic
You can change the study mode at any time and choose from a veriety of different tasks.
There's only 8 cards here, but you can make sets as big or as small as you like.
You can always edit the sets afterwards, so even if you are part way through a topic, you can start putting together your cards and just add more as you learn more.
I'm sold. Tell me how I do this 'quizlet' thing!
The instructions below show you exactly how to
1) Log in via a computer
2) Set up cards for your own learning.
3) Create cards from existing material
Once you have set quizlet up, you can easily log in via a phone/tablet using the same login you set up on a computer.
You can also set up your account by downloading the app and creating an account but remember - use your college log in ('continue with Google button') to do so.
1: Logging on: (It's very easy.)
The one thing you need to know is that you should USE YOUR COLLEGE GOOGLE ACCOUNT.
Then you will be able to log in automatically very easily and will have no confusions at all about what passwords are, what account you used and so on.
You'll also be able to open things directly from Google Classroom without needing to put in separate details.
DO NOT fill in the personal details when prompted!
Click the 'Continue with Google Option' (and select your COLLEGE account)
Signing up: Quizlet.mp4Quizlet: Basic creating of cards.mp42: Making cards (from scratch)
Creating a set of cards is really simple. All you need to have is a set of terms and some matching definitions. That's it. You can type a set of cards as quickly and easily as you can create a Google document. You can always go back and edit/add to your set any time you like.
You can't lose them and you can share them infinitely, with students, classmates or anyone else you think would benefit!
You also get games to play. These games can help with recall, recognition, spelling and so on. They can make the sometimes painful task of staying motivated when revising a bit easier as you can test yourself against your own personal best (or compare your scores with others)
3: Making cards from existing documents...
Maybe you have a set of notes, a glossary of terms or a list of key words already. Wouldn't it be useful if you could easily turn that into a more interactive resource? Wouldn't it be amazing if that was really easy to do?
Happily, it is!
This video shows you how you can create quizlet cards almost entirely automatically, from any source of text that you are able to copy and paste from.
Within literally a few minutes, you can make a revision task interactive, instead of passive and again, you can share it with anyone you think would benefit from it.
Quizlet - create from existing material.mp4A few top tips...
1: Spelling matters! (and so does the way you write things) - As you can see in the video above, I got an answer 'wrong' as I used the wrong capitalisation. If you replaced 'and' with '&' or '+' - your answer with be wrong (for example)
2: Don't over do it. Remembering is only part of learning. Short bursts, revisiting topics, 10-15 minutes worth of practice is great. Thinking you can revise everything with Quizlet isn't. Don't forget to do the thinking! (practice questions, planning, deeper thinking about topics, asking questions, discussion etc)
3: Think about what game you choose to play. If you know the terms but not the spellings, then the matching game will be pointless. If you know how to spell them, but are a bit shaky about what means what, then don't do the spelling test!