There’s no denying just how useful new technology can be – in life, for work, at school; the list is endless. Thanks to savvy software programmers and creative people, hundreds, if not thousands of apps have been devised for educational purposes. Everything from study help to math exam preparation. One particularly useful area of app building belongs to the use of flashcards – an educational tool that has been around for the best part of a century. Flashcards are an invaluable tool for studying that can help students aged 1 to one-hundred and one.
Here are 3 reasons why Flashcard apps are useful for all ages
1. No physical size limitations
Flashcards were once drawn, written or graphed out pieces of information put onto hand-sized card or paper. With the evolution of digital creation, flashcards can now be the size, shape, colour and style you truly need and want them to be. Thanks to the commitment to usability, you don’t have to be an advanced adobe user or similar to create them. There are plenty of apps that allow for novice computer users to simply achieve the flashcards of their dreams.
Ankidroid is an android-based flashcard app that has super simple ways to customise the look and feel of your study flashcards. Users can optimise font colour, screen rotation, scroll bars and even background such as whiteboard, blackboard or paper.
2. Customisable study sessions
The whole reason to go digital with your flashcards is the Spaced Repetition Software (SRS) that they are based on. It is used to ultimately cut down the amount of study time you need by calculating your responses against the number of cards available. Easily remembered cards are pushed to the back, while harder ones continue to be shown to test you. There are settings on particular apps so this happens automatically, while others offer the ability to rate different cards as easy or difficult to customise future study sessions.
Vocabulary Trainer Flashcards offers a great customisable feature. There are 5 boxes available on screen while you move through the deck of flashcards. Each card can be rated 1-5 with 1 being the easiest to remember. When you then return to the app, you are able to choose which box (1-5) you will tackle for your study session.
3. Keep a record of your learning
Physical flashcards were a great way to learn small pieces of information through rote learning practice. However, it was easy to move past the cards that proved difficult. An app, however, keeps track of not just the cards, but your answers too. This means it is able to determine which flashcards are easier for you and which ones are truly testing you. Having this watchful-eye so to speak may be frustrating, but it is the best way to ensure you are addressing the areas that really matter come test day.
Study Blue is a sleek and well-designed app that not only allows you to customise flashcards, your study sessions and your study mode, it also enables real-time evaluation of your studying. It is able to give you a list of the incorrect and correct answers, an overall graph of achievement, a percentage score and the ability to compare your results with previous sessions.