The popular implementation of this “learning by repeating” method is flashcards usage. Thanks to the power of technology, flashcard learning is not limited to physical cards anymore. It has been adapted as countless web and desktop applications. One of those online flashcard services is Brainscape. This one is unique because it has a different method of utilizing and presenting the cards.
Deal The Cards
Aside from the standard signup process, Brainscape also allows you to register using your Facebook account. The second option is quicker, but only for those who feel comfortable letting third party applications access their account. After signing up, you can start using the service by choosing what topic you want to learn.
There are three main groups of topics to start: Test Prep, Languages, and Knowledge Junkie.
For example, you can find flashcards to learn Chinese inside Language.
But my curiosity brought me to Keyboard Shortcuts inside Knowledge Junkie. After choosing the topic, pick one of the available decks to start.
In general, learning a subject using Brainscape is similar to using another flashcard service/application. But the difference is Brainscape only asks users to think of the answers, and doesn’t require users to write anything.
After seeing the question and thinking of the answer, click the “Reveal Answer” button to check to see if you were right.
Brainscape will ask you to rate your knowledge of the answer using a scale of 1 to 5. It will use your rating to determine how often the question will be repeated during your learning session. “Perfectly known” answers will be repeated less often than the “Very well” known answers, and so on.
We can see from the “Frequency of Repetition” pie chart how often each kind of question will pop out. The questions rated as “Not at all” known will appear in more than half of the learning session. This kind of arrangement will help users focus more on their weaknesses and less on the topics that they’ve already mastered.
Create Your Own Decks Of Online Flashcards
While I think Brainscape’s method of displaying the flashcards is great, it’s obvious that its collection of decks is pretty limited. Luckily, the service provides you with the ability to create your own decks of cards with your chosen topics.
- The first step to creating your deck is filling in the deck’s basic information.
- Then click the “Create Cards” button to start. You can fill in more supplementary information if you want to.
There are two ways to create your online flashcards. The first one is by using “Quick Create“. This method is great if you only need to fill in basic questions and answers. The second one is “Standard Create” where you can customize the font style and add images and sound.
This is what the “Quick Create” looks like. First, you write down the “Prompt” which will appear at the beginning of each card. Then you fill in the “Question” and “Answer” fields, and click the “Add these Cards” button to add more cards to the set. If there are cards that you don’t want to keep, you can easily delete them using the red “minus (-)” button on the right of each entry.
The “Standard Create” fields are more elaborate. You will get all sorts of editing options on the toolbar.
And also the option to add images and audio.
You can review the cards by going to the “Review” tab. There are also options to Edit, Delete, Add Note and View Notes.
All of the decks of cards in your collection are accessible from the “My Library” tab at the top of your account’s page. You can see the list of subjects in the left pane and decks of cards under a subject in the main pane.
The subjects are editable. Just click the option button and choose “Edit Subject“. You can also share your subject via email by clicking the button below it.
Going Mobile & Wish List
Brainscape’s flashcards also available as iPhone apps. But the company made their apps different from other flash card apps. Instead of releasing one app with a library of cards, Brainscape has released one app for each subject. Some of the decks are free while others are paid.
The topic that I used as the example above – Keyboard Shortcuts – is available for free.
The app takes a similar approach to its web counterpart: question, answer, and knowledge rating.
The way I see it, Brainscape’s method of displaying online flashcards gives the product a competitive edge against other similar products. Unfortunately, there’s still one thing missing. A flashcard application will only really take off if there are lots of flashcard decks from various topics in its repository, and Brainscape’s repository is rather empty. If this web service want to expand its flashcards collection, it could use the power of community by letting users contribute and share their custom flashcard decks.
What do you think of Brainscape? Will you use it or do you prefer other flashcard applications? Share your thoughts using the comments below.
Hey Facebookers, make sure to join MakeUseOf on Facebook and get access to some exclusve stuff. Over 105,000 fans already!
Read comments: Loved it? Hated it? Join discussion here ...
More articles about: education, flashcards, iphone, iPhone Apps, learning, study, study tools, teachers
Similar articles:
- How To Make A Kid Friendly iPod Touch Or iPhone (17 comments ...)
- Use Memoriser to Memorize Information Fast During Work Day (8 comments ...)
- The Five Best Educational YouTube Channels (14 comments ...)
- ProProfs Toolset – Easy Educational Tools for Teachers and Tutors (24 comments ...)
- Learnable – Learn Or Teach Online Courses For Free Or A Low Price (5 comments ...)
"
No comments:
Post a Comment
[Please do not advertise, or post irrelevant links. Thank you for your cooperation.]