Peer Review

Quizlet: Biology

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Mar 12, 2017 by Biology

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: Quizlet is a site for creating and using flash cards. This is a Web 2.0 site where users enter terms and definitions for a specific topic or course. The web site then automatically generates flash cards for five different learning approaches: "Familiarize" - standard flash card approach where each term is presented, then you show the other side; "Learn" - each term is presented and then the user has to write the correct answer; "Test" - a quiz is generated with written answer questions, a matching question, multiple choice questions, and true-false questions. Users can decide which of the four question types are included in their quiz and how many questions the quiz will have (although it can't be more than the number of terms in the collection). There are also two games, in "Scatter" the user has to move terms onto definitions to make them disappear, while in"space Race" users must type in the terms while the definitions move by on the screen. Sets are organized into broad categories such as Biology, and then divided up into particular topics. In addition to creating and using your own terms and definitions users can use other peoples sets or combine sets. Biology categories range from "Cells" with 257 sets to "Guide" with 45 sets of study guide terms and definitions.
Type of Material:: Drill and Practice Spelling Matching
Recommended Uses:: Mostly individual and self-paced. Could be used in a classroom/lab with computer facilities or possibly in small groups with items projected onto a screen. This resource is for use by students outside of class, primarily to prepare for exams.
Technical Requirements:: Flash player. Worked well in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Users can create flashcards for their own use or to share. Users can use existing flashcards to practice recall of content in any discipline.
Target Student Population:: All students could benefit, from high school through graduate level.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Basic scientific terminology, basic computer skills. Facility with navigating and using websites would be useful, especially to create sets of flashcards.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The content of the card sets is dependent on the users.
Site has a nice clean interface, easy to use with no learning curve.
Students can easily design flash cards and do self-assessments.
Most of the functionality seems to be able to have auto-speech capability, which would be useful for the visually impaired.

Concerns:

None, as users can define and add to content to increase difficulty.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Adaptable for student use in any area of biology.
Some research suggests recall (as on a test) is an efficient way to learn.
Provides a variety of ways to use card sets, including games.
Easy tools for students to use to learn biology terminology and concepts.
Big strength in this tool is that it allows students to hear the vocabulary spoken and to practice the language of the discipline.

Concerns:

Drilling using flashcards may improve recall and understanding of terms or concrete elements, but may not improve critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation.
Though higher order thinking could be stimulated with flashcards, most students would not be able to create cards that accomplished this, and would likely focus on rote memorization.
Students can (and do) use this tool to share test banks, active tests, and other material that should not (ethically or legally) be shared.
The tools provide only teach lower level memorization, not higher cognitive thinking.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The site is accessible for visually impaired users as it includes audio.
It is easy to create and share card sets.
Various incarnations and games are easy to implement.
Easy to use, disability friendly (has speech capability), allows for adaptability based on user's content

Concerns:

None.

Other Issues and Comments:: Website appears to be frequently updated, has a 2017 date, is free from advertising and it is G rated. It can be customized to a specific course and access limited to students of that course. No fee to access.
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