Quizlet is one of the most recognized names in EdTech, especially among any instructors who enjoy using online tools. For a while now, Quizlet has been a tool educators have turned to when looking for a fun and interactive way to help students build confidence and master important educational content. Their Quizlet platform features different tools for children, including Quizlet flashcards and unique study games. These features, in particular, can really help them learn at their own pace and in any environment. Though Quizlet isn't a flashcard maker, the virtual flashcards are also easy to use and add more value to the review games. It's helped so many students with studying and it's not the only option for amplifying student achievement. This week, in our Rising Resources series, we're taking a deeper look at Quizlet Live!
The Quizlet platform helps ensure that all students are able to succeed. Knowing that every student learns differently, their team helps reduce that anxiety associated with taking tests. Essentially, they’ve created an alternative way for children to study and master content. In fact, that’s exactly how Quizlet first came about back in 2005 when a high school sophomore created an online flashcards system for studying before a big test. He then passed his own successes on to all his friends, leading to their successes. Eventually, the full desktop Quizlet platform was born. Since then, it still helps countless children excel in the classroom. Now, one of its supplementary wrinkles, Quizlet Live, is following the same trajectory.
Getting started with Quizlet Live.
Quizlet Live is a collaborative classroom game that students can play together right from their own devices. They can use it while in the same classroom or while studying from home—perfect for reviewing at different times. To get started with Quizlet Live, teachers need a Quizlet account, which takes just a minute for them to create. Once set up, they’ll receive a Quizlet Live code and can share that with all members of the class. On the Quizlet Live platform, students can simply enter their specific code to access the live environment.
Once they create their Quizlet login and sign in to the platform, children are assigned to a team before they get started. The platform keeps track of correct answers and tracks each team’s score for every participant to see. The more quickly they answer questions, the better their chances are at winning. But, of course, the main point is to make sure they are answering the questions correctly and working together. If any students ever answer a question incorrectly, they'll see an indication of where they tripped up, so they know what to focus on in order to achieve mastery. They could also try different types of study games that may be more suited to their preferred learning styles. These include flashcards, writing, spelling, matching, and plenty more—though these options are not part of the live environment.
The value of Quizlet Live in the classroom.
Besides helping students master key educational content, using Quizlet Live also often helps them bolster important soft skills. They work together as part of a team to answer questions correctly and to ultimately win their Quizlet competitions. This is something that intrinsically helps them build collaboration skills. The children will even get to learn more about what it takes to expand their communication skills because clear and quick conversations drive success in the fast-paced games. Plus, students are constantly broadening their vocabulary and learning that it’s more important to be accurate than fast when solving problems.
Especially as time becomes a factor, kids can really see how collaborating efficiently is the cornerstone of effective problem solving. Ideally, they’ll all have access to their own device when participating in these live Quizlet competitions. They'll all be shown the same questions at the same time (like ‘which of the following statements is correct?’ for example), but there is also an option to use Quizlet Live without any teams. One wrinkle, however, is that the list of Quizlet Live multiple choice options shown to the students is completely different with the correct answer appearing on only one device. This results in the need to communicate to select the right answer and move to the next question.
While it’s possible to use Quizlet Live outside the classroom, it can get a bit complicated when making sure that student teams can communicate using video conferencing. They would also need to be able to access Quizlet on a mobile device as well. For those reasons, it's ideal if children are in a physical classroom when participating in Quizlet competitions. Over time, however, they can probably get skilled enough at doing so from anywhere. Also, the teacher’s screen displays the scoreboard as students answer questions, allowing all participants to keep up with the real-time results. Unless teachers have two devices to use as well, this, however, might be challenging to do remotely.
Maximizing the review app with students.
As we mentioned, accuracy is important with the live Quizlet competitions and there is a bit of a failsafe so children aren’t simply blazing through the questions. If they answer a question incorrectly at any point, they go back down to zero on their scoreboard. This helps them to see that teamwork is much more effective as they work to be the first group to provide 12 Quizlet answers correctly in each round. After one team wins a round, teachers can start a new round or review questions from the previous round. This would allow kids to see what they got wrong or use it as an opportunity to reinforce knowledge.
Quizlet Live is accessible through the mobile app or on your browser. The app is available in the iOS app store or the Google Play store. Remember, you can just download the Quizlet app and access Quizlet Live within that app—there is not an additional Quizlet Live app. After you’ve given Quizlet Live a try, check out our store for more of today’s coolest EdTech tools. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram as well to stay up to date with all the latest news.