Great Tool for Teaching Students Effective Study Habits

Submitted 4 years ago
My Rating
Pedagogy
Supports

My Take

I think that Quizlet is a great tool to encourage effective study habits and teach students to be autonomous learners. Studies show that continuous retrieval practice (e.g. frequent quizzing) is one of the best ways to actually learn and retain information. By allowing students to constantly have flashcards in their pockets, Quizlet makes frequent quizzing actually feasible as a self-study tool. With teacher modeling, students can develop the habit of opening Quizlet (rather than Facebook or Instagram) as they are waiting for the bus or waiting for a friend to arrive.

In my opinion, one of the key benefits of Quizlet is the ability for learners to star items/flashcards that they find more difficult. They can they focus their study on these starred items. Another fantastic feature is the option to change quiz formats, so that students may begin by practicing with multiple choice quizzes and then work their way up to more difficult free-response questions. Finally, one other fantastic feature is the ability to search through pre-existing study units which other people have previously made. Students and teachers can use these pre-existing units as made, or they can personalize them to fit their specific study needs.

How I Use It

I'm an ELT teacher, and I sometimes use Quizlet as a way to introduce vocabulary with my young learners (e.g. creating a set of flashcards with images on one side and the corresponding vocabulary word on the other side). Primarily though, I introduce it as a useful study tool that students can use on their own time. I encourage students to download the app on their phone and developing the habit of opening the app to study whenever they have a few spare minutes. I usually begin by creating the first few study units as a model for my students, but later encourage them to create their own units based on what we are learning in class.