How are you melding the world of apps and the world of exuberant learning?

The ones that we use regularly include Math Bingo, Stacking Countries, TED, Pages, and Numbers.

The one I’ve just discovered that I’m totally bowled over by: Flashcards Deluxe (for both Apple and Android). Yes, it’s a flash card app. But here are a few of the feature that make me excited:

-You can have up to 5 ‘sides’ per card (allowing you to ask multiple questions on one topic, for example)

-You can integrate both audio and pictures.

-You can set a card to have a spelling format (where typing in the answer correctly is required).

-You can set a card to have a drawing format (where the touch screen becomes a sketch pad and you sketch, say, cell division, and then compare your sketch to the diagram in the picture.

-You can mark yourself wrong, kind of right, and really right, which in the more sophisticated study modes changes the frequency of review.

-You can set the background colours of decks and the colour and style of fonts to be different so as to aid in visual distinction.

-You can set a ‘browse mode’ in which you are not testing yourself, making it a way to set up a learning mode as well as a testing mode.

-And…you can go online to 2 different sites and download from an astonishing array of decks that others have shared. I downloaded Algebra vocabulary, Canadian geography, and mitosis.

Making a deck is pretty easy, and you can use your iPad, iPhone, or even a PC. On the iPad, there were really handy shortcuts for my bluetooth keyboard that made switching between card sides or adding a new card very quick and easy.

I made a deck for our Vocabulary Vine work. We’re learning Latin and Greek root words with this program. I made a card for each root, with the first side the root, the second side the English meanings, and the third an example word.

I also made decks for our spelling lists. I had spent money on a spelling app that ended up mixing up the audio I made and the words the kids were supposed to spell, marking them wrong each time.

There are so many facets to this that I feel like I’m only scratching the surface of how to use it. If you’re using it, I’d love to know what you’re doing and how.

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