Flashcard Exchange

Flashcard Exchange - found here at http://www.flashcardexchange.com/ - is an internet-based software application that enables registered users to create flashcards online. Aside from all of the benefits usually associated with "going paperless", Flashcard Exchange offers a remarkable upgrade from traditional flashcards.

With Flashcard Exchange, users will be able to perform the following actions:

• Create an unlimited number of flashcards in any language directly through an easy-to-use web-based interface or by importing information from text files, MS Excel Spreadsheets, and other sources.
• Share your flashcards, which are accessible from any Internet-ready computer, with your students.
• Students can track their progress with a detailed study history and monitor the time spent studying.
• Teachers will have the ability to the flashcards they create in printer-friendly .pdf format with the option to format them on like index cards.

Your students could even access the flashcards you created on their Iphone, and tests themselves while not tied down to a desktop compter.

I like this application a lot. The "Directory" of exisiting flashcard sets (those created by other teachers who decided to share them) would be an amazing time-saver for hard-working teachers strapped for time. Flashcard sets are categorizedby subject areas and even further with more specific tags for add organization.

The user interface for the the students who review the flashcards is simple, straightforward, and easy-to-use. Here is a screen-shot from a sample flashcard from the Science --> Physiology portion of the "Directory":


Very simple.

Once you create and label/tag your flashcards, the portal/web page that Flashcard Exchange creates to access those cards is not the most aesthetic view. For an example, please see the screen-shot below:


Of course, this is a very minor critique.

The one major criticism I would give is probably unfair, since it is not directly related to the workings of the current software, but more like a request for an additional functionality. Flashcard Exchange does not offer a method for students to track their own work continuously. Such a function would definitely put FlashCard Exhange into a whole new territory of usefulness.

As per the current parameters of the software, FlashCard Exchange enables only the creator of the flashcards to view statistics, and these statistics are not specific to the individuals who review the flashcards. The current statistics only show gross numbers accumulated from all of the users who took the "test" over a particular period of time (i.e. today, yesterday). These statistics are certainly helpful in determining the aptitude level of the general population of your students. users. However, I feel it would be a natural extension for the makers of FlashCard Exchange to create a "student account" type of functionality that enables students to log-in with a custom username and password and obtain recorded statistics and information regarding all of the FlashCards they have reviewed at any time. These "student accounts" would empower the learner with a roecor of thier progress and attract a more consistent user base of returning students.