Quizlet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quizlet
Slogan Happy Studies!
Type of site Private
Registration Optional
Available language(s) English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian
Launched January 2007
Revenue Quizlet Plus/Ads
Alexa rank 3,002 worldwide, 728 in the U.S.[1]

Quizlet is an online learning tool created by high school sophomore Andrew Sutherland in Albany, California. It was originally conceived in October 2005 and released to the public in January 2007.[2] As of January 2014, Quizlet has over 35 million user-generated flashcard sets and more than 11 million registered users.[3][4]

History

Quizlet began as an idea conceptualized by 15-year-old Andrew Sutherland when he was assigned by his French teacher to memorize 111 animal names.[5][6][7] After realizing the daunting task of mechanical memorization, Sutherland sat down to write code for a program to aid him in memorization.[8] However, these first lines of code were scrapped and then rewritten meticulously and carefully over the course of 420 days by Sutherland. In January 2007, Quizlet was released to the public.[9]

In November 2009, Dave Margulius who worked with Sutherland as an investor and advisor for Quizlet since 2007, was named CEO of Quizlet. Sutherland remained the President of Quizlet and CTO. In addition to hiring CEO Dave Margulius, Sutherland also announced the opening of Quizlet's office in San Francisco.[10]

In January 2009, Quizlet announced that they hired their first full-time developer and product manager, Phil Freo. Andrew Sutherland, the creator of Quizlet said "I'm very excited about this because Phil is a talented developer and can really help step up the pace of innovation at Quizlet." Sutherland also mentioned that in 2010 there will be many cool features and products that will be directly from Phil's work. Andrew also spoke about the future of Quizlet "We're finally going to launch an upload-to Quizlet images feature in the next few days. We're also going to restart our work on getting the Quizlet interface translated into multiple versions, which I've been wanting to do for a long time. And a lot of you have asked about iPhone and other mobile devices, to which I say we're still working on it, but it's one thing we really want to focus on this year." Also Andrew stated his goal for Quizlet "Overall, our goal is to grow Quizlet as big as we can this year. We want to reach as many students as possible, because we think Quizlet is great and could be helpful to a lot more students."[11]

In February 2010, Quizlet launched "Quizlet Plus", which gives the user the ability to upload and add his or her own images to flash cards. This plan also gives the user the ability to create unlimited groups and no ads are displayed on the pages. Quizlet Plus costs $15 a year.[12]

In March 2010, Quizlet launched a new design of the set page. The goal of the new design was to make the set page more intuitive and more visually appealing. The major change that the site made to the set page was to get rid of the Familiarize mode and build it right into the set page itself. After the new design was launched an update was made to add a button that will shuffle the flashcards that are built into the set page.[13]

In January 2011, Quizlet launched text-to-speech audio in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.[14]

In February 2011, Quizlet's user interface was translated by a team of volunteer users into additional languages, including German[15] and French.[16]

In April 2011, Quizlet surpassed 5 million flashcard sets. Also in April 2011, Founder/President of Quizlet LLC Andrew Sutherland announced he was taking a leave from his education at MIT, in order to work at Quizlet full-time.[17]

In July 2012, Quizlet LLC released version 1.0 of the iPhone app Quizlet.

In January 2013, the iPhone app Quizlet was updated to version 1.1.1. The current version is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. It is optimized for iPhone 5 and iOS6. The current size is 5.6 MB.

In September 2013, Quizlet released an Android app which had features similar to the iPhone app

Study modes

As a memorization tool, Quizlet lets registered users create "sets" of terms customized for their own needs.[18] These sets of terms can then be studied under several study modes.[19][20]

Speller

In this mode, the user is to type what they hear from an automated text-to-speech voice. The user types the answer and if they get it correct, they move onto the next answer. If they get it wrong, however, the program will tell you it's wrong and spell it for you and tell you to type the term again in its proper spelling.You must type the word 2 times before you have fully learned it.

Flash Cards

Known officially as 'Flash Cards' on Quizlet's website, this mode is shown automatically on the set's main page. It is basically a simple flash card study method. One side of the card is shown, and clicking on the "Click to flip" button which shows the other side of the card. The option is available to show both sides and this option will divide the screen in two with the term and definition shown on the same page. Another option is available to see the Flash Cards feature in full screen. If you wanted to shuffle the order of the flash cards, this option is also available.

Learn

In this mode, users are either prompted with the term or definition and is prompted to define the other. Terms/definitions that are incorrectly defined are recycled until the user gets it correct, making this mode of study very effective.

Test

The "Test" mode lets users create randomly generated tests through selecting options to customize a test so that the test may be composed, for instance, only of multiple choice questions and matching questions.

Scatter

This mode is a matching game where terms and definitions are randomly scattered around the screen. The goal is to match terms with their appropriate definitions in the least amount of time possible. It also helps with your memory.

Microscatter

This mode is similar to "Scatter", however you don't have to move the cards, which is similar to a regular matching game. High scores aren't saved and you must have the link by adding "/microscatter" to the end of the URL.

Space Race

"Space Race" is a mode that allows players to test their typing skills while memorizing. The object of this mode is to type the matching word or definition before a scrolling word or definition leaves the screen.

Voice Space Race

This mode of study is only available for terms that only contain letters and is developed in association with Spoken Language Systems (SLS), a branch of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. When a definition is provided, the user speaks the term and voice recognition software determines if the spoken term is correct. "Voice race" has been discontinued and it is unknown when it will be available again.

Gravity

This mode is similar to "Space Race". The definitions move across the screen, but you lose if you miss a word on a "meteor". Similarly to Microscatter, you have to add "/gravity" to the end of the URL.

Multiplayer

Introduced in May 2012, Quizlet's Multiplayer game focuses on sentences and using the words in context. It allows a group of students to write sentences using a vocabulary word, individually and anonymously rate everyone's sentences, and then review the mistakes of each sentence if in a classroom setting.

On May 21, 2012, Multiplayer was taken down until further notice in order to improve the game based on feedback.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Site Information from Alexa Alexa Internet. Accessed May 16, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Quizlet". The Innovation Economy, presented by Intel, in partnership with the Aspen Institute, PBS Newshour. Retrieved 2013-01-29. 
  3. ↑ Quizlet About Page.
  4. ↑ McClatchy News Service (October 4, 2010). "Short circuits: New 'Kid' on the block". StarTribune.com. Retrieved 2013-01-29. 
  5. ↑ The Quizlet Story.
  6. ↑ Tynan, Dan. PC World. (March 9, 2008) "Meet the Whiz Kids: 10 Overachievers Under 21".
  7. ↑ The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.
  8. ↑ "QUIZLET: Join millions and Build Your Own Flashcards, Game Yourself to Smart". SF New Tech. November 2010. Retrieved 2013-01-29. 
  9. ↑ MIT Spectrum. Summer 2009. "Quiz Yourself".
  10. ↑ Quizlet Blog. November 28, 2009. "Quizlet celebrates its fourth birthday with a CEO and 20 million impressions per month".
  11. ↑ Quizlet Blog. January 19, 2010. "We've hired a full time developer, and image uploading is coming very soon".
  12. ↑ Quizlet Blog. February 17, 2010. "Introducing Quizlet Plus (with Image Uploading and Unlimited Groups)"
  13. ↑ Quizlet Blog. March 29, 2010. "The set page gets a refresh!". http://quizlet.com/blog/archives/856
  14. ↑ Quizlet Blog. January 13, 2011. "Audio is here!".
  15. ↑ Quizlet Blog. February 3, 2011. "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?".
  16. ↑ Quizlet Blog. February 16, 2011. "Parlez-vous francais?".
  17. ↑ Quizlet Blog. April 9, 2011. "Leaving MIT to make Quizlet even better".
  18. ↑ Wendy Boswell. Life Hacker. (January 28, 2007) "Practice your vocabulary with Quizlet".
  19. ↑ Barbara Feldman. The Boston Globe (November 26, 2010) .
  20. ↑ "What are the different ways I can study my flash cards?". Quizlet FAQ.

External links

Concepts
Study Software
Practitioners
Researchers
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.