FTT - Flashcard Factory

Flashcard Factory

Make Flashcards For With Your Students

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

As we learn more and more about cognitive processing styles and the ways to differentiate in order to offer options for all learners, it is important to remember to include students on the creation of learning materials. Too often, we get stuck in the mode of having students create as a way of demonstrating their learning at what we consider an endpoint. There are so many opportunities to include students in creating at the beginning as well as the middle of their learning. Why not include students in hands-on experiences that let them be in charge right from the start? Fortunately, we have digital tools that can help make the learning pit interactive and maybe even fun.

Pear Deck's Flashcard Factory is not new, but I think we often forget it's there or think it's not for us. I'm here to remind you and convince you that it is for you and your students.

Vocabulary can be a barrier or an open door to learning. Using Flashcard Factory at the beginning or the middle of a unit can help flip the switch from barrier to open doorway.

 There are a few things I love about Flashcard Factory. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Students are involved in creating their own study set of flashcards

2. It requires drawing in addition to writing 

3. It is collaborative and encourages students to lean in and work together

4. The class gets to look at and make decisions about whether or not a card makes it into the final deck

5. The graphics are super cute and fun

6. This is appropriate for any content area and any level

7. Seeing what the students come up with can be great formative data

Here's how it works:

1. Go to PearDeck.com and sign in using your school Google credentials.

2. Click Flashcard Factory.

3. Create your list or import a list. There is a connection to Miriam Webster if you want to auto-add definitions. 

4. Click Play Flashcard Factory and present the join code to your students. They will go to joinpd.com and enter the code.

5. Once your students have all signed on, click Clock In. It will automatically put your students in pairs and on teams. There are 2 teams: Day Shift and Night Shift. If you have an odd number of students, they can work on their own and the game will adjust for them. You can click to shuffle the teams if you don't like the pairings that were created. Click Let's Play to start the game. 

6. Once the game starts, pairs of students will be given a word and the definition you loaded for them. One of the students is asked to draw an example of the word and the other student is asked to write an example. Remember, they are given the word and the definition so they will need to draw and write to show their understanding of the word. When they are done, they will click Ship It. A smaller version of their flashcard will appear on the screen you are projecting and it will land on a conveyer belt. 

7. Once everyone has done all of the words you will click to move on to Quality Control. The students will have an opportunity to look at every flashcard and collectively decide to keep (green check) or reject (red X) each card. You have the ability to see who made each card but it is not printed on the cards. 

8. The last phase is called the shipping phase. You can print the cards or export them to Gimkit. In lieu of printing, you can also opt to save as a pdf when you get to the print menu. Save the pdf to your Google drive and share the link on your Schoology page so your students can easily access them. 

Want to learn more? Here is a quick seven-minute webinar to walk you through using Pear Deck's Flashcard Factory.

Want some help getting started? Feel free to book a time with me so we can get your students to create incredible flashcards.