Zendo is now StudyEgg - quiz and help students using open source videos

Last March I wrote about Zen.do, which is a free site that allows students to take notes as normal, while it automatically builds a study guide of related flashcards. Students can then review the flash cards as a study tool. There is a built in algorithm to optimize the review time of the students as they use the flash cards.

I just received an email from on the the partners for Zen.do announcing that they have evolved and rebranded Zen.do into StudyEgg. It's a free service that integrates videos, help, quizzing and learning techniques.

What is StudyEgg? 

StudyEgg quizzes students on great open source videos from Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare, OpenUniversity, Yale, TEDed and more by pacing them through the videos with rich questions and helpful explanations. Students can feel confident that they are learning the material presented in the videos through instant feedback from the questions they are asked. The StudyEgg library currently features over 100 different science videos, with more being added each week!

StudyEgg is a good tool for students to use as review or extra help about a topic and get both instant assessment of how they are doing, as well as explanations of the topic.

StudyEgg starts out with a question on the topic you select, and then if you get it wrong, will show you a video explaining the topic and why the correct answer is correct. Questions can be timed and there is an "I don't know" button that will take you to the video that will explain the topic for you. You get feedback on your progress as you go along.

There are 5 main subject areas (Biology, Chemistry, TED Ed, Psychology and Critical Social Psychology) right now, with many more coming. They did just launch after all.

StudyEgg is also integrated into Edmodo, giving teachers an insightful dashboard that allows them to know how their students are doing on StudyEgg lessons individually and as a whole class. This is a great way to track which students are doing the work and who may be looking for help.

Check it out and share: http://www.studyegg.com/   The developers (students, teachers, scientists, engineers, and hackers who love learning) would also love to get feedback from teachers and students about StudyEgg and how they can improve it.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of the Flipped Classroom Model (assumes students have tech at home and puts lots more homework on them) and while I see uses to Khan Academy, it's not the savior of education (although many see it at that) and can't be the only way students learn. These types of models and resources can be part of a teacher's (and student's) tools to help differentiate learning and help students succeed. They should not be over used. They are great resources for helping students and for students to use as self-review and self-help. I think StudyEgg has created something that combines a lot of great resources into a tool that students and educators can use as part of the learning process.



Related:

zen.do - free tool to take notes and turn them into flashcards

Differentiation - tools, tips, and resources

Edmodo - free social learning platform - great learning management system - share, communicate and collaborate

Wordstash - digital flashcards

StudyBlue - create and share flashcards, quizzes, and study guides

Use StudyBlue to create study materials from your Evernote notes

StudyStack - free site to create flashcards and other study aids

Braineos - Flashcard games to make your brain happy!

Student Study and Help Sites

Gooru - online study tool with great resources

Thinkbinder - free way to create online study groups with lots of features

SparkNotes app available for Android -teach students responsible use

I remember in high school when ever we had a book report due, we'd head off to the library or bookstore for Cliff Notes. Now students have SparkNotes website and now an Android App. SparkNotes provides guides and chapter summaries of books. The app is free and their is an iOS version.

While some students misuse this and use this instead of reading the actual book, teachers could show these kinds of resources to their students and how to use them to help them understand what they are reading. Show the students that these are help resources, not something to replace the actual reading of the book.

The app has 50 study guides pre-loaded, you can download more and it has a built-in social networking feature to connect with other users.

This is one more resource that students have available to them. One way or another they are going to use it. As educators, we need to show them how to use the resource properly.

Get the SparkNotes app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.sparknotes.sparknotes

Related:

Android for Education resources and apps - app reviews, apps for education, news, tips, resources, and more.

Litcharts - free, downloadable alternative to Cliff Notes

StudyBlue unveils the ‘world’s largest digital study group’

 

StudyBlue, the company that has a free service that allows students to create and share flashcards, quizzes and study guides, has just announced a new feature that allows students to share and compare their online notes and materials with other students. 

There are more than 2 million flashcards on the site, ranging from math, to history, to science and more. With this new feature, students can connect with each other and study, share and collaborate. They can compare their understanding to that of other students. They can also use the other students' flashcards to help them learn. When they create a flashcard, they will see a list of 30 most relevant or similar flashcards that they can review and compare.

This is a great addition to a very useful study tool for students.

Source: StudyBlue site: http://www.studyblue.com/about/2012/03/learn-from-others-teach-yourself/


Related:

StudyBlue - create and share flashcards, quizzes, and study guides

Use StudyBlue to create study materials from your Evernote notes

Infographic on Mobile devices and Studying - and free apps to help

Use StudyBlue to create study materials from your Evernote notes

Last week I wrote about StudyBlue, a free service that lets students create and share flashcards, quizzes and other study materials. I am constantly writing, Tweeting, and presenting about Evernote (it's just that good and useful). Today, I found out from Richard Byrne (FreeTech4Teachers) that you can take your notes from Evernote and import them into StudyBlue to create flashcards from your notes. That is just too cool.

This is a great resource for students. They can use Evernote to take notes, and then use these notes in StudyBlue to create flashcards, quizzes and study aids to help them learn the material.

Here's the link to get started using your Evernote notes in Studyblue.



Related:

StudyBlue - create and share flashcards, quizzes, and study guides

Evernote - resources to use Evernote as an educator

Quizlet - free flash cards and study games

Quizlet is another site that allows students to search for already study aids and flashcards or create their own. There are over 10 million free sets of flashcards available on the site, in addition to educational games.

Topics include science, math, geography, history, languages, art, standardized tests, professional careers, and more.

Teachers can also use Quizlet to create study materials students can use in the classroom or at home

Quizlet has mobile apps for iPhone or iPod Touch, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire, and Nook

Related:

StudyStack - free site to create flashcards and other study aids
StudyBlue - create and share flashcards, quizzes, and study guides

zen.do - free tool to take notes and turn them into flashcards

Wordstash - digital flashcards

Braineos - Flashcard games to make your brain happy!

Student Study and Help Sites

Gooru - online study tool with great resources

Thinkbinder - free way to create online study groups with lots of features

StudyStack - free site to create flashcards and other study aids

StudyStack is a free site that allows students, or teachers, to create their own flashcards to use as a study aid. You can also search already created flashcards to use. The site also has activities such as matching, crosswords, hangman and more that you can turn your flashcards into to help study a topic. I like this feature because it helps you learn by going through the material in different ways.

As you go through the cards, you can sort them into two piles, correct and incorrect, so that you can review the wrong ones again.

You can access your flashcards on the site, print them out, or export them to a flashcard app. The site supports exporting the flashcards to apps on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, webOS, PalmOS, PocketPC, Blackberry, PC and feature phones. That's an impressive list.

Topics/Categories of existing flashcards include Geography, History, Business, Math, Science, English, Languages, Medical, Test Prep, Aviation, Culinary and much more.

This is another great study resource for students.

Related:

StudyBlue - create and share flashcards, quizzes, and study guides

zen.do - free tool to take notes and turn them into flashcards

Wordstash - digital flashcards

Braineos - Flashcard games to make your brain happy!

Student Study and Help Sites

Gooru - online study tool with great resources

Thinkbinder - free way to create online study groups with lots of features

StudyBlue - create and share flashcards, quizzes, and study guides

StudyBlue is a free site that I briefly wrote about when I posted an infographic from them on mobile devices and studying.

StudyBlue lets students create and share flashcards, quizzes and study guides to help them learn. Students can access their materials online anywhere and there are mobile apps for iPhone and Android available. They can create quizzes from their flashcards to test their knowledge.

Teachers can also create flashcards for students to study with and students can also quiz themselves with these.

This is a great, free site to help students organize their study materials and learn.

David Kapuler covered some new features they just announced:
http://cyber-kap.blogspot.com/2012/03/study-blue.html



Related:

Infographic on Mobile devices and Studying - and free apps to help
zen.do - free tool to take notes and turn them into flashcards
Wordstash - digital flashcards
Braineos - Flashcard games to make your brain happy!
Student Study and Help Sites 

Gooru - online study tool with great resources
Thinkbinder - free way to create online study groups with lots of features

Gooru - online study tool with great resources

Gooru is a new (alpha) site I learned about from Richard Byrne on his Free Technology for Teacher's Blog.

Gooru is still in alpha status, meaning it is not fully open to the public yet, but you can still sign up. Gooru is an online study tool that allows students to explore resources and study guides that are aligned to standards. The materials are in math and science and are from 5th grade up to high school. Resources include digital textbooks, videos, animations, and much more. It also includes social media functions so that students can work, study, and share with others.

There are self-assessments in Gooru that help it adapt to the student, suggesting resources and study guides based on the student's performance.

The resources are all vetted by educational professionals and you can even create custom collections and resources.

The site has resources to learn more about it and how it can be beneficial to educators and students.

Thinkbinder - free way to create online study groups with lots of features

Thinkbinder is a free service that lets students create a study group online. They can discuss topics, share links, resources, videos, and more and even chat. There is also a collaborative whiteboard so they can work on problems together and share sketches. It is similar to Dweeber and Scribblar.

This is a also a resource that teachers could use to set up study groups and help groups. 

Share it with your students.

Related: 

Summary of Great Web 2.0 Resources for Students

Shmoop - resources to help make learning more fun and relevant

Shmoop is a site that provides resources and information to help "make learning and writing more fun and relevant".

The site is written by educators and experts in each area and there are resources, links, information, and activities to help students learn literature, history, economics, math, and science, along with college prep, standardized test prep and study help. There are also teacher resources to help teachers use Shmoop with their students.

Each subject area has an overview, in depth topics, vocabulary, real world applications, links, study materials and practice quizzes.

This is a great resource for teachers to use with their students, or for students to use independently for extra help and practice.

Math Open Reference - free help in math

Math Open Reference is a site that has interactive resources and information on different math topics. The pages are easy to read and understand and are a great resource for teachers and students.

The topics include Plane Geometry, Trigonometry, and Coordinate and Solid Geometry.

WatchKnow - collection of educational videos from around the web

(Updated. Originally posted 11/2009)

WatchKnow is a site set up by the creator of Wikipedia. The site collects all the best free educational videos for students and indexes them for easy searching and you can watch them on the site.

The videos are links and are actually hosted on their home sites, so some of the videos will be blocked by internet blocking software.

The categories include: math, science, social studies, history, language arts, and much, much more. There are even some of the School House Rock videos on there. 

The best part about WatchKnow is that it has done the work of sorting through the millions of videos on the web to find the ones that are good for education. Do a search and see how easy it is to use and find great videos for your classroom.

zen.do - free tool to take notes and turn them into flashcards

Talk about interesting timing. As I'm reading about Zen.do on Richard Byrne's blog, I get an email from one of the developers of Zen.do, Jason Urton. He said he had found my blog because he is interested in technology in education and how technology can help students improve critical thinking. He is a Master's degree candidate in Computer science and developed Zen.do as a tool to help students. 


Zen.do allows students to take notes as normal, while it automatically builds a study guide of related flashcards. Students can then review the flash cards as a study tool. There is a built in algorithm to optimize the review time of the students as they use the flash cards. 


It is free and you can create a new sign in or sign in with your Facebook or Google Accounts. 


There is a video demo on the site to show you how it works and it's actually pretty easy and intuitive to use. 


When you open a new document to take notes, it has instructions on what to do right there.  You create your notes and then save them and click "review" and the flash cards are there for you.  The title of the card will be shown, and you try to remember what goes with it. Then you click "show" and it shows you the rest of the information (like flipping a flash card over) and then you click how well you "got it" on a scale of 1 -4. This is used in the algorithm so it knows if it should re-show certain cards. 

Creation screen.  Notes on left, note cards on right.

Note card view. 

Note: Zendo means "meditation hall" in Japanese. Pretty fitting. 


This is a great tool for students to use for note taking and studying. 


The development team, and Mr. Urton specifically, would like reactions or suggestion to the site from teachers and students. They would then uses that feedback to improve the site. 


You can email Jason Urton at:   jason at zen.do  

Wordstash - digital flashcards

Wordstash is a web based study tool that utilizes digital flashcards and a dictionary to allow teachers and students to create flashcards. Teachers can create accounts and share lists they create with their students.

It is very easy to use and is free. You can select a theme for your flashcards, create your own flashcards, find already created flashcards, use quizzes and games, and more. The site is linked to a dictionary site, so definitions are easily found and are given in sentences to provide contextual meaning.

The site is free and easy to use. Try it out and share it with your students.

Braineos | Flashcard games to make your brain happy!

Braineos is a site that students can use to create flashcards and then use them in games to study.

The site is free and very easy to use. Students can also work with their friends and challenge them.

Students can also search for sets of flash cards that have already been created about different topics and use those.

What I like about this is it makes studying a game with competition and the students won't even know they are studying.

Student Help Sites

I have found a variety of student help websites that I share with my students. These sites have 

study skills, homework tips, and other resources and references for them to use.

InfoPlease Homework Center - This site has subject area help, resources, study skills, homework help, writing tips, and research help.

HowtoStudy - study skills, resources and tips.

EducationAtlas Study Skills - tips and help for: notetaking, studying, writing, solving math word problems, test taking, reading textbooks, reading comprehension, and more. A great resource. The site also has information on schools, financial aid, college selection, pedagogy, and educational technology.

Study Guides and Strategies - this site has a plethora of information for students, including study skills, working in groups, how to learn, time management, getting organized, classroom participation, test taking, research, writing, reading, math, and science help. It is well organized and easy to use. 

HowToStudy.com - another great study resource. This one includes articles on studying, test taking, homework, note taking, college planning, test taking (including standardized tests), and more.

Share these with your students. These sites will help them in their education.

Please share any other resources you have with us.

Web 2.0 Flash cards

I just read an article on TechLearning.com by Jenn Farr on creating Web 2.0 flashcards (http://www.techlearning.com/article/16896) and thought I'd post the three online flash card sites that I checked out that I found easy to use. 

All of them also have a huge number of already created flash cards for students to use.

http://www.studystack.com/

http://flashcarddb.com/

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/

Try them out for yourselves and let students know about them. Besides looking up already created flash card sets, students can create their own for studying.