With apologies to French philosopher René Descartes, “I teach, therefore, I am.” I am a teacher. It’s what I do. Teachers know the value of flash cards.
If you have students in your family or class who struggle with specifics, flash cards are a time honored method to bring discipline to the learning process, and few devices are better suited for using flash cards than iPhone and iPad and the Studies app for the Mac.
Remember The Memory
Not every student learns the same way as their classmates. Some are intuitive, some pick up information slowly, others are more adept at the standard learning processes, but most teachers will tell you that flash cards– whether 3×5 index cards or digital cards on an iOS app– are excellent tutors.
Some things in your life have to be memorized. Facts, formulas, words, pictures, dates, procedures, even names and faces. Everything you do includes information that needs to reside in your head.
I grew up on flash cards and still have 3×5 index cards on various topics and subjects that have been moved over to the digital world, thanks to flash card applications like Studies.
Studies for Mac has a nominal price tag considering its ability to create and manage flash card projects, but Studies for iPhone and iPad remain free. What you get in the Mac version are options for Study Notes, Templates to get started, Stacks and Groups to create and manage projects, options to Search and Sort when a flash card project needs to be updated (they do), plus options to Sync between devices, Schedule each stack of flash cards, and adjust Studying methods for each project stack.
Studies is a flashcard app for the serious student, with editions for Mac®, iPhone® and iPad®. It’s a tool to extend your knowledge, and it doesn’t matter what it is you want to learn — medicine, law, history, driving, aviation, fine art, music, or martial arts — from simple day-to-day tidbits, to knowledge of life changing importance.
Amen.
One aspect of Studies that I find unexpectedly useful are the statistics which track progress.
Sweet, no? Someone has made an estimate on how long a student can remember what is learned based upon responses.
There is nothing to not like with Studies. If you’re a teacher or home school your children, you know the advantages that digital gadgets can bring to the classroom. If you’re an adult and have a desire to continue to learn– a new language is a good example– then digital flash cards are an effective tool to advance your knowledge.
Setting up flash cards in Studies is not overly difficult, but requires some effort to organize each element; from that you can expand to more complexity and detail as needed. Nicely done. Affordable. And free for iPhone and iPad.
