Constraints of Quizlet
- When searching for pre-made flash card sets on the mobile app, you cannot save any of those sets into your library or folder. You can study them and play the games associated with them, but you cannot save someone else's set into your folders. However, you can save pre-made sets into your folder library on the web version, and then those sets will appear on your mobile app. From the mobile app, you can only create your own sets and save those sets into your folder library. It is just a downside that you cannot do this all in one place from your mobile device. However, the web version on the iPad is really good, so if you just operate everything in Safari it's kind of like you're doing it on the app anyway!
- Speaking of what the website can do but the mobile app for tablets and phones cannot, the website offers more games and activities for students to do with the sets than the mobile app does. For a flash card set, the mobile app allows you to "Study" the cards, "Learn" the words through giving the user the definition in which the user has to fill in the correct term (spelled correctly), and play the "Match" activity in which you are timed to match the words with their definitions. On the website, users can do all of these things, plus do an auditory spelling activity, take a test, and play "Scatter" and "Space Race" games (see pictures below). Again, you can access the website on your phone or iPad and do everything via your phone browser, just not within the app.
- When making your own set of flash cards, there is not an option to merely type in a word and let the dictionary fill in the definition for you. I mention this because the Vocabulary Spelling City app does allow you do this; it provides the definition for you automatically as soon you type a term or word, saving users a lot of time (especially when you're typing on a tiny phone.)
- The app would be smarter and more beneficial for students if it were not so repetitive. For example, a student is challenged to redo games to beat their time. However, it would be more beneficial if students could redo games at a more difficult level each time, such as removing certain letters out of the word or giving kids the word used in a sentence instead of just the definition. The way it is now, the student just completes the same game over and over again and the rigor is not increased over time.
- Another example of the app being too repetitive, to the detriment of rigor, is the "Learn" activity on the mobile app. If the student submits a wrong answer, the app immediately tells the student the right answer, and has them try again. Instead, it would be more helpful if the student could try again without being given the right answer, or if the student could opt to get a "hint" (such as the first letter of the word) instead of the entire word.