How to Use Quizlet Live for Virtual Learning
With virtual learning becoming more popular than ever before, online educational resources like Quizlet Live are becoming essential tools for teachers everywhere. Since its introduction in 2016, Quizlet Live has been offering students fun, engaging ways to sharpen their skills. But when the COVID-19 pandemic forced huge numbers of students to begin studying remotely, online resources like Quizlet Live became an even more valuable way to keep students and teachers connected.
What Is Quizlet Live?
Quizlet Live was first introduced as a way for teachers to turn learning into a fun in-class game for their students. The site allows teachers to sign up for an account and connect virtually with each of their students. Once teachers sign up, they’ll get free handouts catered to both students and parents, explaining what Quizlet is and how it works. On the other end of things, students don’t actually have to sign up with a Quizlet Live account in order to play, but they can easily do so with either a Google sign-in or email address. If your student is under 13 years old, there’s also a quick, easy and secure sign-up option for these younger learners.
The teacher then selects a study set that revolves around the subject and topics of their choice. The site turns that study set into a fun, competitive game that gets students excited about learning. Something we love about these study sets? Teachers are able to customize them and create their own study sets, depending upon their classroom’s needs. The platform allows educators to import information from Word, Excel, Google Docs and other programs, making the custom creation option a cinch. Once the study set is complete, teachers can make it visible to just their students or the whole community of Quizlet users.
That’s right — Quizlet is a fairly collaborative ecosystem. If educators don’t have a ton of time to set up their own plans, Quizlet already features millions of pre-existing study sets generated by other teachers and students around the world. And, even if a teacher selects a pre-existing study set, they can still make some edits to further gear it toward their own lesson plan.
What Is Team Mode?
Before remote learning became the new norm, Team Mode was the standard way to play Quizlet Live. The program would automatically group students into random teams when teachers wanted to make study sets into in-classroom games. These days, Team Mode can still be played virtually and works best when students are connected via a video-conferencing platform like Zoom.
Playing remotely? Once the game begins, each team member sees the same question on their individual screen, along with a set of flashcards that display various answers. The trick is that only one team member’s set of answer cards will include the correct answer. This means that students have to communicate with their teammates in order to answer correctly.
Meanwhile, the teacher’s screen shows an interactive leaderboard that tracks each team’s progress. Each time a team answers a question correctly, they get to move forward — toward the virtual finish line. Get an answer wrong? That team is sent back to the start. This approach ensures that students focus more on collaboration and quality as opposed to speed.
What Is Individual Mode?
When 2020 ushered in unprecedented shifts to virtual learning, Quizlet Live decided to make a few adjustments as well. Now, there’s an option that allows students a chance to play Quizlet Live individually rather than in the traditional Team Mode. To take advantage of this new mode, teachers simply select it when prompted. As usual, educators are free to select — or create — study sets to use for each game and then they can invite students to join a session via an app-generated QR code or via a passcode entered directly into the Quizlet Live platform.
Once the game begins, it progresses exactly as it would in Team Mode — minus the collaboration. With each correct answer, students still move forward on the leaderboard, while incorrect answers send them back. Additionally, teachers can host games with as few as two students or as many as 40. Overall, this has been a fun, easy way to help students feel connected while learning remotely. By allowing virtual learners the chance to enjoy the same games they used to in a physical classroom, it’s also a nice way to provide them with a sense of normalcy.
Benefits for Students
Looking to level up? Once students become familiar with the program, they can also use the Quizlet site to help them learn outside of class hours — thanks in large part to Study Mode, which is packed with virtual flashcards, study reminders, quizzes and practice tests. To help students get the most out of this mode, teachers will be tasked with creating additional study guides, quizzes and other content for students to explore when they aren’t playing one of the live games.
One of the coolest things about Quizlet Live? It’s free for both students and teachers. If teachers want more features — customized teams, the ability to upload recorded audio and more — they can upgrade to a paid version. No matter which option you choose, Quizlet Live proves time and again that it’s a great resource for both in-person and virtual learning.