Exploring FlashCard Factory by Pear Deck

I recently discovered Pear Deck FlashCard Factory and gave it a test run with my students. While not perfect, my students loved it and are begging me to use it again as soon as possible. (I have mostly High School Seniors in class this year.)

Our first experience with Pear Deck Vocabulary earns a thumbs up!

Long Story Short
In Flashcard Factory student pairs are randomly assigned a vocabulary term and definition. They then create a new flashcard that includes a written example and a digital sketch. They collaborate and when finished submit the flashcard. They are then assigned another term and repeat the process until the teacher ends this 'Production Phase. We then approve or reject the cards during a whole class discussion in the 'Quality Control Phase'. Finally, the approved cards are exported to Quizlet as a study set.

How To
Pear Deck has an incredible step by step tutorial to create your Flashcard Factory, so I won't bore you with the details of putting one together.

The Results

What we liked?

• It connects to Quizlet. You can copy a Quizlet set directly into the creation of the Flashcard Factory
• It exports the "approved cards" to Quizlet. Here is a sample exported Quizlet from our activity.
• The whole class discusses each submitted flashcard and we approve or reject the cards. We enjoyed the discussion. 
• The students enjoyed the competitive aspect connected to be on the day or the night shift. 
• The students liked the collaboration between pairs. They felt it helped them better understand and apply the vocabulary. 

What could be improved?

• Once the initial group page is passed, there is no way to I could see who was on which team. 
• Some students really struggled with drawing with the touchpad or a mouse. (We don't have touchscreens yet.)
• There is no data to connect students to the flashcards they created. You need to have students admit that they are the creators when the card is projected if you want to know who owns what. 
• Only the teacher can approve or reject. We would love to have the ability to let students vote on their screens. 
• A few student screens froze in the drawing phase during each class. We lost those drawings and the students had to start over. We did not master a solution to this yet. 

Have you tried out Pear Deck Vocabulary Factory? How did it go? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Additional Connections

• Quizlet Diagrams and Quizlet Learn
• Critical Thinking and Formative Assessment
• Pear Deck and Google Slides