Web 2.0 Flashcards

So, here’s one of those weird conjunctions of old and new technologies. The website is called Flashcard Friends and allows users to create, tag, and share sets of flashcards. The cards can include audio, video, and images. I did a quick browse and found everything from Spanish to medicine. As someone who has used flashcards to study as recently as a semester or two ago, I’m a firm believer in them as a content learning tool. And, of course, I like just about anything that digitizes a formerly analog process, so this makes sense. But I feel just a little ambivalent as well. I mean, we have this technology that can change everything about how we teach and learn, and what are we using if for? Flashcards! On the other hand, as someone who works with teachers and administrators who are all along the continuum of educational technology awareness and use, this might be the low threshold application that gets them in the door.