Just when I thought I found and reviewed the best of the best flashcard applications, one of my readers pointed out another truly exemplary Flashcard Application that is great for flashcard development and a super resource to help students study. Many thanks to Gail Matthews for alerting me to Flashcard Friends, another free flashcard application that can be used to help student study new vocabulary and spelling words.

While this Web 2.0 application is similar to many of the flashcard functions I reviewed in my Create Web 2.0 Flashcards in a Flash! post there are a few unique options that set this particular application apart from the others. As I worked with this application I was impressed by how easy it is to add soundclips and recordings to cards created with the Flashcard Friends application and I liked the fact that students could use the flashcards to take practice quizzes. As you create new card decks you can use an automatically add definitions feature that will suggest a definition for words you type in. The spelling test feature is very simple to use as well. Simply select spelling as a category and type in your spelling list with commas separating the words. The program will automatically add an digital soundclip to each word. Students can then take fill in the blank tests using those soundclips to practice their spelling. It is also very easy to create foreign language cards. Simply type in the English word and let the program automatically translate from English to the foreign language of your choice (their are several English to foreign language options that include Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish).

While this product does not include fun game or import/export options, the spelling and foreign language options and the ease with which you can add images and voice recordings definitely makes this a viable application to create foreign language study stacks, as well as study stacks for special needs students who need visual and auditory cues. I have provided a Watch Video icon in this blog so that you can easily link to the tutorial video posted on the site. It will show you how easy it is search for cards that are already available on the site and will teach you the nuances of creating study decks for your students.