Quizlet: Study 2.0

On January 17, 2007 an Albany High student launched a new innovation in memorization on the Internet. Quizlet, as the website is called, is “a site for learning vocabulary that allows students to collaborate,” said the site’s creator, junior Andrew Sutherland.
Sutherland started programming for the site the first quarter of his sophomore year as a way to learn an impossibly long list of French animals.

Sutherland’s quick studying fix for French class has turned into a learning tool for a variety of subjects that serves more than 5,000 users. The way Quizlet works is “you type in a list of terms that you want to know and it gives you tools, like flashcards and tests, to help you study them,” explained Sutherland.

Quizlet’s real advantage over traditional methods of memorization is keeping track of the words you know and eliminating them from your pool of vocabulary, so it only tests you on the words you don’t know.

Quizlet has become invaluable, especially in the foreign language classes. “[I use it] mostly for quizzes and tests. It’s a big help for learning vocabulary. I’ve been a member for like four months,” said junior Carly Thompson.

Sutherland launched the helpful website under his new company Brainflare, which he co-operates with his father. “During its development, I got a few offers to buy Quizlet, but I turned them down and I started my own company,” grinned Sutherland. Brainflare currently runs the business aspects of Quizlet.

The website is not currently bringing in any income. But as soon as it gathers a larger user base, Sutherland hopes to start talking to educational companies and even universities about advertising and sponsorship deals. Another possible revenue source would be licensing the technology to other education companies. This means other companies would be able to use Quizlet for a fee on their own websites but Sutherland would still remain the owner.

Whether or not Quizlet ever reaches the world at large is still unknown, but it will assuredly become a staple at Albany High. Looking to get in on the Quizlet action? As Sutherland said, “Head over to quizlet.com. It’s free!”

One Response

1. 1:24 AM on January 2nd, 2008me:

   nerd

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