Partners for Life

guest written by John J. Walters

At the risk of sounding a little bit too proud of ourselves, it is with great pleasure that I announce that TestSoup has just been linked by yet another community college as a preferred method for test prep.  This brings our total to about 25, a modest beginning to what we plan on making an ever-expanding project of offering affordable, mobile test prep to the masses, much like community colleges have done to provide higher education to people short on time and tuition dollars.

This may come as something of a surprise, but it’s actually fairly difficult to get schools and universities to sign on.  Sure, they see the benefits and the price is right (often we offer them free access), but the adoption of new technology is somehow seen as a bad thing.  They are wary, and to a certain extent I can understand that.

I’m sure everyone can recall teachers we had in high school who insisted that we buy specific supplies (perhaps a 1.5” 3-ring binder) for their class.  These are the old-school; the folks who insist that students learn best “the old fashioned way.”  And I have to admit, flashcards that you can access on your laptop or on your smartphone don’t exactly fall into this category.

But there is a lot of evidence suggesting that “the old fashioned way” is not always the best way, especially when it comes to learning.  More and more schools are incorporating computers into the daily activities of students, and not just for typing papers or preparing spreadsheets.  Technology helps engage students directly in ways that one teacher cannot possibly hope to do with a full classroom.

Take a look at what Columbia University has to say about “What We Know about How Students Learn.”  Sure, there’s nothing in there about mobile flashcards and they don’t mention TestSoup by name, but they might as well.  They say that students learn best when they are interested enough to work outside of class, that learning is a gradual process that involves student initiative, and that information is retained best when learning is an active process.

Maybe I am a bit biased, but what better way to engage students than through the technology they use constantly — computers and, even more so, their phones?  Isn’t giving them instant access to flashcards the easiest way to make learning part of the daily routine?  And don’t flashcards with detailed explanations qualify as an “active process” that demands students to think rather than simply memorize?

Perhaps this explains why Brian Reese, our founder, said, “It’s been hit or miss, but the ones that do link us are partners for life.”  Overcoming the initial resistance to new educational technology is hard, but TestSoup has a strong case to make for itself, and once made, is one that cannot easily be refuted.