SocialDecks - Archive
Clean Profile Address
View | CommentSocialdecks has always stood on the idea of state-of-the-art collaborative learning and flashcard education systems. This goal also includes making sure that users can easily access user and friend accounts. To fulfill this goal, the profile feature has been extended.
To access any user's profile, just go to http://www.socialdecks.com/profile:<username>, where the <username> is the username of the account you are trying to access. To access my account, I would go to: http://www.socialdecks.com/profile:Adwait.
In addition to profiles, many other easter eggs have been developed for cleaner URL's. To access a specific blog post or article, just go to: http://www.socialdecks.com/blog/article/<article-id>.sdb, instead of http://www.socialdecks.com/blog/article/?id=<article-id>. The card and deck systems have also followed suit in this Clean Address optimization process.
Published by Adwait on 12th June, 2009.
Listio: Socialdecks Review
View | CommentThis is the first application in our series of web 2.0 flashcard application reviews.
As most flashcard applications do, SocialDecks offers a chance for users to study by subject and prompt, but SocialDecks takes a different perspective on how to get users to the cards. Rather than pulling a topic by title SocialDecks uses tags to bring cards together, allowing users to combine them into related decks.
The benefit of placing the emphasis on keywords, is that users can generate their own decks of information based on what’s already there. If you imagine that five people were to put in five words of Spanish on separate cards, and you were to pull up the tag of Spanish, then there would be a deck of five cards ready for studying. To offer another option for grouping, SocialDecks also has standard decks (cards combined by users), and groups (users combining to study a subject).
Users will find that creating cards in SocialDecks is easy enough (it’s done through a question and answer form, with one question at a time), but may find it too simple because there are no options to make it possible to test. Tests do not exist in SocialDecks, but users are also able to gain points with each correct answer and try to beat the high scores on the 'Leaders' page.
Read More...
Published by Adwait on 5th January, 2009.
Web Tools 100 (SD)
View | CommentSocialdecks has been accoladed as one of the top 100 Terrific Web Tools for Meeting Your Personal and Career Goals (link)
Published by Adwait on 12th December, 2008.
New Comment
View | CommentHey Everybody! I was checking out this site, and put in a comment about Socialdecks and its involvement in the enhancement of education. Below is the comment (full-length):
Users can sign up (for free!) and study/review topics of their choice in unique ways, such as regular flashcards, or by a number of browsing methods (cloud, tagbase system, matrix, list, hierarchical, etc). There are thousands of topics to choose from, and you can learn in the best method suited for you with ease and speed.
The "social" in Socialdecks comes from the power of connections made on Socialdecks. Users meet other respected members as societies based on their recognition on the leaderboard or respective profile badges, as well as even just by using useful/insightful decks built by masterminds. Users have made hundreds of connections on the site, and they have helped people learn and grow in an entirely new way.
Evey new feature released is taken under consideration for user response, user friendliness, and user usage. This is exemplified by the simplicity of such features as signing up, which requires only 3 quick and easy fields, card creation, which requires only 2 fields, or even deck compilation, which requires only 1 field to be filled out, then you click your way through the simple, interactive application to form your deck.
We don't force you to sign up for many of the features. In fact, in current setup, you can browse, search, view, analyze, and interact with the application, all without even signing up or logging in. But once you log in, a feature-rich application is at your fingertips, only 3 fields and a click away!
Some of our latest features include Socialdecks Groups, a portion of the site dedicated to classes and groups of people collaborating together on a single topic, such as a spanish class or physics class working together to study for an upcoming exam and the Socialdecks Online Store, a simple way to supplement your flashcard-based studying with textbooks.
As a startup, Socialdecks strives to enhance the education process by providing a feature-rich application free of charge to a responsive and interactive audience.
Published by Adwait on 18th November, 2008.
Automatic Deck Compilation
View | CommentWhen you run a search for cards or click a tag from the card browse page, the result of the search will display the following as a link: Auto-compile deck from this list of cards. Using this link, you can create a deck from the cards on the screen, from just a single click! Try it out and send some feedback!!
Published by Adwait on 1st November, 2008.
More Updates
View | CommentAlthough you may not have noticed many new blog posts, you most likely have seen the new features we've secretly been rolling out, including new ways to interact with and learn from the Socialdecks platform!
And in addition to the features already online, the Socialdecks team has been working on 3 major updates that will change the way you use Socialdecks:
- Socialdesk 1.0 (desktop application) - access Socialdecks without even opening your browser!
- Sleek, new layout - We're coming out with a brand new layout which will blow your mind! It's very sleek and consistent, and the interface is very enjoyable. The home page, main site, and groups feature will all adopt the new layout, but the blog will remain as is.
- Online Store - Supplement your studying on the Socialdecks platform with textbooks and activities from the new, online store! The online store will be integrated into the Socialdecks site with the new layout. Until then, use the following link: http://astore.amazon.com/socialdecks-20
Published by Adwait on 16th October, 2008.
Groups / Classes Feature
View | CommentIntroduction
Socialdecks has always been an adaptive, flashcard-based education system which utilizes social networking ideas.
Current Features (related to interaction with other users)
- Profile Pages – Displays personal information, activity/event history, discussion wall, and badges/accomplishments to foster networking.
- Socialdecks Blog – Keep the users up to date on new features and events. Users can also share the blog and recent information by using the blog's feed or widget. (http://www.socialdecks.com/blog/)
Other Features (related to communication with the site)
- Contact Webmaster: http://www.socialdecks.com/contact/
- Suggestion Box: http://www.socialdecks.com/feedback.php
- Help Center: http://www.socialdecks.com/help/
Types of Interaction
- Communication with the site (contact, feedback, help)
- Interaction with the site (cards, decks)
- Interaction with other users (profiles, blog, groups)
Steps in the Process
After taking into account these previously existing features, we (Socialdecks Staff) thought that there could still be room for improvement. This is what we came up with:
- Users should be able to communicate with their teachers for information about:
- Homework
- Tests
- Practice Decks
- Hints and extras
- Miscellaneous
- Users should be able to not only have easy access to updates on that information, but they should be able to work on these aspects through Socialdecks.
- Users should be able to work on practice decks suggested or created by teachers, peers, themselves, and other users.
- Users should be able to suggest these and other related decks.
When we brainstormed the many ideas, we decided to create a Socialdecks Groups. With Groups, users can create groups easily just by setting a title. They can create groups, browse the group directory, search through groups to find similar groups, manage the groups they created or belong to, and finally and most importantly, interact with each group. Groups are currently in a public state, and users can join any group they want to.
At a Glance
After you create a group, you can optionally change the description. You can also go to discussion walls on other user's profiles to post a link to your new group. You can also make wall posts. If you are a teacher, then you can post dates of upcoming quizzes or tests and some decks that you or another student have created to practice from on the group's discussion wall.
On the other hand, if you are just another user who's browsing through groups and happen to find one created by your teacher for a class you are currently taking, you can easily sign up for the group. You can go through the practice decks and study for the upcoming events, such as exams, tests, and quizzes, or even just a new topic that you want to get comfortable with.
Published by Adwait on 1st September, 2008.
View Popular Cards
View | CommentNow, users can limit their view to only popular cards, as decided by the system. Socialdecks analyzes each card and how many users use the card. We take into account the amount of usage (# of times the card is used) to the diversity of usage (# of users that use the card), among other factors, to calculate the popularity score.
Also, users who do not have an account may view popular cards. They may even try out these cards if they wish to do so
Published by Adwait on 22nd August, 2008.
Welcome New Users
View | CommentWelcome New Users! An introductory notice to users, old and new alike, is long overdue.
This summer we officially launched Socialdecks Alpha and Beta! Thanks to all of you who have been asked to test it out and provide feedback. We really appreciate feedback you submit and we have been including new iterations based on feedback throughout the process so far, as we will continue to do hereafter.
How and what you learn on the web and in classrooms has changed dramatically for quite a while, but the educational experience has always had some basic roots.. With Socialdecks, we aim to make education a more social, and hopefully more productive, experience than it currently is. One of the great things about Socialdecks is that you can have fun, while learning and reviewing.
We started off with a basic feature set that where users could create, browse, manage, and search through cards and decks, maintain their profiles, and communicate with other users. Now users can not only learn and communicate, but they can view updates through the blog (and keep in touch through the feed), easily compile decks, troubleshoot and report problems with the help page and feedback system, manage and change their profile and personal settings through the settings feature, browse cards in several ways, depending on personal choice (matrix, list, tag cloud, and search), and much much more. Due to the support of our users, Socialdecks has made and is continuously making it easier than ever to learn what you need to do (by contacting others using their walls), how you need to do it (flashcard-based learning methodologies), when you need to do it (schedule times for when you want to review a deck of cards), and has made it all easy to do.
You can keep in contact with peers and teachers so that you know what to study for, and can even use some of the decks created by those users to help you study. When your peers or teachers take an action on Socialdecks, even something as simple as creating a card, you can be notified easily by checking on their Social Feed. When you need to create a deck, just fill out a few cards within seconds. Then you can pick out cards specifically created by you, by one of the groups you belong to, or even just through a list of all the cards. To find a certain card or set of cards, all you have to is filter through the list and click on the item. You visually see the card being added to your deck and can click the done link when you are done creating the deck. If your teacher has a quiz tomorrow and you don't know about it until you check his feed, not to worry. You can just view the pre-made review deck or rapidly create a deck and start practicing within minutes!
Thanks for helping us make it better. Please leave lots of feedback either through the feedback form or send us a wall post at Adwait's Profile We highly value your user input.
Published by Adwait on 20th August, 2008.
Article on Y! Buzz
View | CommentYou read the title correctly, we have a newly written article on the Yahoo! Buzz.
| Title: | SocialDecks: The education system for tomorrow's generation. |
|---|---|
| Actual Story | Submitted: 2 min ago - Socialdecks is a flashcard-based education system. People can use Socialdecks to study/review for tests, ask questions, get help from peers and teachers, and even learn new topics! Education breeds competition. |
Published by Adwait on 19th August, 2008.
Deck Compilation Redesigned!
View | CommentWe now have a new way of compiling decks!!
Instead of having to parse through all of the cards to find the few you'll use, you can now filter the text and see which cards are part of your deck.
Step 1. You enter the desired title for your deck and press the button, SET TITLE.
Step 2. You pick your cards and start using your deck!
Ways to pick your deck:
- There is a list of cards which you have created. Check the ones you want and watch as they are placed into the deck. If you clicked a card's checkbox by mistake, you can remove the item from your deck by clicking the red X.
- Click on the dropdown to repopulate the list of cards, then filter through the results with the filter box.
- Once you are satisfied with the items in your deck, you may click the button titled DONE.
Published by Adwait on 19th August, 2008.
New Features
View | CommentAfter the release, several new features have been incorporated into the website.
Some of them include:
- Feedback
- Help
- Privacy Policy
- Profile Updates (contact/education, social feed, badges, etc.)
- settings
- New Browsing Methods (list, matrix, tag cloud)
Published by Adwait on 14th August, 2008.
Beta Release
View | CommentSocialDecks had its beta release on June 11, 2008.
Published by Adwait on 14th August, 2008.