QuickStart Guide for StudyArcade

This QuickStart guide will help you get started using StudyArcade for the iPhone / iPod Touch. For release information, check out this entry.




StudyArcade, at its heart, is a Flashcard application; it is also much much more. Flashcards are referred to as "Facts." After opening the application, pressing the "Knowledge" bubble opens a list of facts.








Creating a new fact is accomplished by pressing the plus button or clicking any of the facts, which opens the Edit Fact page. Facts can contain a topic, phrase, definition, pronunciation, part of speech, tags. Additionally, you can select a picture or record a sound file.








Choosing the magnifying glass on the Knowledge page (instead of the plus button) opens the filter selection menu. Filters limit the facts which are shown in the knowledge. Choosing "Create New Filter" or the blue arrow next to any filter will open a page which allows you to customize which facts are shown. Clicking on a filter will apply it.







The settings page (accessed from the home page) allows you to enable one or more synchronization services. These are remote services (websites) which you may download facts from using StudyArcade. There are also a number of Fact Selection Techniques which are available. Selection Techniques determine how StudyArcade chooses which facts to study. In other words, "Test Cramming" is conceptually different than reviewing old words.






The play page (accessed from the home page) allows you to select from the available games (at present, only a simple Flashcard application is available). Clicking on the Flashcards game will first open the settings page. There are a number of options available, including customization opens (which side of the card the text is on vs. the definition). Also, you may select a filter to use, so that you only study facts of a certain type (just like the filters used in the Knowledge screen).




The flashcard (front and back) are depicted here. When on the back of the flashcard, you are prompted to to specify how hard you felt the fact to be. This data is used by the Selection Techniques in order to choose cards in the future.






There you have it - an easy approach to studying flashcards with the iPhone / iPod Touch.

Learning Part 2: Three Quick Study Tips

This is Part 2 in a series; you can go back to Part 1 or go forward to Part 3, if you like.