iVocAudio
By Jean-Eudes Lepelletier

Do you want to learn a new language? Interested in creating a study guide to prepare for a test? If you answered yes to either of these two questions, then you will want to download iVocAudio for your iPhone or iPad device. As of today, iVocAudio is a free download, so be sure to take advantage of this amazing offer before it’s too late. It is an application that is customizable for your own learning needs. With built in Quick Start Guides, video tutorials and various viewing options, voice recording flash cards could not be more simple to create. Developers chose to design this application so that it would function in three languages: English, French and Turkish. Integration of iVocAudio is the 21st Century way of reviewing and reinforcing skills. The need to hand write your study notes for educational or personal reasons is now taken out of the equation and your voice becomes the main tool. Whether you are a teacher, student or parent, this application is applicable to you.

Through our exploration, Applicable2U can envision iVocAudio fitting nicely within an educational setting as early as late primary to college and beyond. Learning, reviewing or reinforcement occurs with the creation of folders and recordings of pairs. Amazingly, students both young and old can feel independent as they build and experience this mobile learning application. As you begin, a user will want to click the folder tab, simply tap the “+” button and you now have the option to generate a new folder name. Folders are the placeholders that store questions/answers or as iVocAudio likes to call them, pairs. As we tested this educational application, Applicable2U chose to build a folder called United States. Throughout the course of the year, fourth graders are required to know the regions of the United States, state names and their capitals being one component of their social studies curriculum. With this in mind, we chose our first set of pairs to be named: Question – State and Answer – Capital. This is a folder that could be continuously added too and revisited throughout the school year.

After creating a folder, recording can now begin. Pairs are added to individual folders in a very visual and intuitive manner. Within the recording tab, users will see a number of visuals. For example, a large “Q” and an “A” are center stage. At the bottom of this window, there appears to be a watch like icon that stores the number of pairs, the REC button and a pair name. When ready, simply click the REC button, the “Q” will be bold as the “A” is transparent. A bolded “Q” or “A” indicates what the user should record. Once recorded, simply click the STOP button. At the completion of recording, users can then begin to “test” themselves. If interested, users can even change how they attempt their test(s). Within the general settings tab, many options can be altered. For example, users can set answers to be announced after 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 seconds or not automated at all. Also sorting can be manipulated as well has the direction of ones test from Q>A or A>Q. Once these options have been manipulated, users can then click the test button at the bottom of the screen. Testing begins as a user drags and drops the four way directional button to the flashing “Q” or “A”. A user is expected to answer the question on their own and then check their answer. After a comparison is done on your answer users are then expected to drag the directional button to either the green circle indicating a correct answer or the red circle at the bottom indicating an incorrect answer.

Concerned about mistakes that students might make while recording, not to worry, iVocAudio has an answer for that. Click the Pair button and users can listen and delete pairs as necessary. When viewing all pairs within a folder, we noticed that users can test themselves at most 5 times. Visually pairs explain whether they have been explored with a question mark or a colored in bubble. If at the end of five testing experiences a user finds that they need more review, they would simply go into the folder tab and hit the reset button. Whether the folder provided a positive or negative experience, the learning can continue until mastery is maintained. In addition, by clicking a pair, users and even parents/teachers can see the number of successes, failures and the maximum number of successes in a row. Academically, reporting in some fashion and being held accountable for ones learning is critical in any good educational application.

There are a number of components that iVocAudio has to offer that intrigue Applicable2U. The possibilities that this educational app has to offer is overwhelming. Besides being able to build, record and test yourself on the go, users can even test their own peers. After creating a folder and its coordinating pairs, that folder can be exported and shared with other users via the iVocAudio website, iTunes library or email. Currently, there are a number of other iVocAudio users who have posted their folder(s) for others to use. As more people become familiar with this mode of learning and reviewing this forum of sharing will continuously grow. It is a great way for teachers to support each other across the curriculum. Whether you are learning a new language, reinforcing a part of the social studies or science curriculum, or even spelling out and reading grade level sight words, iVocAudio would definitely come in handy in school and at home. If you would like to learn more about iVocAudio, please visit their website here. Looking to do a little review on the go, then you will want to begin downloading iVocAudio to your iTunes library here.