To start off the new semester, FISD has made a big change to their internet access by blocking Quizlet from all school devices. Students are outraged by the decision, as Quizlet is a popular and efficient study website that many students use to prepare for tests and quizzes. Many teachers have turned to Blooket as a source of study material in class. 

However, many students complain about the efficiency of Blooket and how Quizlet had more variety and more interesting activities so that every student could learn effectively. While Quizlet offered a number of ways to study, with quizzing, games, and flashcards included as a few of them, Blooket only offers a number of competitive games that more or less follow the same format – answering questions to gain points or currency.

Students have also complained about Blooket being mostly luck-based, with very little actual knowledge or studying required to win. Missing every question but getting one right can lead to a quick win, such as in the Gold Quest game mode where if you get the “Swap” option after a correct answer, you can completely swap your gold with any other players’. 

Confusion is also common on why Quizlet was blocked. While taking online quizzes and tests, students’ tabs can be tracked through Canvas, which keeps them from entering or exiting other tabs. Consequences can be given appropriately based on the teacher’s jurisdiction. With this feature existing, there shouldn’t be a reason why the website was banned as students can’t use it during their online tests and quizzes anyway. 

In addition, the new cell phone policy requires phones to be put away during tests and quizzes, which means that if properly enforced, students wouldn’t be able to use Quizlet on any device during paper quizzes or tests. Quizlet’s banning so soon after implementation of the new policy is bad timing, as now there is really no need to ban the website anyway. 

Furthermore, most high school students have personal devices like phones, tablets, and sometimes their own laptops whether at home or at school. This means that even if the problem is assignments in and out of class, students can easily use data at school and personal devices at home to complete assignments on Quizlet. All that the current ban achieves is making it inconvenient to access the website. 

Supporters of the ban may say that it keeps students from cheating or using Quizlet to do an entire assignment. However, as stated before, the cell phone policy as well as personal data plans both provide alternatives for students and teachers to block this issue. The cell phone policy and Canvas tracking keeps students from using the website during quizzes or tests, and personal devices with data allow students to use Quizlet at home and during leisure time. 

While I don’t think the ban is a good or effective idea, I do think that cheating is an issue in the school. To stop this, rather than getting rid of valuable and efficient study materials, teachers should continue to enforce the new cell phone policy and greater action should be taken when instances of cheating occur in order to stop more people from doing it.