TikTok Debuts Quizlet Integration to Enhance Short-Form Educational Video

Quizlet and TikTok announced on January 27 the two platforms had developed an integration that will allow users to draw from Quizlet’s 450 million study sets while creating educational video clips.

As of August 2020, TikTok had roughly 100 million active monthly users in the U.S. and just under 690 million around the world. According to company representatives, education is becoming an important area of growth for the app.

TikTok and Quizlet Announce Integration Following Growth of Educational Clips

Speaking to the BBC in June, TikTok European General Manager Rich Waterworth said the hashtag #LearnOnTikTok, which was created that summer, had seen seven billion views. As a result, in July, the company launched its Creative Learn Fund and began contracting universities and charities to generate educational content. It represented a $200 million investment.

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Later in November, TikTok tested a Learn menu feature that exclusively directed users to how-to and instructional content.

Quizlet, meanwhile, is an edtech unicorn with 50 million active monthly users. In addition to a massive library of user-generated flashcard decks and other study resources, the company has recently begun to develop AI capabilities (known as Learning Assistant) to personalize this resources for individual learners.

Short-Form Video as an Educational Medium

Some might cast doubt on the proposition #LearnonTikTok can bring about real learning.

In answer, Quizlet Data and Learning Scientist Anna Khazenzon, PhD, comments, “Studying in short bursts can be extremely effective, especially for memorization. The more you practice recalling a piece of information or retrieving it from memory, the more likely you are to remember it later on. According to retrieval practice findings, it’s much more effective to study with flashcards or take a pretest than to simply look over your notes, which is why students and teachers find that Quizlet’s study tools are really effective for learning throughout the day. We also do a better job of remembering information when we’ve learned it in multiple distinct places, or contexts (according to contextual variability theory). Accessing Quizlet study sets within TikTok videos provides a really robust opportunity for people to study briefly right on their phones, in various locations, whether they’re out for a walk, in the car or sitting on the couch.”

Quizlet and TikTok expect to open up access to the integration to all users, but the companies did not specify when this would be available. The companies say 800 users drawn from Quizlet’s users and TikTok’s Creative Learning Fund have already been using the integration. As of January 27, that number expands to 15,000.

Featured Image: Solen Feyissa, Unsplash.