Flashcards are a great way to memorize or practice terminology, event dates, concepts and more. The most appropriate content tends to be declarative knowledge that can be easily tested through the rapid nature of flashcards. This educational tool is best coupled with exercises to integrate flashcard content into higher order tasks such as applying it to forum posts or creating student presentations.

Tips

• The number of cards and timing of using them strongly influences the efficacy of flashcards. Students have better outcomes when they study with one large stack of flashcards vs more, smaller stacks. They also do better when they practice in multiple, shorter study sessions over time vs “cramming” right before a test (Kornell, 2009; Wissman, Rawsom & Pyc, 2012).
• Students may drop or ignore flashcards they feel like they already know. While this practice might seem intuitive, it appears to have a small but consistent negative impact on learning (Kornell & Bjork, 2007).

Examples

SPED 304

Flashcards developed using Quizlet are provided to students to practice foundational Special Education knowledge. Quizlet flashcards can also be embedded into a webpage if you’re building your course outside Laulima.

EDCS 780

In his mixed methods course Dr Bryan Cook also embeds terminology flashcards on his lesson pages. See a EDCS 780 lesson page with flashcards.