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Flashcard
From Qedoc
| This article relates to features introduced in version 2.5.0. |
This page describes how to create flashcard-based learning activities with the Qedoc Quiz Maker. The flashcard-based learning system could also be called an adaptive learning system which adapts itself to each learner rather than treating students equally.
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Educational considerations and adaptive learning
As of version 2.5, the Qedoc software supports two fundamentally different learning methods. The first of these is the quiz. The second of these is the flashcard set.
A quiz is based around "questions" and learning follows the goal of maximizing points and/or accuracy when answering these questions. A quiz can be used both for testing and for training. A quiz treats all learners equally.
A flashcard approach is based around "learning items" - usually a matching pair or set of items which belong together. Rather than maximizing points, the learning path involves covering all the flashcards systematically and tracking/revising unlearnt items. A flashcard set can be used only for training, not for testing. As a training method, it is more systematic than a quiz. A flashcard activity adapts itself to each learner - and therefore does not treat all learners equally.
How things differ for the learner
Visible differences for the learner
From the perspective of a learner, while actually responding to items displayed on the screen, a flashcard learning activity looks very similar to a quiz. For example, in a vocabulary-learning flashcard set, a learner might be shown 10 flashcards, and in each case might be asked to provide the translation of a word. On the surface, this is no different from a quiz.
Things are different in two respects for the learner, however.
- Firstly, each test item displayed by the Player has a tiny flashcard icon in its title bar, where the question number is normally displayed. And instead of a question number, there is a flashcard number which refers to the absolute position of this flashcard in the flashcard deck. So rather than questions 1-10 being displayed as in a quiz, flashcards with random numbers might display in any order. The flashcard icon is especially important, as it constantly changes colour and can be clicked to launch a view of the entire flashcard deck. The colour of the flashcard icon is green if the item is well known; red if not known at all (many mistakes); shades of yellow or orange if partly known; if rarely seen or attempted, the colour of the icon fades away to greyish washed-out colours. So the flashcard icon immediately acts as a warning or encouragement to the learner whether this is a difficult or easy card. If the flashcard icon is clicked, a table showing the whole flashcard deck appears. Again, the flashcard symbols in the table are colour-coded to show progress: white indicates a card never seen yet; green a card that is well known; red a card where mistakes are often made. There are many shades between these colours to indicate the degree of learning. This means that at any stage, the learner can monitor their progress with the flashcard deck.
- Secondly, the results/scoring system is slightly different. The accuracy display in the results section is calculated differently. The accuracy reflects how well the flashcard deck is known in its totality.
From the perspective of the person who creates the flashcard activity, the differences are very much greater than this! However in the design of the software, we considered it important to provide a familiar environment to the learner rather than facing them with something entirely different.
What should immediately become apparent from this is that flashcard learning activities track performance with individual learning items very closely, while quizzes only track performance in terms of overall points/accuracy.
Invisible learning differences
The main invisible learning difference with flashcard learning activities is the way in which the software intelligently tracks performance and places differing but subtle degrees of extra emphasis on items where the learner has made a mistake. This "intelligent tracking" of the learner's individual learning profile is something which is absent from the quiz activities.
Each "test" (or randomised set of flashcards displayed to the learner) is not really fully randomised, but selected using a complex and varying algorithm, which can be modified by the teacher. The algorithm runs approximately as follows:
- There is a higher chance that items the learner has previously got wrong will be selected. The probability of recycling depends on the frequency of previous mistakes as well as a weighting selected by the teacher.
- In a truly randomised test, there are usually a few annoying items which doggedly refuse to display until the learner is thoroughly bored by the module. The laws of probability unfortunately result in this. However in a learning situation, all items should be covered in a reasonable period of time, even if not in a predictable order. The algorithm therefore ensures that all items are covered faster than a purely random selection would entail, while at the same time avoiding predictability.
- The algorithm's assessment of how well the learner knows an item is not based on the latest attempt, but on the last X attempts, where the teacher can select the value of this X. This ensures that a flashcard generally won't end up on the "known" list as a result of a single lucky guess, nor will previous errors be entirely forgotten as a the result of a lucky guess. The software "knows" when an item is only weakly known.
Creating a flashcard activity
This section covers what differs for the author of a Qedoc module.
General points
Flashcard activities are difficult to learn how to make, and very easily and quickly made once you know how. The Qedoc software probably places much more power and flexibility in the author's hands than most flashcard learning systems, mostly because any of the 100 or so question types can be used within a flashcard activity.
Knowledge prerequisites
You must know how data tables work.
Creating the data table
All the critical learning material in a flashcard set is contained in a data table. Flashcard learning is suited to material which can easily be tabularised, so we keep the data in a data table.
Examples:
- If your learning material is in the form of questions and short answers, then create a spreadsheet or Word table with your questions and answers carefully tabularised.
- If your learning material is vocabulary, create a table with a column for each language.
Create the data table in the normal manner.
Creating a template question
A flashcard activity doesn't really work with normal questions at all. It works with (usually) a single template question which is merged together with the data table contents at runtime. A module which uses flashcards may only have a very few questions in it - and perhaps only one! However this question needs to be designed very carefully.
You may wish to revise how data table variables work, as you will need to use them in your question.
When designing your question, you will create a question much as you would when creating any question which works with data tables. Following our above two examples:
- If your learning material is question/short answer, then you would create a typed response question (with or without letter prompts, as you wish). Assuming your data table is named "dt1", you would then enter {dt1_0_correct} as the question and {dt1_1_correct} as the answer. Probably nothing more than this would be required.
- If your learning material is a list of vocabulary, you might write a little more than this. The same question type would work, but you might type "What is the French for {dt1_0_correct}?" as the question in your template. Just as with templates in any other kind of programme, you can add text around your data table variables to make things friendlier and more comprehensible for the learner.
Note about the number of template questions required
In a quiz, the unit which is tracked and marked is the question. In a flashcard deck, the unit which is tracked and marked is the rows in the database (data tables). The result of this phenomenon is that for a flashcard deck the number of questions is really quite irrelevant. A flashcard deck can function very happily with just ONE question as a template, and yet the database could contain hundreds or thousands of items, creating a deck with hundreds or thousands of cards. The flashcard deck is as big as the database, not the question bank!
The only purpose of having more than ONE question template for your flashcard deck is this: if more than one question template is available, a random template is chosen each time a card is displayed. Same card, different display because of the different template. At a basic level, this could be used, for example, to randomly switch text colours when a card is shown. However the pedagogical implications and opportunities of this are immense.
Creating a category for your template question
Some people avoid categories! However if using flashcard activities, you have no choice. You must put your template question into a category, because this is how the flashcard activity finds it. You can call the category what you like - it just has to exist.
Creating the flashcard activity
- Go to the activity bank (see how to define an activity) and create a fresh activity.
- In the activity settings tab, on the left hand side, find the drop-down box which determines the activity type. This is set to "quiz" by default. Pull down the list of choices and select "flashcard".
- Now switch from the "activity settings" tab to the "activity content" tab. You can't do this until you have completed the previous step! Look carefully at the images to the right before reading on.
- The "activity content" tab is where you link up everything you have prepared so far.
- In the top drop-down box of the "activity content" tab you will find a list of all the data tables you have defined. Select the one you wish to associate with this flashcard activity.
- In the next drop-down box, you will find a list of categories. Select the category which contains your template question(s).
- The remaining options are optional! Click the help icons next to the options for explanations.
That's pretty well everything.
General questions
- Can I have several flashcard activities in one module?
- Yes. Ensure that each activity has its own data table.
- Can I mix quizzes and flashcard activities in one module?
- Yes.
- Can a flashcard activity draw from more than one data table?
- Yes, but the flashcard performance tracking will only apply to the data table selected in the activity content tab.
- Can a flashcard activity have more than one question template?
- Yes. In theory the template would be chosen at random from the available templates each time a card was displayed.
- Can I really choose any of the hundred or so question types?
- Yes, provided that it still all makes sense somehow. Traditionally flashcards have really been question/short answer things for vocabulary training and the like, but with the Qedoc system, you can take it much further than this.
