Flashcard Development Guide

Flashcards are used as a study tool by students to help them learn key terms, theories, concepts, formulas, equations, and other quick bits of information. You can see a sample of our flashcards HERE.

Our flashcards have two modes. The study mode allows students to flip through the flashcards to learn the content. The practice mode allows students to self-test their knowledge and indicate whether they were “right” or “wrong” while reviewing the flashcards. When students reach the end of the deck, they are given another chance to review the flashcards they marked “wrong” during their review.

Use the flashcard excel template your Cognella rep provides you to develop your flashcard content.

• The important columns are C (Front) and F (Back). Everything else can be left blank!

Keep the information on the flashcards concise (1-3 sentences).

• Flashcards are meant to help students quickly learn and review important information. How you phrase the content will be key to creating effective flashcards.

Ensure all of your flashcard content is original.

Flashcards can contain images that have been approved by our licensing team. All images need to be submitted via your image log to be approved for use in flashcards. Review the details in Active Learning Image Guide for instructions on how to log your images.

• Images can be sourced from these approved sources:
  • Wikimedia Commons
  • Library of Congress
  • National Institute of Health
  • New York Public Library
  • British Library
  • Pixabay

There is no limit on the number of flashcards you can include in each Cognella Active Learning module. You can also have multiple flashcard decks within a module if you need to keep some content separated.

There’s no need to cite sources in your flashcards.

Avoid the repetition of terms across multiple decks of flashcards.

Do not include images that require us to pay licensing fees.

• We strive to keep the price of our products low for students!

Avoid long explanations that students will not be able to recall when using the flashcards as a study tool.

Do not use bullet points in your flashcards.

• Create a new flashcard for a new term instead.

Avoid the common question (on the front) and answer (on the back) format.

• Our flashcards can be viewed front-to-back and back-to-front, so the question-and-answer format is not optimal for our flashcards.