What is Student Practice?
Student Practice is a feature that enables students and teachers to create practice flashcards for any subject of their choice and use them to study at their own pace.
This feature is still in development and needs to be first enabled by teachers for both students and teachers to have access to.
Create New Student Practice
Click on "Practice" from the left-side menu
Choose the subject for your practice (we've added a few suggestions already, but you can choose "Something else" for additional options)
Name your Practice set
Define your grade
Confirm the correct subject is chosen from the dropdown menu (you can type into the search field for quick results)
Click on "Create"
You can create as many practice sets as you'd like
If you need to make changes to your Practice set's details simply click on the triple dot menu at the top right corner and choose "Edit Settings" - you will be able to change the title, grades and subjects:
Add Flashcards to Student Practice
There are multiple ways to add flashcards to student practice:
Typing in card content manually
Generating a full practice set using Ai
Importing lists from external sources
Type card content manually
On the right-side panel, enter the front side and the back side of the flash card into the corresponding fields.
Click "Add Card" when finished
The card you created will appear on the main practice page
Continue entering additional flash cards using the same method
When you're done adding the flashcards, click the X at the top right corner to close the right-side panel
If you need to add more cards, simply click on the "+ New Card" block or on the blue plus button at the top of the screen, and the right side panel will re-open:
Generate practice set with AI
If you've opted in to testing our Beta features of AI generation, you will have the option to utilize AI to create 10 flashcards at once, based on a topic of your choice. If you need more than 10 flashcards, you can add more to the set manually.
To generate 10 flashcards with AI:
In the designated space, enter a topic to guide AI generation
Click the Enter/Return key for AI to begin generating the cards
Give AI the time it needs to work on this. You can navigate away from this page while AI is working and come back to it later
4. Review the flashcards generated by clicking into them. The content will be displayed in the right side panel. You can edit the AI generated cards to your liking (don't forget to click "save" when done!). If you need to add more cards to the set click on "+New Card" and type in new cards manually
Import list from external sources
If you have an external source with a list of flashcards content you can import that list into the practice set and the system will create the flashcards for you.
Files to be imported should be in CSV (comma separated values) or TSV (tab separated values) format, and they should include two columns: first column for the front side of each card, and the second column for the back side. You can create your own external source list by using Excel or Google Sheets and saving the file as .csv or .tsv; or you can use lists that you have exported from third party websites and apps such as Quizlet, Anki, Gimkit, etc.
To import your list:
Click on the triple dots menu at the top right corner of the screen
From the dropdown menu choose "Import set"
A popup window will appear. In it you will find rows of fillable text fields divided into two columns. The left side column is for the front side of the cards, and the left side column is for the back side of the cards
You can either manually add text into the text fields by typing or copy/pasting each field separately, or you can place your cursor into the first text field at the top and copy/paste your entire CSV or FSV formatted list
When done, click on "Import" at the bottom of the window, and your flashcards will populate the practice set
How to import lists from other websites / apps
If the other website or app you used to create your flashcards supports a .CSV or a .TSV format for exporting, you will be able to copy your flashcards into Formative in one go.
To do this start with exporting your flashcards list from the other website/app in a .CSV or .TSV format and then copy the content into the import modal as described above (click into the top left field in Formative and paste)
If you used Quizlet:
Open the set in Quizlet (make sure you are logged in to your account)
Select the triple dots (More menu)
Select Export
Set "Between term and defintion" to Tab
Set "Between rows" to New Line
Click Copy text (Image exports aren't currently available due to copyright restrictions.)
Paste your text into your preferred Spreadsheet software (i.e. Google Sheets, Excel, etc.): right-click the top left cell in an empty spreadsheet. From the menu choose "Paste Special" and then "Paste values only"
Download your file as .CSV or .TSV
Copy the file's content
In the Formative import modal, click into the top left field and paste (the modal will separate the cards front and back for you)
If you used Anki:
In the start screen, navigate to the deck you want to export, then press the "⚙️ (Settings)" button next to the deck
Choose "Export". Set the export format as "Notes in Plain Text".
Once done, this .TXT file will have fields separated by tabs
Copy the file's content
In the Formative import modal, click into the top left field and paste (the modal will separate the cards front and back for you)
If you used Gimkit :
Find the Kit you would like to export
Click Export on the side panel
Click Copy Text
In the Formative import modal, click into the to pleft field and paste (the modal will separate the cards front and back for you)
Note: When saving your files into .CSV or .TSV files, it's important that your cards' front side are in the first column, and your cards' back side are in the second column (without any headers or titles, or no other columns used). Additionally, when importing from other apps, it’s not possible to import non-text content (such as images or handwriting) in these formats.
Share Practice Sets with Students
Now that the practice set is ready, it is time to send it over to your students.
Click the "Share" button at the top right corner of your screen
In the pop up window click on "Copy Link" and await confirmation that the link was saved to your clipboard
You can now send this link to your students. Some of the recommended methods are:
Paste the link into an item on a formative that is related to the topic, along with any needed instructions to your students. You can add the link and instructions into any text field within the formative
Paste the link in an email along with instructions and send to your students
Paste the link into an external assignment posted to your preferred LMS or Google Classroom
Paste the link along with instructions into a post on Social Media groups for your students to access
Preview Practice
You can experience the same workflow your students will experience by starting a practice with your newly created set
Access Preview
Click into your created Student Practice set
Click on the "Preview" button at the top right of your screen
You will be redirected into the Practice experience
Use Preview
Follow the instructions below to use the practice set just as your students would to check their knowledge:
Front side of flashcards will be presented to you one at a time
Try to answer to yourself
Click on the flashcard to turn it over to the back side
Check your knowledge in comparison with the back side of the flashcard
If you got it right click on the green "Got it" button, if you did not get it right click on the red " Didn't get it" button
Any flashcards marked "Didn't get it" will be presented again at random and the practice will continue until you get all your practice flashcards right
Clicking the back arrow at the top left corner of your screen will redirect you back to your Practice page. This back arrow will function differently on a student's account. When students click on the back arrow they are redirected to the student practice page which acts differently.
🙋🏼 What if my students don't get all their flashcards right and they need to take a break, what do they do?
If a student needs to take a break, they simply click on the "Back" arrow at the top left corner of their screen which will return them to the main Student Practice page. Students' practice will save from where they left off, and they'll be able to see which flashcards they've mastered and which flashcards they're still in the process of learning. Clicking on the corresponding category will take them back to reviewing the front and back sides of the flashcards for additional memorization. When ready, they can click on "Practice" again to resume their practice.
Note: After pausing practice once, resuming the Practice will take into account the category of flashcards they were viewing. If they were revewing the flashcards they're still learning, only these flashcards will be presented to them when they re-click "Practice", and if they were reviewing the flashcards they already learned or those they haven't started yet - clicking "Practice" will present the corresponding flashcards as well.
If they want to practice the full set again, they should make sure they are viewing the "All" category.
Deleting Student Practice
To delete a practice set you've previously created:
Click into the practice set
Click on the triple dot menu at the top right corner of your screen
Choose "Delete set" and confirm
FAQ & Troubleshooting
🙋🏿♂️ I'm trying to import a file to create my practice set, what type of file or format is needed?
The best way to import a file is to save it as .csv or .tsv. However, you could use other file types as long as they follow what is commonly known as CSV or TSV format. The modal expects a string of delimited text to parse:
It expects two columns, first column being the fronts of each card to import, and the second column being the backs.
The import logic will try its best to guess which delimiter the string you paste is using
The supported delimiters can be commas
,
, tabs\t
, vertical bars|
, semi-colons;
, record separators (ASCII code 30), or unit separators (ASCII code 31)Each row should be separated by a newline character
\n