Deck design for educators 🚧

Deck - a collection of Cards

Card - how RememberMore displays a single question-answer prompt pair - (and more)

Category - a division of information within and possibly across decks

Tag* - a label within a Category (tags can be toggle - show/hide)

Multi-tagged - a Card tagged with more than one tag

Categories and Tags can be combined to explore a specific or combined (interleaved) focus*

Key Question - an important Card recognised in the rewards system (not used in Classroom)

Mode - how RememberMore displays the Card (Match is only used on Classroom).

Note - additional information associated with the Card used to promote elaborative interrogation

Timer - the options to show a countdown timer

Review - the process of selecting (filtering) and/or combining the Cards you wish to learn, know and remember

Session - a series of Reviews.

Session summary - Review metrics to measure progress

Reveal - show the hidden Q-A pair item

Challenge level - the difficulty of the selected Cards. (Challenge level is calculated on the last time you "Reviewed" those exact same Cards, from "too easy, low, medium and high")

Stats - RememberMore shares a range of metrics to the learner to track performance

Rewards - RememberMore uses a range of rewards and reward schedules to promote learning

Switching - changing the selected deck in RememberMore

“Where the information being learned has a framework or structure that can be used to organise both the learning and the retrieval then memory is often considerably improved.” — Michael Eysenck, The Blackwell Dictionary of Cognitive Psychology (1994).

RememberMore gives knowledge a framework or structure, and with that, organisation for the learner and flexibility for the educator. It is important to point out that RememberMore is most effective at delivering declarative or substantive knowledge. However with clever card design and use of notes, more complex knowledge can be covered.

⚖️ Breadth and weight (distribution and sequence) of knowledge

• 1000 Cards could be:

  • • 2 decks of 500 Cards

    • 5 decks of 200 Cards

    • 10 decks of 100 Cards or any combination.

✅ Deck weight: We have learnt that smaller decks (30-150) are more likely to be completed. (This is challenging as most literature reading texts easily lend themselves to 300-600 Cards.)

🏷️Categories and tags

Decks are separated into Categories. Large, broad, structural divisions of information.

Categories can be further separated using tags. Tags are a label within a Category (tags can be toggle - show/hide)

All Cards are categorised and can be tagged and multi-tagged.*

In defining the Categories and the Tags, the deck structure is created.

✅ Categories: Five or less categories

✅ If there are less than five Cards associated with a tag - is that collective worth a tag?

Worked Example

English texts decks (sorry about that mouthful) have a relatively consistent deck weight and structure, categorised as Location, Overview, Themes and Character and Tagged relatively consistently. There are plenty of examples for you to review on Classroom

• Location vary text, eg Prologue, Act 1.1, Act 1.3... OR Ch 01, Ch 02, Ch 03... OR p01-20, p21-40, p41-60

• Overview is a catch-all category that includes: Context, , Literary Device, Vocab 1, Vocab 2, Plot 1, Plot 2...

• Themes vary by text, eg Love and Marriage, Youth and Age...

• Characters by text, eg Romeo, Juliet, Lord Montague...

Common Tags

• Vocab 1 - accessible and important vocabulary.

• Vocab 2 - inaccessible vocabulary, Tier 2/3 or subject / topic specific language likely to be unfamiliar to the target audience.

• Plot 1 - need to know, Plot 2 - extended

• Power Vocab - useful vocabulary not specifically defined by the board and useful Eg dystopian or hierarchy.

🔑Key Question

Cards reinforced by the rewards structure in RememberMore.

✅ Approximately 10% of Cards should be identified as a Key Question.

📝Notes?

Notes are associated with a Card. It is a free form cell and can be used in many different ways. You may want to decided how you plan to use Notes. For example, every Card has a Note, select Cards have a Note.

In defining the Categories and the Tags, the deck structure is created.

• How are you going to categorise the content? What tags are you planning to use? Will these categories and tags be reused across decks?

  • Will categories and tags be used across Key stage? Year group? Exam boards or Papers? Specification topic and subtopic.

• What tags are you going to use? (specification reference, location, knowledge type, event, dates, definitions, terms)

  • Will tags be levelled? For example, Plot 1 (essential) Plot 2 (important to know). Vocab 1 (essential, prohibits understanding of the text) Vocab 2 (extend and challenge).

  • Remember, Tags support successful retrieval and this support can be toggled show/hide.

Categories (and to a lesser extent tags) surface as you build the deck and as Cards are designed and coded. In our experience, it is worth reviewing both Categories and Tags after designing your first 30-50 Cards.

Plan ahead. You maybe defining and designing your first deck however take a moment to think through what the "collection" may look like. You maybe defining and designing your first deck for one curriculum area, and learners may well be 'switching' between decks, between curriculum areas. Where possible - uniformity aids the learner.

✅ Categories: Five or less categories

✅ If there are less than five Cards associated with a tag - is that collective worth a tag?

Designing effective cards: retrieval Q-A / A-Q prompt pairs

The aim of retrieval practice is “successful retrieval.” Success rates within RememberMore are increased by the display of Tags which also permits designers to write shorter, precise cards. Shorter prompts, reduce error rates.

RememberMore cards are designed to be read Q-A (forwards) and A-Q (backwards). That takes a little getting used to, but gets easy. Second, it also means that each prompt within a deck must be unique. (If using the Google Sheet template, duplicates are highlighted for you).

💡Top Tips

Use single point prompts and responses. (Avoid multi-part responses. These are very hard to "free-recall." As you would expect they require x recall attempts)

Two short Q-A are preferable to one long, single Q-As.

If you need to explore a process or a sequence - design individual cards.

Road test your cards. RememberMore learners offer give great feedback. It takes but a moment to amend a card.

RememberMore metrics will inform you about question difficulty or your teaching.

Vocabulary in RememberMore is presented as Word (word class) phonetic spelling. Followed a definition. Notes are used for examples.

Eucharist (n) Eu·​cha·​rist Spiritual communion with God (Also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper)

To support Vocabulary teaching and card design, feel free to use the Vocabularly Prepper Google Sheet. ⤵️ Demo at the bottom of the page ⤵️. Furthermore Rewordify & Verbalworkout are two powerful tools.

🔑Key Question

If you are only selecting 10% of cards to be rewards, use this feature to underline essential learning or learning that unlocks new avenues or Threshold Concepts.

📝Notes?

Notes are associated with a card. It is therefore completely up to you how you use, or choose not to use, this feature. You will quickly experience the power and usefulness of Notes in the classroom.

RememberMore uses the most powerful form of retrieval, free recall and cued free recall. Three question styles best suit this purpose. Fact. Fill. Finish.

Fact

Technically known as a paired associate. A prompt and a response. Factoids and vocabulary for example.

Vocabulary is often a school wide focus. We commonly use Vocab 1 and Vocab 2 and the Tag️ "Power Vocab" to promote the use of subject specific or disciplinary language not defined as a term or definition from the text / topic. For example, to understand many Victorian novels, you need an understanding of Victorian values and of gentility.

Confidant (n) con·​fi·​dant - Someone trusted with private matters.

Tags: Ch 15, Vocab 2

Notes: Watson to Holmes, Anthony to Stapleton.

Having built full Year 1-6 Primary curriculum decks, where content is often revisited, where learners have to "think back," the 💭 icon has been used. Where knowledge is exactly the built upon, 💭+.

Fill in the blanks

Fill in the blanks require careful constructions from a RememberMore standpoint.

The staging is used to emphasise the separation of s__________ c__________? - The __________ is used to emphasise the separation of social class.

The __________ is used to emphasise the separation of social class. - The staging is used to emphasise the separation of s__________ c__________?

Tags: In this example the Tags would not be added as the tag “social class” is omitted as it is in fact the answer.

Notes: To understand the relationships between the character, it is important that you have an understanding of the values of Victorian

Finish the sentence

Finish the sentence is very popular with learners and works particularly well for textual references. Here we have a prompt from The Play of Oliver Twist.

"But there's something in that boy's face… - where have I seen something like that look before?"

"where have I seen something like that look before? - "But there's something in that boy's face…

Tags: Scene 11, Plot, Family, Brownlow

Note: Mr Brownlow has noticed a resemblance in Oliver.

3️⃣ Three key words

We are also experimenting with three keywords words. Set three keywords for learners to build a response. Build the response for learners to identify the the three keywords.

Build your response: Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, erupted. Identify the three keywords: Mount Vesuvius erupted killing the locals of Pompeii in the times of ancient Rome (79 AD).

Identify the three keywords: Mount Vesuvius erupted killing the locals of Pompeii in the times of ancient Rome (79 AD). Build your response: Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, erupted.

💡Top Tips

Tags support success retrieval - the option to show/hide raises the difficulty level significantly.

Experience has taught us to not exceed 15% of the deck size as Vocab (unless it is the purpose of the deck, eg MFL).

Explicitly teaching vocabulary and phonetic spellings, is a great way to broaden learners general vocabulary.

Levelled Tags support question differentiation.

Card status

In the new deck editor, we are exploring the option to have a Card status - show/hide.

RememberMore Decks have four “status” codes.

1. Unpublished / draft.

2. Published (Road tested in the classroom)

3. Published - 🚧 Under construction and being taught for the first time.

4. Published - 📢 Being built / coming soon

To publish decks you will need access to Dashboard “Group Admin” account.

There are two ways to add decks to Classroom and RememberMore. Create new decks via the Dashboard deck editor or directly import a "published to web" CSV link from Google Sheets. No file upload or downloads. ⤵️ Demo at the bottom of this page ⤵️

The layout of your Google Sheet MUST match the template provided.

1. Make a copy of the RememberMore Deck Template.

2. Define and design your deck.

3. DEMO below: File/Publish to the web. Select the TAB/CSV.

4. Copy and paste the link into Dashboard

5. View the deck on both Classroom and RememerberMore.

Pause for a moment. In a year from now, how we will know that the introduction of RememberMore was "the difference that made the difference?" Or at least contributed to it. Let me tell you what you can expect, so you can prepare and lead for that future.

Bottom line: Improved learner outcomes. Reduced educator workload. And all the benefits that brings.

Lesson openings are routined, purposeful and meaningful. Classrooms are calmer, more focused, certainly at the start. Learners know more and can remember more, learners are more determined and independent. X% of learners in Year 11 (the year group targeted) used RememberMore for mock exams revision logging x hours of study. Mock exam outcomes support this investment. X number of learners have been identified as requiring additional SEND support through the Dashboard's metrics. More learners, have secured more of the "same knowledge." With school variance has reduced.

Educators are confident in their use of Classroom, (elaborations and the four modes). Classroom is described as "super easy, super simple." A high percentage of educators have adopted Classroom and moved onto adopting various oracy routines as well. Vocabulary has high status in lessons (and with learners). Written work is more sophisticated. A good few educators, mainly in the core subjects due to teaching five/six periods a week with the same class, have moved onto to exploring and adapting various Classroom routines, some are even experimenting with their own routines. A few educators prefer their way of doing things. The Maths Department concur with you - RememberMore is not as impactful here. Educators are more interested in the Cognitive Science research behind RememberMore.

Middle Leaders are cross referencing their curriculum definitions with one another, cross referencing their decks. Some Middle Leaders have connected with other colleagues locally to evolve or improve or "trade" their decks. There was a conversation around whether or not RememberMore could supplement some homework. The Literacy lead has defined a recovery programme for SEND learners using the platform. Fewer behaviour referrals are made from Alternative Provision. The photocopying budget is significantly reduced.

Leaders are able to evidence the connection between their curriculum intent, implementation and impact. Leaders are assured that content can be delivered to those learners not in the classroom.

Parents are keen to see RememberMore used by more Year groups.

It would be more difficult for me to forecast into the second year however, here goes. I foresee the new academic year starting more affirmatively. A transition deck was added to RememberMore priming the start of the new year. Now established Classroom routines, more experienced, confident educators and more learners who have secured more of the "same knowledge," means certainly makes teaching easier. Of courses, hindsight is a powerful thing and learners more readily accept Classroom and RememberMore.

Bottom line: Improved learner outcomes. Reduced educator workload.

Back to the here and now

What support and what decisions need to be taken? Which curriculum areas and educators may benefit most from using RememberMore? All years or targeted year groups? All curriculum areas or a targeted selection? What training is required. Our knowledge, RememberMore knowledge or a combination?

If defining and designing knowledge for RememberMore as a department, school or group of schools even, a broader perspective is needed. The opportunity to co-curate knowledge, co-curate decks, is not only very powerful professional development, it raises the quality of end product, the deck, and therefore the quality of teaching as well as reducing educator workload. We highly recommend co-curating decks as a departmental team. Under these conditions, we recommend a nominated “RememberMore Lead” manages the moderation and publication of decks.

RememberMore does not need "data" once downloaded, those learners with a mobile device may access Classroom. That leaves a very small percentage of learners without access to RememberMore (a mobile device) or Classroom.

To support the use of RememberMore we have shared professional learning resources on Successive Relearning and the introduction of Classroom, RememberMore and Dashboard. In addition we offer affordable, practical professional development delivered by highly experienced educators and practising educators.*

• Applied Successive Relearning (retrieval practice + spacing) (2 hours - £199 plus expenses)

• Defining and designing for RememberMore (3 hours - £299 plus expenses)

• Educating with RememberMore (Full day and half day follow up - £699 plus expenses)

For more information see our Professional Development page.

Any Decks or Cards created by RememberMore are the property of RememberMore. These remain Your property, and you may use them however you see fit outside of RememberMore. By publishing the decks, you are agreeing to grant us a global, perpetual, royalty free license to use, reuse, sub-license, modify, display and distribute the content in any format we choose. By uploading content to the platform, you warrant that:

• You or your employer hold the necessary rights and permissions to use and share any material you upload, including compliance with any third party licenses relating to the content.

• The content does not contain material which could be construed as obscene, hateful, pornographic, racist, homophobic, defamatory, unethical or contradictory to the values inherent in RememberMore.

• If you are found to have infringed these warrants, we reserve the right to terminate your usage of the platform.

If you believe someone to have infringed your intellectual property rights, contact us, and we will respond accordingly.