Build a $\ce{Self-Running}$ Revision Toolkit: Flashcards, Mindmaps and $\ce{Student-Led}$ Practice

Introduction: You Can't Sit Next to Every Student After School

It's 4:30pm. You've just finished a full day of teaching, and your inbox is filling up:

• "Miss, can you send me some revision resources for Topic 4?"
• "Sir, I don't understand the mindmap we did in class—can you explain it again?"
• "Do you have any practice questions I can do at home?"

You want to help. But you also want to eat dinner, see your family, and maybe—just maybe—not think about school for an hour.

Here's the truth: you can't be available 24/7, but your resources can be.

This post shows you how to build a self-running revision toolkit—a set of Flashcards, Mindmaps, and Revision Quizzes that students can access independently, any time, without you having to create new materials or answer the same questions repeatedly.

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The Three Pillars of Independent Revision

Effective self-study needs three things:

1. Retrieval practice (testing yourself on what you know)
2. Visual organisation (seeing how concepts connect)
3. Spaced repetition (revisiting material over time)

TeachAI's tools map directly to these:

Let's build each component.

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Step 1: Create $\ce{High-Quality}$ Flashcard Decks from Your Existing Materials

Flashcards are the gold standard for retrieval practice. But students often make bad ones—too vague, too wordy, or missing key information. By creating decks yourself (or generating them with AI), you ensure quality and alignment with your scheme of work.

How to Generate Flashcards

1. Go to /flashcard-maker and sign in.
2. Choose your input method:
   • Text: Paste notes, a spec extract, or key definitions.
   • PowerPoint: Upload your lesson slides.
   • PDF: Upload a textbook chapter or revision guide (use the page selector to focus on specific pages).
   • Document: Upload a Word doc with your notes.
   • YouTube: Paste a video URL (great for turning a Khan Academy video into flashcards).
3. Set the target number of cards (20–30 per topic is ideal for one study session).
4. Click "Generate Deck".
5. Review and edit. The AI does a good job, but you might want to tweak wording or delete duplicates.
6. Save the deck. It's now available at /flashcards/browse.

Tips for Great Flashcard Decks

• One idea per card. "What is osmosis?" is better than "Explain osmosis, diffusion, and active transport."
• Mix question types. Include definitions ("What is…?"), applications ("Give an example of…"), and comparisons ("How does X differ from Y?").
• Use the PDF page selector. If you're working from a 100-page textbook, select only the 5 pages for the current topic. This saves tokens and keeps the deck focused.

Sharing Decks with Students

Once a deck is saved, you can:

• Copy the deck link and paste it into your LMS, Google Classroom, or class chat.
• Students click the link and can start practising immediately—no login required for viewing (depending on your settings).

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Step 2: Turn Dense Topics into Visual Mindmaps

Some topics are hard to revise because students can't see how the pieces fit together. A wall of text about "Causes of World War I" is overwhelming. A mindmap that shows Nationalism → Militarism → Alliances → Assassination → War is instantly clearer.

How to Generate a Mindmap

1. Go to the Mindmap Generator (accessible via your Teacher Dashboard or directly).
2. Paste your content:
   • A summary of the topic
   • Key bullet points from your notes
   • A spec extract
3. Click "Generate Mindmap".
4. The AI produces an interactive, expandable mindmap using $\ce{D3}$.js. Students can click to expand/collapse branches.

What Makes TeachAI Mindmaps Different

• Interactive, not static. Students can explore the map, not just stare at a flat image.
• Consistent styling. The AI uses a fixed colour scheme and layout, so all your mindmaps look professional and coherent.
• Generated from your content. Unlike generic mindmaps from Google Images, these are tailored to exactly what you taught.

Use Cases

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Step 3: Curate a Library of $\ce{Ready-to-Use}$ Revision Quizzes

You've already seen how to generate quizzes in the previous post. Now let's talk about building a library that students can access independently.

Building Your Quiz Library

Throughout the term (not just during revision), generate a Revision Quiz for each topic as you finish teaching it. Save them all at /revision-quizzes.

By the time revision period arrives, you'll have a complete set:

• Topic 1 Quiz
• Topic 2 Quiz
• Topic 3 Quiz
• …and so on.

Making Quizzes Available to Students

Option 1: Assign via the portal

Use the "Assign" button to push quizzes to specific classes. Students see them in their portal and can complete at their own pace.

Option 2: Share links directly

Click "Copy link" on any quiz and paste it into:

• Google Classroom
• Your school's LMS (Canvas, Seesaw, etc.)
• A shared revision document or Padlet

Students click the link and take the quiz—no assignment needed.

Why a Library Beats $\ce{One-Off}$ Worksheets

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Step 4: Show Students How to Use the Toolkit ($\ce{Mini-Launch}$ Lesson)

Tools are useless if students don't know how to use them. Dedicate 30 minutes early in the revision period to a "Toolkit Launch" lesson.

Lesson Plan: Revision Toolkit Launch (30 mins)

The "Perfect 20-Minute Revision Session" Model

Teach students a simple routine they can follow at home:

This routine is:

• Short enough to fit into a busy evening
• Active (no passive re-reading)
• Structured (students know exactly what to do)

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Examples: Sample Revision Schedules

Schedule 1: "Night Before a $\ce{Mini-Test}$"

Schedule 2: "$\ce{Two-Week}$ $\ce{Build-Up}$ to Mocks"

Schedule 3: "Ongoing Revision During Term"

This "little and often" approach uses spaced repetition to lock in learning before the revision period even starts.

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What This Means for Your Workload

Let's be explicit:

You're not abandoning students. You're equipping them to help themselves—which is a more valuable skill anyway.

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Conclusion: Students Do More of the Work; Teachers Do More of the Guiding

A self-running revision toolkit isn't about doing less for your students. It's about doing smarter things:

• Flashcards give students retrieval practice on demand.
• Mindmaps give students visual organisation of complex topics.
• Revision Quizzes give students instant feedback without you marking a thing.

You build the toolkit once. Students use it all year. Everyone wins.

Ready to build yours?

• Create Flashcards
• Generate a Mindmap (or via Teacher Dashboard)
• Create a Revision Quiz
• View Your Saved Quizzes

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Related Articles

• Make Revision Feel Like a Game Show: Live Class Quizzes That Mark Themselves
• Stop Blind Revision: Use PLCs and Quick Quizzes to See Exactly What Students Need
• 10 $\ce{Evidence-Based}$ Flashcard Study Strategies That Work
• Mind Mapping for Visual Learners: Strategies and Best Practices