Home > Staff > What's New

This set of directions and news for Free World U staff will be updated periodically.  Visitors and students should visit the what's new page here.

New Tax Forms
We have updated the taxes section of the site and provided 2007 tax forms to assist you. Your 1099 forms are in the mail.

Cards in the Holding Area
As you know, we have moved a tremendous number of cards between grade levels over the past few months. Although we tried to find homes for all of the flashcards that we could, we're left with a great number of flashcards in the holding area. We'd like to utilize as many of these as we can.

To that end, we'd like authors to familiarize themselves with the flashcards in the holding area. Before beginning each subtopic, look to see if there are any cards that you can bring into your subtopics. If there are, please send a list to Dr. Hall or your managing editor so they can be put in a container and sent to you. Keep a tally of the cards you bring over; we'll pay you 0.35 for each card you can use.

Feel free to explore other grade levels and subjects in your quest for cards. Look at least three grade levels before and after your own, and do check other subjects--math writers might find some great flashcards in science subtopics.

New Guidelines for Math Flashcard Images

  • There should be no borders.
  • Use pastel colors in general for shading or backgrounds.
  • Use dark colors for text labels or numbers.
  • Don't use bright red for anything. Use maroon instead. Red clashes with our color scheme.
  • Don't use any captions that can be applied just as well on the text side.
  • Use a white background for detailed sketches.
  • Use the same precision that you would see in a textbook.
  • Sketches should contain no black, under ordinary circumstances. Navy blue works better.
  • Text should be large enough to be legible.
  • The above colors do not apply to photographs and clipart, which should remain as they are, without a border, unless it comes with one.
  • Don't use more detail than is necessary to teach your fact unit.

Student Assessment Page Added
Find out what our plans are regarding adding student assessment functionality to the site by clicking here.  

FAQ Page Added
A new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page has been added to the visitors section of the site.  It can he accessed here. 

Number of Cards per Subtopic
We now use a sliding scale to determine the number of flashcards that belong in a subtopic. Please use the following scale to determine how many flashcards to include.

  • Preschool: 10 flashcards
  • Kindergarten: 10-15 flashcards
  • Grades 1-2: 10-20 flashcards
  • Grades 3-4: 15-25 flashcards
  • Grades 5-6: 15-30 flashcards
  • Grades 7-8: 15-40 flashcards
  • Grades 9-12: 20-50 flashcards

Curriculum Document Added
A downloadable curriculum document is now available from the home page or by clicking here.  This document will be revised as our curriculum gets expanded.

Graphic File Names
When inserting graphics into flashcards, an error may occur if the file name is extremely long.  To prevent this error, authors are encouraged to keep file names to under 15 characters long.

Pi Symbol
In order to make pi symbols in the flashcards look as expected, please use the following code:

<font face="Times New Roman" style="font-size:175%">&#960;</font>
This will insert a π in your flashcards.  There is no need to correct previously submitted cards.

Graphics Attribution
Please see our new page here for information on the correct way to give credit when using licensed graphics in your flashcards.

Line Breaks
Due to a change in the way HTML tags are handled by our flashcard program, line breaks and blank lines should be inserted into cards using the <br /> tag. If a blank line is desired, you will need to insert 2 tags: <br /><br />. Therefore, <p> tags should no longer be used when creating flashcards. There is no need to alter previously written cards.

Website Makeover
We've updated the look and feel of the website as well as revised some of our static pages so please make sure you refresh your browser's cache.  There are new improvements on the way, so keep checking this page.

New Site Search Engine
Please make sure to check out our new Google Custom Search engine.

Google Custom Search

Web Office
Our staff can request access to our new Web Office site that provides tools for collaborating online.

Firefox 2.0 Released
Put "Mozilla Firefox" in Google to find the Firefox website and download the new version.  We think that you will use it as your favorite browser.  You may keep Internet Explorer and/or your current browser installed on your computer.  The new version of Firefox has an Internet forms spellchecker that will work in the bulk editor.  It functions better than our server based spellchecker because the dictionary is stored on your computer and is therefore much faster.  The path to the dictionary is C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\dictionaries.  Back up this folder regularly.  We are now in the process of adding medical words to the dictionary and will make this available for download.

Flashcard Training Course Revised
The training course for authors using flashcards has been revised and a number of outdated flashcards have been deleted.  As you are going through this course, if you discover any useful flashcards that could be added to make the teaching more complete, we will pay double the normal rate.

A Flashcard Should Only be in One Container
If you create more than one container with the same flashcard, and then send one of those containers to us, the flashcards that are also in another container are grayed out to our view, and vice versa.  Therefore, flashcards should exist in only one container at a time.  As always, never put multiple subtopics in a container.

Invoice Submissions
When you reach five items on an invoice, submit it. Each subtopic counts as one item on an invoice. All the edits you make within a single subtopic will appear as one item on that invoice. After you have edited five subtopics, submit the invoice.

New Bug Report Form
Click here for the Bug Report and help us refine our software by reporting any bugs you encounter.

New Style Guide for Authors and Editors 
Download a your copy of the style guide here.

EDD Labor Fact Sheet
Click here to download a fact sheet about independent contractors under California state law.

Plagiarism
Text cannot be copied word-for-word from a book to write flashcards. This is plagiarism and illegal.

Drug Names
All drugs should be named by their generic names. This is because generic names are the same from country to country while trade names vary greatly.  Add brand names in parenthesis.

New Dictionary Resource
If you can't find a word or if you know there are multiple spellings for it, try Merriam-Webster's online dictionary here: www.m-w.com. For multiple spellings, use whichever version they have listed first.

Hint Changes
The hint format is showing signs of becoming overused. Try to write flashcards that require only a small hint. Example:

Q: The common causes of gloss_______ include viral infections, mechanical irritation by coarse objects, chemical irritation, and allergic reactions.
A: glossitis

Since "glossitis" means an inflamed tongue (which you would know if you had the original book in front of you), you can rewrite it this way, thus working a hint into the actual content of the sentence (which is far preferable):

Q: The common causes of an inflamed tongue, known as _______, include viral infections, mechanical irritation by coarse objects, chemical irritation, and allergic reactions.
A: glossitis

Commas
We now use the traditional English grammatical rule of putting a comma before "and" and "or" in every list. This is because the modern rule can create confusion and ambiguity. Consider the following two sentences:

Pain, suffering, loss of income and medical bills are examples of damages.
Pain, suffering, loss of income, and medical bills are examples of damages.

In the first sentence, it could mean a loss of income as well as a loss of medical bills, which doesn't make any sense and is potentially confusing. In the second sentence, it is clear that "loss" refers only to income. For purposes of clarity, use the traditional method of inserting a comma prior to "and" and "or" in a list of items.

Third-party Images Needed
Our primary use of images for flashcards will come from third-parties. If you know where to secure images for educational use, or where to get permission from book publishers to use their images, contact us. We already have a variety of online sources, so check this page before you contact us if you are informing us about online sources.

Sketched Diagrams Still Needed
We still need sketched diagrams. We recommend SmartDraw 2007 Healthcare edition available from us upon request. We have a large multi-user license. Read about it at http://www.smartdraw.com. Download a free copy that you can use for 30 days. The program comes with thousands of medical, scientific and mathematical templates and sample diagrams that we have the license to use.  Give us a week's notice if you will need it. Visit our resources section for downloadable images and additional software.