Monday, July 14, 2008

Flashcard update

I did some snooping online and learned about the Leitner System for learning things for the short as well as the long term. Basically what it does is it remembers the cards you get wrong and you see them more often until you start to get them right. Then the ones you get right come back again in a week or two or three to see if you still know them (refresh and strengthen your memory). I found several freeware or open source programs that were based on the Leitner method and after trying out 3 or 4 have decided that my favorite is jMemorize.

Pros:

Free
Runs on Linux, Mac and Windows
Can arrange flashcards in categories
Text formatting on cards (very simple tho, no highlighting)
Attach images to cards
Has nice charts to keep track of progress

Cons
:

Doesn't allow sound attachments
Doesn't allow highlighting of text

All in all, not too many drawbacks. There's another one called Memory Lifter which I think I will use to practice typing commonly misspelled words. Memory Lifter has a function for adding sound where you can either add a sound file or you can record a sound, so I can just speak them into the microphone and off I go. The con for me with Memory Lifter is that it makes you type out every answer, doesn't just take your word for it, but that will actually be a pro in regard to my misspelled words list.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would encourage you to have a look at http://spicyelephant.com, it is web based flash card system that looks promising.

I like the fact that you can create and share content with other users on the site.

Trudi said...

That looks good too, however I'm sold on the Leitner method and for some reason I don't do as well with online programs where I have to log in to use the service. Not sure what my hangup is, but I just tend to do better with programs actually residing on my computer. But I sure the link will be helpful to others. FWI, jMemorize also has a section for users to share lessons they've created here (http://wiki.jmemorize.org/Lessons).

Anonymous said...

I'm also searching for a flashcard program and came across your site. I've tried your recommendations. My favorite one is MemoryLifter. You can also share your flashcards online, as far as they say on their page.

http://www.memorylifter.com/share-your-knowledge.html