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Free Flashcard Learning

September 26, 2007

Ack! I found this great learning application 😀 It’s called jMemorise. And best of all, it’s open-source software!

jMemorise is a Java application that manages your flashcards by the famous Leitner system and makes memorizing facts not only more efficient but also more fun. It manages your whole learning progress and features categories, statistics and a visually appealing and intuitive interface.

A flashcard or flash card is a piece of paper that is used in schools as a learning aid (mainly in English-speaking countries). Flashcards can bear vocabulary, historical dates, formulas, etc. The purpose of using flashcards is memorization. You write a question on each card (and an answer overleaf), test yourself on them, and sort them into groups as you learn, according to your performance.

This strategy makes selective learning possible, that is: the more difficult the flashcards in a group, the more often you review that group. The result is, you save a lot of study time.

This method was proposed by the German psychologist Sebastian Leitner in the 1970s. Pimsleur language courses are based on a similar idea.

The basic idea is to divide the cards into different decks depending on the difficulty they present to you. This is done by repetitive quizzes in which you try to answer the question out of your mind. Every time you know the correct answer to a card, it is put on the next higher card deck. If you fail at a card, it is put back to the starting deck.
[The visual representation of decks in jMemorize]

This system is combined with time schedules. Cards that have been known, are considered to be learned until a specific expiration date has passed. The higher the deck, the more further away the expiration date is set. For example might a card that has been successfully checked for the first time be scheduled to be relearned one day later again, while a card that has been correctly answered three times in a row be considered as learned for about week. As long as a card is considered learned, it won’t appear in learn sessions.

As a whole, this system manages your personal learn sessions and allows you to focus on learning, while it automatically decides which facts should be learned right now to make the most out of your time.

Interested? Check out jMemorise now – it’s free!

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