Flashcard Aficionado (The FlashcardDB Blog)
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Welcome to the New Server
October 01, 2009 by jeff
Hi folks!
As of this morning we are on a new server with twice the memory and more oomph in general. Enjoy!
New Feature: Pausing Card Sets
September 19, 2009 by jeff
Almost from day one power users have been looking for ways to manage large collections of flashcards more easily. Today we are happy to take a small step in that direction by allowing card sets to be paused. You will still see paused card sets listed under your "My Flashcards" page. However, they won't be included in the cards scheduled to be repeated by your Spaced Repetition System.
Pausing card sets let's you focus on the flashcards you are actively studying while not having to delete sets your prefer to keep for later use, to share with others or for posterity (and fame).
Note that pausing a card set does not "freeze" the spaced repetition algorithm. When you enable a paused card set it will be as if it had never been paused. All of the cards that would have expired in the interim will be expired when the card set is re-enabled.
Study Hacks - Demystifying Student Success
August 21, 2009 by jeff
Here is a classy blog for serious students: Study Hacks
Tips for SRS Success
July 29, 2009 by jeff
A concise well-written roundup of best practices for studying with a Spaced Repetiton System (SRS): Tips for SRS Success on GlobalMaverick.org.
Resizing The Study Area
July 21, 2009 by jeff
Usually, it is considered good practice to keep the content of flashcards as short as possible. However some subjects, such as Law, Medicine and a few others, need a bit more elbow room. With this in mind the main study area can now be resized.
To adjust the size just grab the "handle" in the bottom right corner and drag!
One Million Flashcards
June 10, 2009 by jeff
The flashcard with id # 1,000,000 was entered today! nkhalil15 entered the millionth flashcard in card set # 25868 Vocab list 6 :)
Introducing.. Embeddable Flashcards
June 06, 2009 by jeff
There are a lot of amazing flashcard sets on FlashcardDB now. As a result, many people have expressed interest in adding them to their own web pages. As of today this is possible!
To embed flashcards on your website just copy the embed code from the study page of any public card set and paste it into your web page or IFrame-compatible blog. Here is an example:
Embed Flashcards from jeff on FlashcardDB.
I hope this will be be a big help to those that need it. If you have a suggestion on how to improve this feature please let me know via the "Feedback" link.
Changes to the Study Interface
June 01, 2009 by jeff
You'll notice that the study interface looks a little different today. It has been redesigned to help enable several new features. Hopefully it looks a bit better now, too. By moving to a vertical study format larger flashcards work a little more elegantly, embedding and multi-sided flashcards will be possible and room on screen is freed up for new goodies.
Recent Thoughts on Spaced Repetition
March 03, 2009 by jeff
A few recent posts on Spaced Repetition from around the web:
The language-learning blog Tower of Confusion lists their Spaced Repetition Best Practices.
A guest post by Ramses on Free-Technology-for-Teachers discusses the use of spaced repetition in the classroom as an effective tool to memorize and retain vocabulary.
Kevin at Mastering Mandarin is promising a multi-part series on Spaced Repetition Systems. Part One is up with Kevin answering the questions: What is an SRS? and What does it mean when people say they are going to do their SRS repetitions? Update Mar 13, 2009: Part Two Part Three
Happy studies everyone!
FlashcardDB in French, German and Polish
February 21, 2009 by jeff
Hi everyone! (et salut! hallo! cześć!)
I just finished development of support for translations of the FlashcardDB interface. Just click on "Language" at the top to switch between English, French, German and Polish! Not everything is translated yet but as much as possible will be soon. If you can help with an untranslated part of the interface or if you have a correction please use the "Feedback" link at the top of the page.
Update to the Leitner System Algorithm
November 13, 2008 by jeff
There are now many users with hundreds or thousands of flashcards who prefer to use the Leitner System as their SRS. With so many cards, perpetually scheduling the ones in the fifth deck to repeat after one month can make the daily repetitons needed for maintenance become too onerous. For flashcards learned very well the repetition is much too soon.
With this in mind the algorithm has been changed as follows:
- A card from deck 4 that is answered correctly will move to deck 5 and be scheduled to be repeated in 1 month.
- A card from deck 5 that was already in deck 5 and is answered correctly will stay in the same deck but will be scheduled to be repeated in 2 or more months. Each time the flashcard is answered correctly another month will be added to the repetition interval.
Recovering from a period of demotivation
October 30, 2008 by jeff
Here's another good post, this one from Peter at Babelhut, about getting back on track after neglecting your SRS (Spaced Repetition System).
The secret? Make sure you keep things *fun*.
New! Private Messaging
September 29, 2008 by jeff
I am happy to announce the arrival of the new internal messaging system. Since launching, the most requested feature has been the ability to send private messages to other members of FlashcardDB. Now it is possible.
Once logged on, you can access your Inbox by clicking on the message icon ( 
) at the top of the screen. To send a new message just click Compose New Message.
Dealing With a Neglected SRS Deck
September 15, 2008 by jeff
A great post from Glowing Face Man discusses what to do when you have been neglecting your Spaced Repetition deck for too long and getting back on track seems like climbing a mountain.
At times, I have considered a few features to help with this common situation. One would be optional e-mail (or twitter etc.) reminders when a certain threshold of scheduled repetitions has been reached. Another would be a sort of Recovery Mode (similar to the suggestion in the linked article) through which a daily maximum of cards to study could be set. That way just logging on and seeing the number of scheduled repetitions doesn't lead to a sinking feeling and maybe even further procrastination.
Language Learning and Spaced Repetition: Women Learning Thai
August 21, 2008 by jeff
Learning a new language means that there are a lot of things to memorize: vocabulary, grammar rules, maybe even a new alphabet. A good Spaced Repetition System, such as the Leitner System or Graded Spaced Repetition, can be a big help.
Catherine from Women Learning Thai reflects on language learning methods with a good discussion on spaced repetition in a fantastic new article: “Searching for a Thai Language Learning Style.” For anyone learning a language her well-written blog can be an inspiration. There are many links to other great language learning resources too.
Feeds, dynamic font sizes and a new SRS
July 28, 2008 by jeff
A few recent changes:
- All tags now have an RSS feed associated with them. Your favourite feed reader can tell you when a new card set has been added to any subject.
- When displaying a flashcard font sizes now change dynamically depending on the amount of text. This makes it easier to read longer flashcards.
- The biggest recent change has been adding a second Spaced Repetition System (SRS) in addition to the Leitner System. The new algorithm is called Graded Spaced Repetition. There is now a new option under settings that allows you to change your spaced repetition algorithm. (More to come on this).
- Yes, an internal messaging system is coming!
One Hundred Thousand Flashcards
May 19, 2008 by jeff
Over the weekend we surpassed 100,000 flashcards. Quality over quantity of course but still... Good work everyone! At the current pace, it will not be long until 200,000.
Update Aug 12, 2008: Flash-card #200,000 was created today! :)
New Feature: Export
May 04, 2008 by jeff
This past weekend I added a new feature a lot of people have been asking for: Export. Now you can export your flashcards using the format that suits your needs.
The default settings are for questions and answers to be separated by commas and for each flashcard to begin on a new line. However, if your data already contains commas or line breaks alternative formats are available that may work better. If you are pasting directly into Excel separate questions and answers with tabs.
I hope you find this new feature to be useful!
New Look, Improved Bulk Importing!
March 18, 2008 by jeff
A few more changes! I hope you like the new look. If you have an opinion either way let me know in the feedback. Nothing beats a good comment! The biggest feature change is to the bulk import function. There should no longer be any problems importing Unicode characters.
I have made several promises to add RSS to this blog. That will come next. I am also working on several printing and export options, easier flashcard formatting and new study modes. Better documentation is another frequent request. To get started, I did - finally - add some basic instructions on how to use the keyboard shortcuts while studying. I had felt very strongly that the arrow keys should control a study session. To me, it seems the most intuitive way to navigate through a deck of cards. I hope you find them helpful. Happy studies!
Performance Boost (faster flashcards)
January 17, 2008 by jeff
Hi everyone! If you have more than a few dozen flashcards saved in your profile you should notice an immediate and substantial speed boost. I made several changes to the database configuration and combined a few redundant data requests. The My Flashcards profile pages and graphs of study results are now compiled much more quickly. Most other pages are a bit snappier now as well.
There are more changes to come. I have had the great pleasure of exchanging e-mails with quite a few thoughtful users. There are some great ideas coming in on what can be added or improved. As always, your feedback is gratefully accepted.
Tags on FlashcardDB
December 12, 2007 by jeff
Tags on FlashcardDB are not just an afterthought! Once you start to assign tags to your flashcards, new features become available right away.
FlashcardDB automatically combines your card sets into groups based on the tags you give them. When you "study a tag" FlashcardDB includes all card sets in that group in your study session.
As well, you can drill-down from the high-level view of all of your flashcards to obtain separate graphs and stats for the study results for each of your tags. (Of course tags provide you with a way to organize your card sets too.. but it doesn't end there!)
An example: The sample My Flashcards homepage shows nine (imaginary) card sets assigned to four tags. Notice that on the fictional user sebastian's page for the tag chemistry, there is now only three card sets (the ones sharing that tag) and an option to "study chemistry". If sebastian and those card sets actually existed, he could click "study chemistry" and study all three card sets at the same time.
Leitner is here!
November 24, 2007 by jeff
A big thank you to everyone who has been testing the card set creation and study functionality. The biggest update yet has just been uploaded! All of the basic functions are now live including the Leitner System. All feedback, the good and the bad, is appreciated!
Elegant Flashcards
November 01, 2007 by jeff
Welcome to Flashcard Aficionado - the FlashcardDB blog. This will be the place to get the latest news on FlashcardDB's development and also about how you can get the most out of studying with flashcards online or off. The goal is to add a great new flashcard resource that is Your Home for Flash Cards on the Web.
[ :^) ] => [ ^_^ ]
