Comments on: Memorize Anything

By: archangel

archangel — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:05:16 +0000

It should be noted that Pimsleur uses “graduated learning”, which is like spaced repetition, but nowhere near as accurate as the computer-controlled algorithm. The HUGE difference is that the software tailors the repetition precisely to YOUR memory. Pimsleur is using some average, or perhaps just a guess.

I’m glad you mentioned Rosetta Stone. The author contacted them for comments, since they DON’T use spaced repetition. To quote (emphasis mine):

The most popular learning systems sold today — for instance, foreign language software like Rosetta Stone — cheerfully defy every one of the psychologists’ warnings. With its constant feedback and easily accessible clues, Rosetta Stone brilliantly creates a sensation of progress. “Go to Amazon and look at the reviews,” says Greg Keim, Rosetta Stone’s CTO, when I ask him what evidence he has that people are really remembering what they learn. “That is as objective as you can get in terms of a user’s sense of achievement.” The sole problem here, from the psychologists’ perspective, is that the user’s sense of achievement is exactly what we should most distrust.

So Rosetta Stone gives you a great sense of achievement while you’re using it, but does not guarantee retention.

By: bladerunner

bladerunner — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:28:43 +0000

Just as advertised, Pimsleur CDs available at my local library. While is the secret still not out ?? Because there are concerns that profit from our ignorance. The highly-priced (and effective) Rosetta Stone courses come to mind.

The faithful CrackTeam blog reader has just save him/herself hundreds of dollars, just by continuing the ever-running CT educational degree program. Does anyone have a printer that prints gold leaf for certificates??

By: archangel

archangel — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:29:36 +0000

Thanks for your feedback, I’ve added an addendum to address these issues.

By: bladerunner

bladerunner — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:40:47 +0000

I will definitely research the freeware/shareware versions of this software. OpenCards sounds like the ticket for the Japanese flashcards that I’ve been working on. I’ll skip the romanized and go straight to hiragana characters. And you can store a voice track, woo hoo !! But you need to have your computer ON all of the time. On the day after Earth Day, I think we may have taken a step backwards. If only Zbalance could provide a paper flashcard that could also provide a sound clip ((it was called a sound card: it looked like the old-fashioned computer punch card with a magnetic strip running along the top. You slid it into the player and it gave you 3 seconds of sound. It could be used over and over again)) …..

By: Zbalance

Zbalance — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:31:54 +0000

I was thinking the same thing; sounds neat, but unless you are in school it’s hard to think of an adult use.
It’s really just a high tech method of… wait for it… STUDYING.
(Just got a chill up my spine.)
I can see it now. “You know when I was growing up, we didn’t have these fancy ways to to help up remember things. Computers were for Turtle Graphics and nothing more. We just read facts over a million times, and we still failed, but at least it was honest work. grumble grumble.”