OpenCards is a

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

spaced repetition Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that is usually performed with flashcards. Newly introduced and more difficult flashcards are shown more frequently, while older and less difficult flashcards are shown less frequently in ...

flashcard A flashcard or flash card (also known as an index card) is a card bearing information on both sides, which is intended to be used as an aid in memorization. Each flashcard bears a question on one side and an answer on the other. Flashcards are ...

program. The software is similar to

SuperMemo SuperMemo (from "Super Memory") is a learning method and software package developed by SuperMemo World and SuperMemo R&D with Piotr Woźniak (researcher), Piotr Woźniak in Poland from 1985 to the present. It is based on research into long-ter ...

, Anki or

Mnemosyne In Greek mythology and ancient Greek religion, Mnemosyne (; grc, Μνημοσύνη, ) is the goddess of memory and the mother of the nine Muses by her nephew Zeus. In the Greek tradition, Mnemosyne is one of the Titans, the twelve divine chil ...

. The flashcards are saved as

PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired PowerPoi ...

presentation files and may include text, images, sounds and

LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

equations. The learning states are saved in hidden meta-data files in the same directory as the flashcards files. OpenCards implements learning schemes for short-term and long-term memorization.

Flashcard Format

OpenCards uses PowerPoint ppt-files as flashcard sets. Thereby, slide-titles are considered as questions and the slide contents as their answers. OpenCards also supports a reversed mode in which slide contents are treated as questions and the slide title as their answers, which allows creating image, formula or sound questions. By allowing users to create flashcard files in ppt-format with

LibreOffice LibreOffice () is a free and open-source productivity software, office productivity software suite, a project of The Document Foundation (TDF). It was fork (software development), forked in 2010 from OpenOffice.org, an open-sourced version of t ...

, it overcomes the major limitation of other flashcard software, which usually rely on custom formats and flashcard editors. Internally, OpenCards relies on

Apache POI The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño and ...

to render slides from ppt-files.

Learning Modes

OpenCards implements two different learning models. A box-based short-term learning procedure, called last-minute learning, and a more sophisticated long-term memorization model based on the principles of

active recall The testing effect (also known as retrieval practice, active recall, practice testing, or test-enhanced learning) suggests long-term memory is increased when some of the learning period is devoted to retrieving information from memory. It is differe ...

and the forgetting model. The latter is implemented as an improved version of the SuperMemo2 algorithm. The SM2 algorithm had been created for SuperMemo in the late 1980s, but still forms the basis of many spaced repetition software applications. OpenCards's implementation of the

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specificat ...

has been modified to allow priorities on cards, and to show cards in order of their urgency.

History

OpenCards started as flashcard learning extension for OpenOffice Impress in spring 2008, from which it inherited the first part of its name. In 2008 it won a Bronze award in the OpenOffice.org Community Innovation Program.Community Innovation Program
/ref> In 2011, OpenCards was redesigned to work as stand alone software and to support PowerPoint PPT files as the main flashcard set file format.

Syncing

OpenCards implements no synchronization mechanism, but flashcard sets including their learning states can be synced using services like

DropBox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropb ...

. This allows the user to keep their flashcard sets synchronized across multiple computers.

References

External links

OpenCards
website
OpenCards developer resources

Reviews

* * * * {{Spaced repetition Spaced repetition software Free software programmed in Java (programming language) Free educational software