<story><title>A Year of Spaced Repetition Software in the Classroom</title><url>http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/mfm/a_year_of_spaced_repetition_software_in_the/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>1123581321</author><text>I used to be very excited about spaced repetition, but haven&amp;#x27;t taken it as seriously in several years. Yes, it is superior to more ordinary methods of quizzing vocabulary, and I would still use it if I had to pass a vocabulary&amp;#x2F;fact test on a subject I didn&amp;#x27;t care about.&lt;p&gt;As a method of developing real competency in a subject or practice, though, it offers none of the benefits of immersion as it keeps the student just on the edge of full engagement (and if we add immersion, we lose the time-savings that spaced repetition offers.) It introduces a fragility into the student&amp;#x27;s schedule that make lapses in &amp;#x27;discipline&amp;#x27; more likely (not everyone has a teacher and regular subject periods to keep them on task.) For anything beyond basic key-value learning, it requires too many contortions and restatements of the subject -- to fit the format -- to be feasible for many students&amp;#x2F;subjects. The packaged decks available online help but usually don&amp;#x27;t meet the needs of the specific course or subject concentration the student requires. We can introduce variability to space how to solve a problem instead of a &amp;#x27;what&amp;#x27; answer, but then we need to consider muscle memory, developing intuition and other things that the spaced repetition model does not address.</text></comment>
<story><title>A Year of Spaced Repetition Software in the Classroom</title><url>http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/mfm/a_year_of_spaced_repetition_software_in_the/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>cJ0th</author><text>I overestimated the effect of spaced repetition. For six months, I used Anki every day to recap Chinese characters. At the end of the term I was perfectly prepared for the test. Afterwards, I didn&amp;#x27;t study my flash cards again. Only a few weeks later I found out that I&amp;#x27;ve forgotten most characters or at least some of their details. I expected that after six months of daily practice (about 20 minutes per day) I would have stored at least some characters in my long term memory.</text></comment>