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A friend and I decided to build an Anki replacement a few years ago, it's now located at https://www.memorangapp.com https://www.memorangapp.com and has a loyal

by gjcourt 11y ago

A friend and I decided to build an Anki replacement a few years ago, it's now located at https://www.memorangapp.com https://www.memorangapp.com and has a loyal following of 10s of thousands of users. Anki is a great tool and has a wide variety of content on Ankiweb, however the ecosystem doesn't allow for any collaboration or the ability to keep content up to date (aside from manually editing decks, but where for example can you suggest a correction?). Memorang was designed from the ground up to be the next generation adaptive learning platform. In fact many hard-core Anki users have switched over to our platform and love it! The main difference is in the ease of use of both creating and consuming content. Anki has the underpinnings of supermemo, which is designed for the ideal learner. In a couple of experiments that we've done partnered with large institutions, one still underway, we have shown that most students are not "ideal learners" in that most still cram right before big exams or deadlines. The original study focused on efficacy, you can find the slides we did for an NSF sponsored presentation here http://www.slideshare.net/gjcourt/memorang-nsf-mooc-2014 http://www.slideshare.net/gjcourt/memorang-nsf-mooc-2014. The latest study is still in the works, but will involve significantly more data. Anki is a fantastic program and many people love and use it everyday. If you have loved and used Anki as much as we have, then give Memorang a try and see what you think! (or come help us improve the future of learning https://www.memorangapp.com/jobs https://www.memorangapp.com/jobs) Edit: Read about our data-model here http://blog.memorangapp.com/post/108094496626/tags-more-how-to-make-awesome-flashcards-on http://blog.memorangapp.com/post/108094496626/tags-more-how-...

ansgri 11y ago
Do you have some API or in-app functionality to import/export data e.g. to upload, backup or analyze card decks I create? You do really address the issues that prevent me from using Anki, and I'd be happy to pay for it once you do have that API.
- gjcourt 11y ago
  We do have a fully-featured API, in fact our mobile apps are built on top of the same API as the website. At the present it's not documented, this will be happening as fast as we can work on it. We're a small 3 person company so things like documentation take a back seat sometimes. If you're handy with a browser console you should be able to poke around, pm me if you want an API key :-) The site itself is free, and you can print material that you create. We only charge for premium content which is material that we've specifically created for exams and is guaranteed to be high quality and accurate. We allow for imports from top flashcard programs including Anki, however Anki files tend to be large so for the time being there is a 10MB (I think) cap on the size of an Anki deck you can upload. I can do it manually for larger decks if you pm me. Export is something we don't support at the present, but will probably get built at some point in the future.
  - ansgri 11y ago
    Thanks for the reply. Added "try memorang" to my to-do. I imagine three use cases for myself in the nearest future: * Learn some new foreign language, * Upload and study a bunch of book quotes that I'd like to always keep in memory, and * Create a card deck for the course I'm teaching. Hope to get to it soon.
    - gjcourt 11y ago
      Awesome! I personally use our platform for things like expanding my multiplication table chops (out to 20) or learning about cooking temperatures http://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/16309/Roast+-+Steak+Cooking+Temperatures/temp%2C+cooking+temp/#review http://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/16309/Roast+-+Steak+Co... Happy to help you design something for your coursework, we are actively looking to build an educator service allowing you to share course materials with students. Stay tuned for updates on this in the near future.
ERGuy 11y ago
Totally agree, spaced repetion has its role but has huge limitations. The limit of most programs is that it has you learn in a unidirectional manner, so very few memory pathways are formed and they are easily lost/degraded with time. As an post states, the flashcards didn't stay, but the characters you learned while in Japan stuck. I submit that part of that is that this material was presented to you in several ways (signs, books, TV, etc), rather than just flipping a card over and over. I've started using Memorang instead of anki, as it allows me to retain information in the long term, as it has multiple ways to approach/learn the same info. Add the fact that it's free to generate your own content which is perfect for me (speaking as a medical stuff with thousands of facts to not only memorize but apply)
- gjcourt 11y ago
  Awesome! Love to hear positive feedback :-)
- tangled_zans 11y ago
  "The limit of most programs is that it has you learn in a unidirectional manner" What does that even MEAN!? "I've started using Memorang instead of anki, as it allows me to retain information in the long term as it has multiple ways to approach/learn the same info." Anki allows you to memorise things in the long term too. "Add the fact that it's free to generate your own content which is perfect for me" ... what? Any SRS method allows you to generate your own content. No offence, but seeing as you registered just to say all of that, you sound like a shill.
such_a_casual 11y ago
But I have to share all of my flashcards with you? Not gonna happen.
- gjcourt 11y ago
  We allow for private content, but that's a premium feature since it's against the ethos of our platform.
  - such_a_casual 11y ago
    Privacy is against the ethos of your platform? I think that's about all that needs to be said.
    - JshWright 11y ago
      What is your opinion on FOSS?
      - such_a_casual 11y ago
        My concern is systems (software or otherwise) that do not treat the user as an equal or a superior. Systems that do not follow the goldern rule: "treat others how you want to be treated." Being able to read the source code is great, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether the system is going to resepect and serve its users.
        afarrell 11y ago
        > Systems that do not follow the goldern rule: "treat others how you want to be treated" This is a good first-approximation to an ethical system, but ultimately fails in many areas of the real world. I would prefer that the systems that provide me with food do so without demanding that I pay them money, but that is in direct conflict with the need to pay people to do the work to create and maintain that system. I would prefer that there exists a system where I can store flashcards for studying various things and that that system not charge me money. That is in conflict with the need to pay people to create and maintain that system. One way to resolve that conflict is to only require payment for some features of the system.
yermierc 11y ago
"A friend" reporting in... While many people may love Anki, you can count me out. I used it extensively during my first 2 years of medical school along with trying physical cards, Quizlet, and even my own custom batch files and macros. I think that it works for a very particular use case, and you need to fully commit to it to get the intended benefits. My personal belief is that an "adaptive" learning system doesn't just adapt to the spacing effect, but to your study habits, emotional state, learning style, and even the global activity linked to certain concepts. (e.g. If you have a centralized API, you can track which facts learners struggle with and use the algorithms weight those facts for first-time learners). Learning isn't just meant to be something you do in isolation - there is a community aspect and there are endless things you can with a big data approach. Our goal is to take spaced repetition and this new concept of meta-adaptivity and apply it to the masses, not just the hardcore users. Yeah, it sounds like a fancy vision but we're further along than you'd think. Would love to start a discussion on this and possibly get more manpower on making this a reality. (I dropped my career as a surgeon to make this happen, so we're all-in at this point). A few references: 1. Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Shanafelt TD. Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychological distress among U.S. and Canadian medical students. Acad Med. 2006 Apr;81(4):354-73. Review. PubMed PMID: 16565188. 2. Beard C, Clegg S, Smith K. Acknowledging the affective in higher education. BRIT EDUC RES J. 2007; 33(2): 235–252 3. Burleson W, Picard R. Affective Agents: Sustaining Motivation to Learn Through Failure and a State of “Stuck”. Social and Emotional Intelligence in Learning Environments Workshop in conjunction with the 7th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Maceio-Alagoas, Brasil. August 31, 2004. http://affect.media.mit.edu/pdfs/04.burleson-picard.pdf http://affect.media.mit.edu/pdfs/04.burleson-picard.pdf 4. Durlak JA, Weissberg RP, Dymnicki AB, Taylor RD, Schellinger KB. The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: a meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Dev. 2011 Jan-Feb;82(1):405-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x. PubMed PMID: 21291449.
- gingerlime 11y ago
  This looks really interesting. How can I get in touch with you? (you can find contact details on my profile). We're developing a learning platform for Anatomy, called Kenhub[0] and we've built our own quizzes with some aspects of spaced repetition already. We're looking at ways of taking it to the next level in terms of adaptability. We're also considering ways of re-purposing our original content to reach wider audience (we have thousands of our own anatomy illustrations and meta-data). Perhaps there's a way to collaborate with you? [0] https://www.kenhub.com https://www.kenhub.com
cle 11y ago
Is it open source? Can I store and access the data locally? I have a very large Anki deck that I've spent years building and curating, I'm not interested in surrendering all that labor to a closed ecosystem that may or may not be around in the future....
- gjcourt 11y ago
  We're not an open source tool so unfortunately no. I should say that we reached profitability only a few months after launch and our team has experience in 4 other startups before this one (if that helps in gaining your vote of confidence). I would love to have you be a member, email me and we can work something out.
  - omgdlight 11y ago
    Do you offer data export? I have similar concerns as cle, and am currently satisfied with anki, but am always interested in doing better. On a different note, from reading through these comments it sounds kind of like you guys are specifically focused on full time students and the unique problems they face trying implement anki. Does your service offer benefits to people who aren't and don't have the resulting new card review burden or need for cramming?
    - yermierc 11y ago
      >Do you offer data export? We have this at the admin level and plan on making this a user-accessible feature as soon as we can. >Does your service offer benefits to people who aren't and don't have the resulting new card review burden or need for cramming? It depends on your goal. In its current iteration, Memorang functions very well for mastering new concepts on a shorter-term scale (e.g. hours, days, or a semester). However, long-term retention on the order of years is something that we are working on a different implementation of. That will be a huge focus in the next semester after we finish shipping this 2.0 launch in January.
      - omgdlight 11y ago
tunesmith 11y ago
One of the things I realized after using Anki for a while is that school education isn't really even designed for retention - it seems built for cramming and forgetting. I'm just concluding that off of basic scale. After using Anki for a couple of coursera courses and being overwhelmed with cards for months until it calmed down, I realized there was no way I would have been able to keep up with retaining all learned knowledge in college, several classes per semester. The Anki review burden just would have been too great.
- yermierc 11y ago
  What you're describing is exactly in line with what I've experienced anecdotally and what we've seen in our studies and retrospective analysis of tens of millions of questions answered. I think the problem with Anki can be distilled down to root assumptions it makes about how people should ideally learn and how to model what is forgotten over time. In studying for a course there are basically three strategies: (1) cram at the end (2) study reasonably throughout the whole course (3) try to keep re-learning the course indefinitely. We've thought long and hard about how we can cater to these different styles and think we've done a good job with a hybrid of #1 and 2. What would make more sense is something coming early next year as an option feature, which is inputting the date of the final exam of your course and then periodically adding in flashcards to a growing playlist that optimizes retention for the day of your exam. After you finish, you don't necessarily have to continue, but you could set a longer-retention date. An example of this would be that you have weekly quizzes and a final exam, and the algorithm could adjust the date for each quiz while balancing the overall arc towards the final.
  - tunesmith 11y ago
    That's interesting... my original comment wasn't actually meant as a criticism against Anki itself, more a criticism against college schedules. And that's because I was taking as gospel that the Anki/SuperMemo style of algorithm is basically what you need for long-term retention. It sounds like you're not so much challenging that as you are offering more flexibility and control over what and when you'd like to retain? (I wonder what college degree programs would look like if they actually were structured in a way to better reinforce long-term retention.)
shobhitverma 11y ago
What do you guys think of Knewton (The gorilla in adaptive learning)? They claim to be super adaptive but it is hard to tell. I used their product and was not super impressed with the adaptivity.
- yermierc 11y ago
  Don't have strong opinions one way or the other on Knewton. That being said, I generally feel that enterprise software where you sell to institutions and publishers is fundamentally disconnected from software that's targeted at the users directly. I would greatly prefer to hear students raving about a learning product rather than their instructors. In your case you seem to be a bit underwhelmed by what they offer.
  - shobhitverma 11y ago
    Very good work. I am extremely happy for you! I have no clue why some people expect this all to be either open source or free. I have personally invested a lot of money on building an adaptive learning tool (and two years of salary losses). We are not yet live, but when we are, I hope to have some revenue model as well.
    - yermierc 11y ago
      Thank you, it really means a lot since we've been working on this for over 3 years now (finally hiring employees this past month!). I wish the best of success to you too. In reference to people wanting freebies - that's just human behavior. If they see sufficient value in a product (e.g. iPhones), then they will happily pay for it.
polartx 11y ago
When you guys have some api documentation I'd love to hear about it. I find myself relying more and more on 'life automation', dashboards and reminders that help to measure, as well as encourage productivity from work, to exercise, to independent study. The ability to tie in personal metrics as well as random samples of card sets would make the difference between binge using an app like memorang or light continuous use; integrated in day to day life.
- gjcourt 11y ago
  Sounds good. We'll probably make a post in our blog (http://blog.memorangapp.com http://blog.memorangapp.com) so stay tuned. To that note, each individual study set has some decent metrics on where you stand in relation to everyone studying the same thing as well as general performance/improvement, it's not perfect but it's a start. Check it out for one of our most popular sets https://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/117/Exotic+Cats+%28example%29/Recognizing+animals/#review https://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/117/Exotic+Cats+%28ex... click on the "Study stats" tab and you'll see. This is all data we want to make available over the API.
- tangled_zans 11y ago
  That sounds interesting, what sort of dashboards do you use? I've been toying with the idea of building something like that.
bravura 11y ago
How can I browse the different sorts of things I can learn? The different flash card packs available. I don't see it on your site or on Anki's.
- yermierc 11y ago
  You have a few quick options for content: 1. When you sign up, the dashboard guides you through picking subjects. 2. You can search for what others have made: https://www.memorangapp.com/find https://www.memorangapp.com/find 3. You can create your own decks, or import from Quizlet, Excel, Anki, Cram, and StudyBlue with one click: https://www.memorangapp.com/create https://www.memorangapp.com/create 4. You can purchase expert-authored content on our premium marketplace: https://www.memorangapp.com/premium https://www.memorangapp.com/premium
- eginhard 11y ago
  Anki's shared decks can be browsed here: https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/ https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/
thelearningblvd 11y ago
I'm a learning specialist and doctoral student working with students with learning disabilities in grades K-12 and I highly recommend Memorang! I've used it for a vast range of content including teaching the ABCs, math facts, Wordly Wise vocabulary sets, study sets for 6th grade science tests, and studying for my own graduate courses and teaching exams. The program is flexible and easy to use whether you are in K-12 or in college or studying for post graduate qualifying exams. Personally, I like using it as a teacher because I can check in on my students' accounts to see if they have been studying and what they know/don't know.
xiaoma 11y ago
Sounds great, got a link to the repo?
- yermierc 11y ago
  It's a private codebase at this time. If you'd like to contribute, we're hiring full-time software engineers. (Python back-end). https://www.memorangapp.com/jobs https://www.memorangapp.com/jobs
breitling 11y ago
I just wanted to see a demo of the app...spent about 3 minutes browsing around. Couldn't find a way to just see a demo without signing up.
- yermierc 11y ago
  You don't need to be logged in to use the website. Here is an example of something simple: http://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/44604/Exotic+cats/Animals+to+know/#review http://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/44604/Exotic+cats/Anim... You can also click the search bar in the top left and go through the user-generated database. I believe there are about 5 million flashcards there currently.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
ashleyblackmore 11y ago
What anki offers that memorang doesn't is a number of things: * Thousands of free decks * An open ecosystem * Source code * Doesn't spam your email * Isn't just a straightforward monetisation of anki's general premise I could see some value being produced from this, but it just isn't there right now.
- yermierc 11y ago
  I'm not sure what you are angry about, but please let me try and clarify a few things: >A better app that doesn't crash as much Working on it. Worth noting that it's free to download. >Thousands of free decks Memorang has about 5 million free flashcards currently as part of the crowdsourced ecosystem. You can get content in 4 ways: creating, importing, searching, and purchasing. You can import from Quizlet, Excel, Anki, StudyBlue, and Cram, or collaborate in groups on common topics. >An open ecosystem While I think we could do a better job with content discovery, the collaboration tools on Memorang do not exist on Anki. If you wanted to work together on an Anki deck, it would have to be with some combination of dropbox or git. My opinion is that Anki is pretty antisocial. >Source code I think HN readers know more than anyone that there's nothing wrong with not open sourcing your company's code. Developers need to eat too. That being said, we are open to making our API publicly available to build learning applications on top of. >Doesn't spam your email I welcome your suggestions regarding email and onboarding. Currently we send a welcome email and account verification. Over the course of 1-2 weeks we give short snippets of how to use certain learning modes on the platform. You can unsubscribe from emails at any time via the unsubscribe link or via your account settings. >Isn't an obvious monetisation of anki's general premise It's worth pointing out that the creator of Anki has made tens of millions of dollars off of charging for downloads. I'm not sure what "premise" you are referring to - but ours is that the core learning application should be free and not a paid download. >How anyone thinks that paywalling a bunch of flashcards is a good idea (when anki offers them free) is beyond me Crowdsourced content is free on both Anki and Memorang, so I think you may have missed that the "paywalled" flashcards are actually an optional upgrade. As a bit of background, we've spent thousands of dollars on content creation and are committed to continuously upgrading and maintaining that content. For example, our USMLE Step 1 and MCAT content are one-time purchases for lifetime access and we maintain updates to stay current with the latest medical information at no extra charge. Users are happy to pay for that level of trust and security. I hope the above information helps you better understand what we are doing.

by gjcourt 11y ago

ansgri 11y ago

Do you have some API or in-app functionality to import/export data e.g. to upload, backup or analyze card decks I create? You do really address the issues that prevent me from using Anki, and I'd be happy to pay for it once you do have that API.

gjcourt 11y ago
We do have a fully-featured API, in fact our mobile apps are built on top of the same API as the website. At the present it's not documented, this will be happening as fast as we can work on it. We're a small 3 person company so things like documentation take a back seat sometimes. If you're handy with a browser console you should be able to poke around, pm me if you want an API key :-) The site itself is free, and you can print material that you create. We only charge for premium content which is material that we've specifically created for exams and is guaranteed to be high quality and accurate. We allow for imports from top flashcard programs including Anki, however Anki files tend to be large so for the time being there is a 10MB (I think) cap on the size of an Anki deck you can upload. I can do it manually for larger decks if you pm me. Export is something we don't support at the present, but will probably get built at some point in the future.
- ansgri 11y ago
  Thanks for the reply. Added "try memorang" to my to-do. I imagine three use cases for myself in the nearest future: * Learn some new foreign language, * Upload and study a bunch of book quotes that I'd like to always keep in memory, and * Create a card deck for the course I'm teaching. Hope to get to it soon.
  - gjcourt 11y ago
    Awesome! I personally use our platform for things like expanding my multiplication table chops (out to 20) or learning about cooking temperatures http://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/16309/Roast+-+Steak+Cooking+Temperatures/temp%2C+cooking+temp/#review http://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/16309/Roast+-+Steak+Co... Happy to help you design something for your coursework, we are actively looking to build an educator service allowing you to share course materials with students. Stay tuned for updates on this in the near future.

ERGuy 11y ago

Totally agree, spaced repetion has its role but has huge limitations. The limit of most programs is that it has you learn in a unidirectional manner, so very few memory pathways are formed and they are easily lost/degraded with time. As an post states, the flashcards didn't stay, but the characters you learned while in Japan stuck. I submit that part of that is that this material was presented to you in several ways (signs, books, TV, etc), rather than just flipping a card over and over. I've started using Memorang instead of anki, as it allows me to retain information in the long term, as it has multiple ways to approach/learn the same info. Add the fact that it's free to generate your own content which is perfect for me (speaking as a medical stuff with thousands of facts to not only memorize but apply)

gjcourt 11y ago
Awesome! Love to hear positive feedback :-)
tangled_zans 11y ago
"The limit of most programs is that it has you learn in a unidirectional manner" What does that even MEAN!? "I've started using Memorang instead of anki, as it allows me to retain information in the long term as it has multiple ways to approach/learn the same info." Anki allows you to memorise things in the long term too. "Add the fact that it's free to generate your own content which is perfect for me" ... what? Any SRS method allows you to generate your own content. No offence, but seeing as you registered just to say all of that, you sound like a shill.

such_a_casual 11y ago

But I have to share all of my flashcards with you? Not gonna happen.

gjcourt 11y ago
We allow for private content, but that's a premium feature since it's against the ethos of our platform.
- such_a_casual 11y ago
  Privacy is against the ethos of your platform? I think that's about all that needs to be said.
  - JshWright 11y ago
    What is your opinion on FOSS?
    - such_a_casual 11y ago
      My concern is systems (software or otherwise) that do not treat the user as an equal or a superior. Systems that do not follow the goldern rule: "treat others how you want to be treated." Being able to read the source code is great, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether the system is going to resepect and serve its users.
      - afarrell 11y ago
        > Systems that do not follow the goldern rule: "treat others how you want to be treated" This is a good first-approximation to an ethical system, but ultimately fails in many areas of the real world. I would prefer that the systems that provide me with food do so without demanding that I pay them money, but that is in direct conflict with the need to pay people to do the work to create and maintain that system. I would prefer that there exists a system where I can store flashcards for studying various things and that that system not charge me money. That is in conflict with the need to pay people to create and maintain that system. One way to resolve that conflict is to only require payment for some features of the system.

yermierc 11y ago

"A friend" reporting in... While many people may love Anki, you can count me out. I used it extensively during my first 2 years of medical school along with trying physical cards, Quizlet, and even my own custom batch files and macros. I think that it works for a very particular use case, and you need to fully commit to it to get the intended benefits. My personal belief is that an "adaptive" learning system doesn't just adapt to the spacing effect, but to your study habits, emotional state, learning style, and even the global activity linked to certain concepts. (e.g. If you have a centralized API, you can track which facts learners struggle with and use the algorithms weight those facts for first-time learners). Learning isn't just meant to be something you do in isolation - there is a community aspect and there are endless things you can with a big data approach. Our goal is to take spaced repetition and this new concept of meta-adaptivity and apply it to the masses, not just the hardcore users. Yeah, it sounds like a fancy vision but we're further along than you'd think. Would love to start a discussion on this and possibly get more manpower on making this a reality. (I dropped my career as a surgeon to make this happen, so we're all-in at this point). A few references: 1. Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Shanafelt TD. Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychological distress among U.S. and Canadian medical students. Acad Med. 2006 Apr;81(4):354-73. Review. PubMed PMID: 16565188. 2. Beard C, Clegg S, Smith K. Acknowledging the affective in higher education. BRIT EDUC RES J. 2007; 33(2): 235–252 3. Burleson W, Picard R. Affective Agents: Sustaining Motivation to Learn Through Failure and a State of “Stuck”. Social and Emotional Intelligence in Learning Environments Workshop in conjunction with the 7th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Maceio-Alagoas, Brasil. August 31, 2004. http://affect.media.mit.edu/pdfs/04.burleson-picard.pdf http://affect.media.mit.edu/pdfs/04.burleson-picard.pdf 4. Durlak JA, Weissberg RP, Dymnicki AB, Taylor RD, Schellinger KB. The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: a meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Dev. 2011 Jan-Feb;82(1):405-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x. PubMed PMID: 21291449.

gingerlime 11y ago
This looks really interesting. How can I get in touch with you? (you can find contact details on my profile). We're developing a learning platform for Anatomy, called Kenhub[0] and we've built our own quizzes with some aspects of spaced repetition already. We're looking at ways of taking it to the next level in terms of adaptability. We're also considering ways of re-purposing our original content to reach wider audience (we have thousands of our own anatomy illustrations and meta-data). Perhaps there's a way to collaborate with you? [0] https://www.kenhub.com https://www.kenhub.com

cle 11y ago

Is it open source? Can I store and access the data locally? I have a very large Anki deck that I've spent years building and curating, I'm not interested in surrendering all that labor to a closed ecosystem that may or may not be around in the future....

gjcourt 11y ago
We're not an open source tool so unfortunately no. I should say that we reached profitability only a few months after launch and our team has experience in 4 other startups before this one (if that helps in gaining your vote of confidence). I would love to have you be a member, email me and we can work something out.
- omgdlight 11y ago
  Do you offer data export? I have similar concerns as cle, and am currently satisfied with anki, but am always interested in doing better. On a different note, from reading through these comments it sounds kind of like you guys are specifically focused on full time students and the unique problems they face trying implement anki. Does your service offer benefits to people who aren't and don't have the resulting new card review burden or need for cramming?
  - yermierc 11y ago
    >Do you offer data export? We have this at the admin level and plan on making this a user-accessible feature as soon as we can. >Does your service offer benefits to people who aren't and don't have the resulting new card review burden or need for cramming? It depends on your goal. In its current iteration, Memorang functions very well for mastering new concepts on a shorter-term scale (e.g. hours, days, or a semester). However, long-term retention on the order of years is something that we are working on a different implementation of. That will be a huge focus in the next semester after we finish shipping this 2.0 launch in January.
    - omgdlight 11y ago

tunesmith 11y ago

One of the things I realized after using Anki for a while is that school education isn't really even designed for retention - it seems built for cramming and forgetting. I'm just concluding that off of basic scale. After using Anki for a couple of coursera courses and being overwhelmed with cards for months until it calmed down, I realized there was no way I would have been able to keep up with retaining all learned knowledge in college, several classes per semester. The Anki review burden just would have been too great.

yermierc 11y ago
What you're describing is exactly in line with what I've experienced anecdotally and what we've seen in our studies and retrospective analysis of tens of millions of questions answered. I think the problem with Anki can be distilled down to root assumptions it makes about how people should ideally learn and how to model what is forgotten over time. In studying for a course there are basically three strategies: (1) cram at the end (2) study reasonably throughout the whole course (3) try to keep re-learning the course indefinitely. We've thought long and hard about how we can cater to these different styles and think we've done a good job with a hybrid of #1 and 2. What would make more sense is something coming early next year as an option feature, which is inputting the date of the final exam of your course and then periodically adding in flashcards to a growing playlist that optimizes retention for the day of your exam. After you finish, you don't necessarily have to continue, but you could set a longer-retention date. An example of this would be that you have weekly quizzes and a final exam, and the algorithm could adjust the date for each quiz while balancing the overall arc towards the final.
- tunesmith 11y ago
  That's interesting... my original comment wasn't actually meant as a criticism against Anki itself, more a criticism against college schedules. And that's because I was taking as gospel that the Anki/SuperMemo style of algorithm is basically what you need for long-term retention. It sounds like you're not so much challenging that as you are offering more flexibility and control over what and when you'd like to retain? (I wonder what college degree programs would look like if they actually were structured in a way to better reinforce long-term retention.)

shobhitverma 11y ago

What do you guys think of Knewton (The gorilla in adaptive learning)? They claim to be super adaptive but it is hard to tell. I used their product and was not super impressed with the adaptivity.

yermierc 11y ago
Don't have strong opinions one way or the other on Knewton. That being said, I generally feel that enterprise software where you sell to institutions and publishers is fundamentally disconnected from software that's targeted at the users directly. I would greatly prefer to hear students raving about a learning product rather than their instructors. In your case you seem to be a bit underwhelmed by what they offer.
- shobhitverma 11y ago
  Very good work. I am extremely happy for you! I have no clue why some people expect this all to be either open source or free. I have personally invested a lot of money on building an adaptive learning tool (and two years of salary losses). We are not yet live, but when we are, I hope to have some revenue model as well.
  - yermierc 11y ago
    Thank you, it really means a lot since we've been working on this for over 3 years now (finally hiring employees this past month!). I wish the best of success to you too. In reference to people wanting freebies - that's just human behavior. If they see sufficient value in a product (e.g. iPhones), then they will happily pay for it.

polartx 11y ago

When you guys have some api documentation I'd love to hear about it. I find myself relying more and more on 'life automation', dashboards and reminders that help to measure, as well as encourage productivity from work, to exercise, to independent study. The ability to tie in personal metrics as well as random samples of card sets would make the difference between binge using an app like memorang or light continuous use; integrated in day to day life.

gjcourt 11y ago
Sounds good. We'll probably make a post in our blog (http://blog.memorangapp.com http://blog.memorangapp.com) so stay tuned. To that note, each individual study set has some decent metrics on where you stand in relation to everyone studying the same thing as well as general performance/improvement, it's not perfect but it's a start. Check it out for one of our most popular sets https://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/117/Exotic+Cats+%28example%29/Recognizing+animals/#review https://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/117/Exotic+Cats+%28ex... click on the "Study stats" tab and you'll see. This is all data we want to make available over the API.
tangled_zans 11y ago
That sounds interesting, what sort of dashboards do you use? I've been toying with the idea of building something like that.

bravura 11y ago

How can I browse the different sorts of things I can learn? The different flash card packs available. I don't see it on your site or on Anki's.

yermierc 11y ago
You have a few quick options for content: 1. When you sign up, the dashboard guides you through picking subjects. 2. You can search for what others have made: https://www.memorangapp.com/find https://www.memorangapp.com/find 3. You can create your own decks, or import from Quizlet, Excel, Anki, Cram, and StudyBlue with one click: https://www.memorangapp.com/create https://www.memorangapp.com/create 4. You can purchase expert-authored content on our premium marketplace: https://www.memorangapp.com/premium https://www.memorangapp.com/premium
eginhard 11y ago
Anki's shared decks can be browsed here: https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/ https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/

thelearningblvd 11y ago

I'm a learning specialist and doctoral student working with students with learning disabilities in grades K-12 and I highly recommend Memorang! I've used it for a vast range of content including teaching the ABCs, math facts, Wordly Wise vocabulary sets, study sets for 6th grade science tests, and studying for my own graduate courses and teaching exams. The program is flexible and easy to use whether you are in K-12 or in college or studying for post graduate qualifying exams. Personally, I like using it as a teacher because I can check in on my students' accounts to see if they have been studying and what they know/don't know.

xiaoma 11y ago

Sounds great, got a link to the repo?

yermierc 11y ago
It's a private codebase at this time. If you'd like to contribute, we're hiring full-time software engineers. (Python back-end). https://www.memorangapp.com/jobs https://www.memorangapp.com/jobs

breitling 11y ago

I just wanted to see a demo of the app...spent about 3 minutes browsing around. Couldn't find a way to just see a demo without signing up.

yermierc 11y ago
You don't need to be logged in to use the website. Here is an example of something simple: http://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/44604/Exotic+cats/Animals+to+know/#review http://www.memorangapp.com/flashcards/44604/Exotic+cats/Anim... You can also click the search bar in the top left and go through the user-generated database. I believe there are about 5 million flashcards there currently.

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ashleyblackmore 11y ago

What anki offers that memorang doesn't is a number of things: * Thousands of free decks * An open ecosystem * Source code * Doesn't spam your email * Isn't just a straightforward monetisation of anki's general premise I could see some value being produced from this, but it just isn't there right now.

yermierc 11y ago
I'm not sure what you are angry about, but please let me try and clarify a few things: >A better app that doesn't crash as much Working on it. Worth noting that it's free to download. >Thousands of free decks Memorang has about 5 million free flashcards currently as part of the crowdsourced ecosystem. You can get content in 4 ways: creating, importing, searching, and purchasing. You can import from Quizlet, Excel, Anki, StudyBlue, and Cram, or collaborate in groups on common topics. >An open ecosystem While I think we could do a better job with content discovery, the collaboration tools on Memorang do not exist on Anki. If you wanted to work together on an Anki deck, it would have to be with some combination of dropbox or git. My opinion is that Anki is pretty antisocial. >Source code I think HN readers know more than anyone that there's nothing wrong with not open sourcing your company's code. Developers need to eat too. That being said, we are open to making our API publicly available to build learning applications on top of. >Doesn't spam your email I welcome your suggestions regarding email and onboarding. Currently we send a welcome email and account verification. Over the course of 1-2 weeks we give short snippets of how to use certain learning modes on the platform. You can unsubscribe from emails at any time via the unsubscribe link or via your account settings. >Isn't an obvious monetisation of anki's general premise It's worth pointing out that the creator of Anki has made tens of millions of dollars off of charging for downloads. I'm not sure what "premise" you are referring to - but ours is that the core learning application should be free and not a paid download. >How anyone thinks that paywalling a bunch of flashcards is a good idea (when anki offers them free) is beyond me Crowdsourced content is free on both Anki and Memorang, so I think you may have missed that the "paywalled" flashcards are actually an optional upgrade. As a bit of background, we've spent thousands of dollars on content creation and are committed to continuously upgrading and maintaining that content. For example, our USMLE Step 1 and MCAT content are one-time purchases for lifetime access and we maintain updates to stay current with the latest medical information at no extra charge. Users are happy to pay for that level of trust and security. I hope the above information helps you better understand what we are doing.