Mnemonics help you associate something you want
to know with something you already know (or something that is easier to know, like a rhyme or silly
sentence). Spaced repetition is an
effective learning technique by which you fix something in long term memory by recalling it at
spaced intervals—just when you are about to forget it. These help your knowledge and comprehension
of material, which serves as a foundation for the higher level cognitive skills.
You are to take advantage of these techniques to create a deck of your own.
- Accumulate at least 30 important items (concepts, people, or events) encountered throughout the
course. This will test your ability to assess the relative importance of course material.
- Invent mnemonics for some of your items to help
you remember them.
- Incorporate the items (and any deeper elaborations or
mnemonics) into the spaced repetition application. SuperMemo has lots of good tips on how to formulate your entries.
- Ankihas free desktop, mobile and Web apps that are all kept in
sync. (Every version except the iOS app is free; only the desktop version can export.)
- You may use an alternative app if you can export the deck and send it to the instructor as a
simple text file. (Quizlet and StudyBlue are popular; you need Quizlet Premium to use spaced
repetition; I don’t think StudyBlue offers spaced repetition.)
- You should develop and make use of this throughout the course; on the due date, copy the text of
your deck and paste it into the body of an email to the instructor; it is okay if the formatting is
ugly. Only the desktop version of Anki can export a deck, as shown in this video.
This assignment will be assessed on the basis of:
- Ability to follow instructions.
- Appropriate selection of items.
- Quality of elaborations and mnemonics.
