There is a handful of SRS programs available online only. These can be nice if you have reliable internet service or if you have a phone (droid or iphone like) where you can run the app from for on the go.
Smart.fm or formerly Iknow:
Many of us were there when Smart.fm was known as Iknow. They’ve come a long way and made some things pretty snazzy too. Some fast action bulletins for the goodness would be:
Features:
- create, share, collaborate lists
- graphs to track study information
- follow and be followed by friends (similar to twitter)
- Journals with ability to add media
- Profile
- multiple features in list learning (srs action plus game)
Dictation
PROS:
- Free (can’t beat that yo)
- four ways to study: iknow, brainspeed, dictation, and the recently added Drill (beta)
- connect with other people easily
- make your own lists, use other’s list, and make lists together
- ability to set a “goal mode” so that you can learn items before a specific date (even though long-term mode is best for retention)
- covers a variety of topics from all sorts of languages and such (not just for Japanese learning.)
- ability to be on iphone
- updates and bug fixes regularly
- audio for sentences and words
- graphs to show you your study habits
- few places that allows practice with dictation
CONS:
- if you hate social networking like sites, this one may bug you a little
- have to be careful with lists, wrong information
- people can see what you’re doing/studying (bugs private people)
- confusing to some in its layout/wordage
All in all, Smart.fm is a fun site to participate in. Signing up is pretty fast and simple, as well as setting yourself up. Here’s a fun vid from the site itself. There are more on youtube that gives you a better idea of how to use it. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.
Surusu:
Another project of AJATT, Surusu is a web only SRS. While I do not use this product myself, I did check it out. There are quite a handful who do use it though. The features of this one is pretty standard:
- Free!
- 100% Web-based
- Extensive cross-compatibility
- Built-in priority-based rescheduling with capping
- Flexible with media
- Growing and Updated regularly
- Multilingual Unicode support
- incredibly simple layout (no graphic to bog you down)
- Not much to report otherwise so go give it a try if you’re interested!
Koohii:
This web based only SRS is actually only currently designed for learners of RTK. This site is also very free and really easy to use.
- based on the Leitner System
- Progress chart
- ability to see where your cards are in the Leitner system, how many are due
- share and keep track of your RTK stories online
- Add/remove cards from deck in multiple ways
- Restudy all failed cards along with your story
- Easy to follow/answer flashcards
- Review summaries of your study session
- Forum
- IPhone APP
I use to use this system quite a bit in the beginning and still use it for the stories section, however I felt that the spaced system did not work well for me and switched to ANKI where I have much better luck with the SRS. This isn’t a fact though with many people, so worry not! I would recommend this site in a heartbeat for those looking for RTK SRS goodness.
The forum can be filled with lots of trolls and such, so I don’t recommend you spend too much time it, but there is some useful information to be had here and there (like info on RTK Lite).
They also have a new feature called iVocab Shuffle. I’ve not used it myself, but you can find more information on their Labs Tab.
Anki Online:
While this part of Anki is meant for Online only, it can also be used to share decks with friends, and sync them between computers. All of the great Anki features are available through the online part, though with a little less graphical frill. Anki online is also available for multiple web outlets including phones! For more information check out their site, as well as my review of Anki itself.
While there are a lot more out there, these ones are some free biggies!
