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Dear visitor,
I started reviewing flashcard-style drill programs because I needed a software tool that help rationalize my learning
efforts.
Later on, I thought I could spare other people in the same situation the tiring and non-rewarding work
of testing hundreds of applications -- not to speak of the large amount of garbage files that successive installations
leave on your computer. That is why I decided to publish my personal notes and have been adding new reviews ever
after.
To ease the orientation for those looking for software, I also decided to rate the applications according to very
specific rating criteria, which are publicly available on this website.
Regarding commercial download sites and computing magazines... I understand that editors
are under pressure of time, and that you cannot expect them to be qualified in all fields. Especially when it comes
to educational applications, it is fairly difficult to identify what factors are essential for a particular purpose.
But the sad fact is that most reviewers reward dumb-proof operation and fancy interfaces full of bells and whistles.
On the other hand, various academic institutions run online databases devoted to CAL and CALL
(Computer Assisted [Language] Learning). The reviews published on these sites are much more reliable, since they
are written by well-informed people that actually use such software in their daily work.
Anyway, both on popular download sites and on CALL sites, the reviews of applications serving the same purpose
are usually presented in isolation and rarely reviewed comparatively. This makes it difficult for the user to choose
a suitable software solution.
On the contrary, on this website we have put together a number of applications designed for flashcard-style drill
and practice, and reviewed them all with regard to the
same checklist. We hope this website
succeeds in filling this niche by providing detailed reviews that are based on carefully developed rating criteria.
If you think this website is useful, feel free to place a link
to this site on your homepage.
Since it started out in 1999, this survey has had an interesting side-effect: it has contributed to lever up the quality of software in this particular branch (flashcard-style drill programs). Many
authors have modified their programs to make them suit our rating criteria, and some of them have even asked for
consulting or assistance. We have even made contributions to some of the programs. Such collaborations are mentioned
by way of "Ethical notes" (see the reviews of VTrain, Langenscheidts Vokabeltrainer, and WinFlash, for
example).
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A note to software developers: |
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We have dealt with all requests received so far,
but please understand that |
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We cannot update the review to every new version of your product, with
the best will in the world. |
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This website is not intended as a professional consulting service for
software authors or users. |
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The core of our Rating Criteria cannot be modified, as this would require
renewed testing of the hundreds of applications reviewed in this survey. |
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We will not accept any donations or sponsoring. |
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Feel free to contact us
with any questions or comments. |
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Good luck in your software hunt!
PS
By the way -- I'm not the only one reviewing flashcard-style learning programs. The following are related sites:
Flashcard
Applications Online
http://www.foolsworkshop.com/pages/flashcardapps.html
SuperKids
Educational Software Review (may be biased,
since they publish their own software)
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/reviews/vocab/
Vocabulary
Software Review by TopTenReviews
http://vocabulary-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
vokabeltrainer-test.de from Germany
http://www.vokabeltrainer-test.de
The following are scholarly sites devoted to
CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning):
CALICO (Southwest Texas State University, USA)
http://calico.org/
CALLDELETETHIS@Hull (University of Hull, UK)
http://www.fredriley.org.uk/call/
VirtualCALL
Library (University of Sussex, UK)
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/languages/1-6-6.html
Inclusion (National Grid for Learning, UK)
http://inclusion.ngfl.gov.uk
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