| Items, topics and tasks |
A collection in SuperMemo is made of a set of elements. Each element is a page of information visible on the screen at one time. Elements in SuperMemo can be of three types: items, topics or tasks.
This is the function of these three element types:
Let us first emphasize the difference between topics and items. Topics are used to introduce the student to a given subject, while items are used to rehearse the same subject in order to retain it in memory. Typically, you can import an article from the Internet (this will be a topic), extract its most important fragments (which will also be topics) and then convert it to question-and-answer material. Those questions-and-answers will be items
| Example
Topics: A topic may contain the following text:
Items: To rehearse the knowledge of the facts presented in the above text, the following question-answer items might have been used:
|
Topics and items are presented for review in the learning process in a different way:
If you generate items from topics by means of reading tools in the process of incremental reading, items will usually be children of topics in the knowledge tree. Even if you move items away from their parent topics, you can always jump back to the source topic by using the reference hyperlink button on the element toolbar.
Tasks differ from topics only with the fact that they are kept on one of your tasklists. Tasklists are prioritized lists of tasks. Tasklists which are composed of articles to read are called reading lists. Tasks can also enter the learning process and still remain on the tasklist.
The following table summarizes the differences between items, topics and tasks:
Properties |
Items |
Topics | Tasks |
Length |
Must be as short and simple as possible |
May contain lengthy texts and rich graphics, but can also be made of short extracts or single sentences | May be either short (e.g. task description, URL, etc.) or long (e.g. reading list articles) |
Repetitions |
Repeated as many times as it takes to keep them in memory |
Presented in always increasing intervals | May never enter the review process. If they are subject to review, they behave in the same way as topics |
Purpose |
Used for rehearsing knowledge |
Used as an introduction to knowledge | Use to define to-do-tasks, e.g. articles to read, jobs to do, e-mail to respond to, etc. |
|
Created |
Usually by Add new (Alt+A) or by Reading : Remember cloze on the component menu in incremental reading |
Usually by pasting articles from the clipboard with Ctrl+Alt+N or by Reading : Remember extract on the component menu in incremental reading | Usually by Add a new task (Ctrl+Alt+A) |
Setting the type |
Check Type : Item on the element menu or Element type : Item in the element parameters dialog box (Ctrl+Shift+P) |
Check Type : Topic on the element menu or Element type : Topic in the element parameters dialog box (Ctrl+Shift+P) | Check Type : Task on the element menu or Element type : Task in the element parameters dialog box (Ctrl+Shift+P) |
Repetition cycle |
First question components are presented. Answer components are presented only after choosing Show answer |
Topics are just presented as they are (even if some components are checked as Answer) | Rarely do task take part in repetitions. They are just presented as they are (like topics) |
Processing |
They are intended for active recall of information from memory |
They are intended for passive review or reading | They await processing in a tasklist |
Form |
Stimulus-response (most often: question and answer) |
Article | Depends on the purpose (e.g. URL, e-mail, article, name, job description, etc.) |
Location in the knowledge tree |
Usually as children of the parent topic (if any) |
Usually as parents of items generated with cloze deletion | Within the category on which the tasklist is built |
|
How they enter the learning process |
Usually enter the learning process at the moment of being formulated (e.g. with Remember cloze) or via Remember or via the pending queue | Usually enter the learning process at the moment of being imported (e.g. with Ctrl+Alt+N) or extracted (Remember extract). Less often: picked from the pending queue | May not take part in the review process at all. Introduced into review by tasklist priority sequence with Remember (and usually converted to a topic at the same time) |
The structure of the knowledge tree will usually be determined by the operations you perform in the process of incremental reading. However, if you create a collection for use by others and would like to build a clear structure of presentation pages (topics) and the testing material (items), see: Building the knowledge tree