Your little dog is no longer the scapegoat for your missing homework assignments. – A+ Student Organizer

Everyone is always looking for a better education, but with our schools having better technology, harder assignments, deeper classes and mean instructors, organization is key. Especially for one person, there’s a lot of information that needs to be organized in your busy lives. Despite the organizational features that webOS offers out of the box, you need an app that caters specifically for academic purposes. A+ Student Organizer could possibly be the definitive answer to help organize your school information, but unlike a typical day to day organizer, this application goes the extra mile to provide calculated class data without having to wait for progress reports. I do work at a University, and I am not taking classes at this moment; but I believe I can respectfully see how this application can benefit most students.

The application is developed from Forethought Labs, the website is simple and outlines exactly what the application does. It even offers a convenient YouTube video that outlines the basics of the application and makes an important note that will be explained later. The developer has a Facebook page created and linked from his website as well as an available email address for support. Especially with the Facebook account, this will definitely drive traffic to this application, plus it provides an easier method to reach out to users who need support. The developer did respond back to my message and was clear in his message, which gives comfort to know that you can receive reliable support.

Getting Started

When first launching the application, you’re immediately brought to the Courses section. There’s a few custom graphics, but nothing too flashy, which is beneficial for entering data as quickly as possible. The application does use the standard API buttons, and the developer makes use of color themes for easy navigation, and in my opinion, adds aesthetics to the application that follows the color theme from the Forethought Labs website.

[rokbox title="Term Basics :: Enter the names of the semester and school attending." size="320 480" thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_200641-150x150.png" album="gettingstarted"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_200641.png[/rokbox] [rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_2007311-150x150.png" album="gettingstarted"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_2007311.png[/rokbox] [rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_200906-150x150.png" album="gettingstarted"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_200906.png[/rokbox]

From the Courses section, the application prompts the user to add a school term. This is where you’ll create different semesters for each of your classes and it’s fairly easy to add information, especially if you’ve been a student for a while, you’ll come to recognize some of the typical academic lingo to properly complete your data entry. Tapping the button will open the Term Window where you’ll type the name of the semester  (for example, Spring 2010) and what school you’ll be attending. This application doesn’t sync with any academic database, so this information doesn’t have to be too accurate when spelling out the school or university you’re attending to. As long as you understand that you’re going to XYZ University for Spring 20xx, you’re alright.

The next page is scheduling the semester dates and identifying the grades issued by the school or university, the app will alert the user if the dates were entered incorrectly. It’s nice attention to detail, and there’s a few more small additions throughout the app. The grade letter and averages can be manually set by the user that will correspond to the school’s grading system.

[rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_200951-150x150.png" album="1"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_200951.png[/rokbox] [rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_200958-150x150.png" album="1"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_200958.png[/rokbox]The next step is to add the courses, and it’s up to the users discretion if they choose to just put the name of the class or the course number. Simply tap on the “+ Add a New Course…” button or the “+” plus icon at the bottom left. The Course Basics window will appear where you’ll type the name of the course and choose the semester that class is registered for.  If the semester is not listed, simply tap the” A+ ” top left menu and tap ‘School Terms’. There you’ll be able to add, edit and (swipe) delete semesters from the app (this will also delete the webOS calendar entries, which are explained later). To edit the semester, simply tap the one you need and change the dates and grade point averages. You’ll also notice the icon throughout the app, this will allow you to add additional label details to classes, semesters, tasks, etc.

[rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_201114-150x150.png" album="addcourse"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_201114.png[/rokbox] [rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_201219-150x150.png" album="addcourse"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_201219.png[/rokbox]

After creating a course, it’s now time to add an instructor and the class schedule. After typing the name, you’ll need to tap the “+ Add a Time & Place” button to set the class location, days and time. To save these setting to your webOS calendar, tap the ‘Add To Calendar’ button which will create a webOS calendar entry with the Class Name, Building and Times. This will be set as a repeated event until the end of the school term, but it doesn’t set any reminders to alert the user of upcoming classes and tasks. There is a small hint within the application that it’s “coming soon” and hopefully sooner than than we think. Otherwise you can go into your webOS calendar and update the entire event, which will set the reminder for future events automatically.

[rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/calendar_2010-12-01_193658-150x150.png"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/calendar_2010-12-01_193658.png[/rokbox]

Another important note about setting these class schedules is that you’re very accurate. The application doesn’t alert you of any overlapping classes; therefore it is easy to mistakenly add two classes with the same day and times. It will be added to the calendar as two separate events that is going to happen at the same time. Hopefully within the next update, the application will alert the student if they really want to add two classes at the same time. It could be possible that a student is going to take two classes at once, or they could be doing this by manipulating the time space continuum, but last time I checked, the Palm Pre didn’t come equipped with a flux capacitor, yet. To complete the scheduling, perform the back gesture to go back to the default page.

The calendar image to the left shows the classes created by A+O.S., and editing or deleting a course will also filter through the webOS calendar. Very convenient and prevents the user from seeking the unwanted calendar entries and manually deleting them.

“Please Professor! I really need that A!”

When re-launching the application, you’re immediately taken to the default page that will lay out the semesters and courses. If grade data have already been accumulated, your grade average will appear next to that class. If you are planning to drop a class and need to have it removed from your list, simply swipe to delete. If only it was as simple in real life…

[rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_211135-150x150.png"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_211135.png[/rokbox]

At the bottom of this screen are three icons, a calendar, what looks like a list and another icon showing a page with a red check-mark. Tapping the middle ‘list icon’ will take you to the Grades page. Just like the semester/class page, the grades are well organized by dates and assignment name. You can organize this information even further by tapping the red button in the top right corner, allowing you to sort your graded assignments by Pending, Completed, In Active Courses, In Finished Courses and All.

Pending grades are assignments that have not met the deadline.

Completed grades are assignments that have already reached or passed its deadline.

In Active Courses will display the grades and assignments in the current semester, despite if they’ve been graded or not.

In Finished Courses will display the grades and assignments from the past semester, showing everything if graded or not.

All will display everything, old and new grades & assignments.

I would prefer to keep the sorting tool to pending, therefore you don’t lose track of your current assignments. To add an assignment that you will be graded on, tap the “+ Add a Grade” button.

[rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_201854-150x150.png"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_201854.png[/rokbox]

A window will appear for you to quickly type the name of the assignment or test, the course and what type of assignment it is. There are already predefined assignment types to choose from, Tests, Home and Project. You can add other grade types from the semester/class page, by tapping the class you need, then tapping the left arrow button at the bottom left, this should take you to the list of grade letters and percentages. At the bottom of this list is the Assignment Types; tap the Add button at the bottom to create a new assignment type or swipe to delete the assignment type. The only part that can lead to mistakes, is when selecting a course from the Grade Basics window, which shows all classes in one single list. It would be a good idea to implement a horizontal rule labeling the semesters that belong with each class. Maybe color code the semesters, red indicating the semester has ended, green for active semesters and yellow for future semesters.

[rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_201950-150x150.png" album="grades"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_201950.png[/rokbox] [rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_202511-150x150.png" album="grades"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_202511.png[/rokbox]

After completing the Grade Basics window, the developer organized this page well, allowing for easy data entry. The top part of this page will indicate how many points earned out of a total possible points (which is filled out by the student), including the calculated grade received for the assignment.

The Due date is automatically set to the next available time of the semester and the app references the class’s schedule to help make predefined due dates. For example, if my Animation class were on Mondays and Wednesdays at 8AM, the list of due dates will show the calendar dates  that falls on Mondays and Wednesdays at 8AM, within that semester. This will avoid any mistakes when scheduling the assignment on the wrong date, potentially ruining the G.P.A., but student’s can use a different date if necessary.   I would like to see additional integration with the webOS calendar when adding assignments, to either append or create a new calendar entry with a reminder. This feature could also tie in to the assignment tasks (which is explained next).

Students can also create tasks for these assignments, the first one is made as the due date for you. Tapping the icon for that task will allow you to add additional notes, plus find the hint that reminders will be ‘coming soon’. In order to complete this assignment with the received grade, all tasks must be completed (check-marked) then type the score in the Earned box.  At any time, you can edit the assignment type by tapping the icon at the very top. This will reveal the Grade Basics window as seen earlier, change the information and perform the back gesture to save. As you start to add more graded assignments, the grade average will appear on the Semester/Courses page.

The next section is the Tasks page. This will display all the tasks created within the grade form, and just like the grade form, tapping the red ‘i’ will display additional notes and edit the due date of the task. The task due dates can be set from 1 – 12 hours to weeks, simply tap the Due Date to show a list of dates that are predefined by the course’s schedule.

[rokbox thumb="http://preapptastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_212622-150x150.png"]http://www.webosroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/studentorganizer_2010-11-01_212622.png[/rokbox]

The tasks page is laid out well, organizing by dates and options to sort by completed, incomplete and all. Tapping the plus symbol will reveal a Task Basics window to type the Name, the assignment and the amount of time before the task is due; check-marking the task from this page will also save the changes to the assignment. Unlike the basic tasks application in webOS, the app requires you to link the task with an assignment. This is neither good or bad, since the webOS task app is ready for basic tasks from the get-go. Also the tasks are not updated into the webOS tasks application. You will need to launch A+S.O. to view and complete these tasks, it’s not a deal breaker since the application is very speedy and it’s quick to navigate through, however it would be convenient none the less.

Now throughout the application, you’ll notice different sections have marguee text in the Course & Assignment pages. For the course, it will display the points scored and how many assignments completed. The assignment’s page will display how many days & hours the assignment is due, the current grade for that class and how many active tasks remain for that assignment.

One thing I would definitely want from this application is the ability to export the entire application database for backup purposes, maybe even the ability to backup the information directly to google docs, utilizing the excel form to hold the database information. Many students would agree that losing homework is a headache, especially electronic devices not being 100% durable, data can be easily lost one way or the other.

The application deserves a solid 8 out of 10, it’s speedy with a easy learning curve. It only took me about an hour to understand the application and how it works. Hopefully with this in-depth review, many users will understand it even further and possibly learn a few other things too. There are some updates needed under the hood with creating class schedules, deeper calendar integration and reminder notifications. Other then that, the application feels very solid and I’m sure will satisfy many users. The developer did leave the Easter egg “coming soon”, and I personally am looking forward to the new features and updates that will be implemented.