Simmons' new homework app helps students achieve academic success
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
With the beginning of a new school year comes the inevitable homework assignments that reinforce lessons taught in the classroom.
Sometimes it’s difficult for students to keep up with the assignments or to organize their notes making homework time difficult or non-productive.
Students now have a new, free resource to help support their academic success.
Dr. Chris Simmons, professor of computer science and software engineering in Lipscomb’s College of Computing & Technology, and his wife, Dr. Lakisha Simmons, assistant professor of management information systems in Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey College of Business, have collaborated on a new app that is quickly becoming a “must have” for students this semester.
The Homework Suite Student Planner is an app developed by the Simmons duo that is an easy-to-use academic planner that tracks classes, homework, attendance and helps students stay organized.
“From importing a syllabus to social sharing, emailing teachers and study group members, this is the app that will help simplify and solve the challenges that many students face that impedes their academic progress — discipline, attendance, disorganization — all of which can affect their motivation,” said Simmons. “ The app helps students keep track of what’s coming due and what assignments are coming up to help them to be better prepared for class and therefore more successful academically.”
Simmons said when they sat down to develop the app, they thought about what they had observed in the classroom.
“It seems like one of the things we heard a lot from students was ‘I forgot my homework,’” he said. “So, we wanted to create an app that would help them keep track of their homework, allow them to email their professor, to manage their projects and details like that.”
“This app is very simplistic in nature and has proven to be easier to use than other systems such as Blackboard,” he said.
Designed for students of all ages from elementary school through college. Some of Homework Suite’s features include:
Sends timely homework and exam reminder to a student’s Apple Watch, iPhone or Android
• Displays an assignment feed and calendar view to see what tasks are due when
• Provides a useful dashboard that gives reminders of upcoming homework assignment due dates
• Allows students to share their student planner dashboard, attendance and more using Facebook, Twitter and email
• Stores contact information and allows group emailing through the app
• Syncs to mobile device calendars so students know what homework is due when making plans
• Allows users to add photos of handouts or notes from the teacher and add it to the notes of a task
• Color codes classes for easy reference and
• Allows for subtasks and multiple reminders so students can create their own study plan and break large assignments into smaller tasks.
Homework Suite is free and can be accessed via Google Play, the App Store and at http://www.homeworksuite.com for free. A ProStudent upgrade is also available as an in-app purchase of $2.99 that offers additional resources.
Simmons said the creation of apps such as the Homework Suite Student Planner is an example of the type of work students in Lipscomb’s College of Computing & Technology are learning to do.
“We’re trying to take a student from the beginning of the process of creating something like an app to the time it appears in an app store and teaching them the steps along the way,” said Simmons. “We hope that by the time our students are at least juniors they will have created at least one app that is available in an app store. It’s like developing a portfolio of their work just like an artist would.”
Apps are becoming common part of every day life, Simmons said.
“People are using mobile technology to access bank accounts using mobile technology and their laptops. The way people interact with each other and conduct business with each other is going to be using mobile technology. It’s the way of the future,” he said. “If you walk around campus, you’ll see people constantly on their phones. Just about every website you go to, there’s a mobile version. There are now apps for just about everything we need to do these days.”
According to statista.com, as of June 2015 more than 100 billion mobile apps had been downloaded from the Apple App Store. In 2015, global mobile app revenues amounted to $41.1 billion. In 2020, consumers are projected to spend over $101 billion on mobile apps via app stores. So the demand for developing new apps will continue to increase in the near future giving Lipscomb computing and technology students opportunities to put their skills to use.
Lipscomb’s College of Computing & Technology offers undergraduate programs in computer science, game development, software engineering, computational biology, data science, information security, information technology management, information technology and web application development. Graduate degrees are offered in data science, information technology and software engineering. For more information visit, www.lipscomb.edu/technology.