Design And Implementation Of A Study Planner For Mobile Devices (Android Platform)

Computer Science Project Material with Source Code Included

Abstract

A study plan is an organized schedule that students create to outline time for study, this can be done either by using the traditional method i.e. “pen and paper” or taking advantage of technological devices such as mobile phones or laptops. A study planner is therefore a way or method for setting up a study plan. The study plan is usually includes a timetable which attaches the essence of time to each event. A study plan is needed for efficient time management among students considering all distraction that university life might bring is important for success, therefore taking advantage of the android smartphone this project devises a way to help students manage their time and schedules on their phones. The study planner for android devices is developed with a Rapid Application Development methodology which allows software to be developed faster, quickly tested and produces early prototypes. The software tool for the project is Android Developer Tools (ADT), which is a plug in of eclipse; it is one of the standard tools for developing android applications. The result of this project is an installable android application that executes on android devices with operating system version 2.3.3 API level 10 above. The application saves the students classes, exams and study time tables and also reminding them of upcoming events. It is recommended that students who want to enhance their productivity in school should use this application.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

A study plan is an organized schedule that students create to outline time for study and learning goals. Just like with work or school schedules, university students should develop a study schedule where they can synchronise their everyday life with studying. Creating a study plan not only helps the user become more organized, but it also holds them accountable for their own learning outcomes (Scouller, 2001). In this age where there are many distractions e.g. video games, social networks etc. and people easily lose track of time a study plan is even more important for success in the university, since a student needs to have self-discipline and determination to complete their studies without the constant reminders of a teacher.

According to (Truluck and Renne, 2002) a study plan is a method and system for setting up and using a personal learning schedule and path through an instructional product. Using a wizard-style interface, a study plan is established for a user based on a session frequency, along with the date the user wishes to finish the instructional product. Once the user has set up a study plan, each time that user logs in, the user is taken to that day’s list of assigned activities on a personalized home page. From there, the user is able to check activity status for past and future lessons, and quickly navigate to a lesson. Users can set up their own personalized learning schedule based on their own study objectives.

A study plan is an effective way to help students navigate through their education in an organized way. Every student will develop a different study plan; there is no correct study plan for everyone. In creating a personalized study plan, the student will need to do some self-evaluation of their current schedule, finding days when they have fewer personal commitments when they can squeeze some study time. Each student studies differently, so the amount of time needed for studying will differ amongst classmates. Some students find that studying nightly for two hours is more realistic than studying a few times a week for a longer period of time.

Students need to identify learning goals for each study session in order to maximize these scheduled study times, by determining why they are studying, and develop a plan that can help them achieve those goals. The study plan takes into consideration upcoming tests, average in certain courses, and projects/courses that will take more time than others.

This study is driven towards merging efficient time management and organizing schedules with recent technological explosions in mobile computing. Aimed at developing a study planner for android devices because, currently android devices are the most popular in the world today, with 28% of smartphone users with android devices, while the iPhone accounts for 25% (Pew Research Centre, 2013). Android powers hundreds of millions of devices in over 190 countries worldwide. Also four in every ten people using android are between the ages of 18 and 34 (age range for university students) (The Smartphone Consumer, 2012). This project takes advantage of this statistics i.e. the popularity of android to procure a solution to the problem stated above.

Since smartphones are now peoples companions and 94% of students own smartphones. (Ifeanyi, Olatunji, & Enyindah, 2014).Creating an app that helps students study, manage their time is a legitimate idea as it solves a particular need of students and people generally.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The major problem with students and people in general is efficient time management, i.e. maximize time to achieve results. Another problem is remembering things which have been planned e.g. so many students forget what lectures they have for the day, what assignments, quizzes, reports are due for submission. The traditional solution has been to write down these things in diary or book of some sort but this is faced with the challenge of loss, damage, and also forgetfulness.

Smartphones provide a valid solution to this problem as people hardly forget their phones information can be backed up and stored(most recently cloud storage) so even in the case of theft information can still be recovered.

Designing an app for a phone which helps people do what they normally would have done in their diary, and even the phone reminding them of events forgotten is an effective solution to this problem.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to develop a study planner android application for students.

The objectives of the study are:

To study existing study planner applications.
To design an android application that will help students efficiently manage their study time
To develop an android application that will provide an effective way for students to log their lecture days and times, and seamlessly add reminders to lectures which have tests, assignments or report due etc.

1.4 Significance of the Study

This study is important because it will help students manage their time and to plan their day, focus on their studies and still get on with their normal lives, ensuring that they do not forget about important tests, assignments, reports, and other activities.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This project aims at creating a study planner for android devices that will increase student’s productivity in study, it is based on the theory that effective time management leads to greater productivity. This is achieved by allowing them create and manage their study plans on their phones, record their class time tables. The database saves this information which can then be used to trigger a reminder for the user.

1.6 Limitations of the Study

The limitations of the study are as follows:

The application developed by this study is valid or can run only on android devices. I.e. other smartphones are not supported.
The application is limited to the minimum android operating system version specified by the developer i.e. if the developer chooses a minimum android operating system version of 4.0, all devices with android operating system less than 4.0 can’t use this application.

Chapter Five

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1 Summary

In summary this project has created a study planner for android devices, which allows them store their class table, study plan, exam time table etc. and be reminded of upcoming events such as quiz, test assignment. The project made use of the Android Developers Tools IDE to achieve this aim, android is open source which its source code can be copied and re-used.

This project will help students to manage their time and to plan their day. It will help them be focused on their studies and still get on with their normal lives. This application will help them not to forget about important tests, assignments, reports, and other activities.

5.2 Conclusion

The problem of efficient time management and maximizing results is the focal point of this project. This project solves this problem by exploiting the popularity of android devices (phones, tablets, phablets etc.) by creating an application that runs on nearly all android devices. This application then takes the students class table, exam table or any other table which they want and saves it for them. It provides efficient reminder mechanism through vibrate, sound and led flashlight if the phone has one

5.3 Recommendations

The beauty of software development is improvements and upgrades, thus software could have multiple software and keep evolving. Therefor it is good practice to recommendations to ensure growth of the software.

5.4 Suggestion for Further Research

Another individual can pick up this work and extend its functionality, given the importance of study plan to the students extra functions can be added to this project.

There are many more features that can be implemented to this simple software such as:

Cloud storage of data
Sharing of class schedules with contacts on Facebook twitter etc.
Extending the software use beyond the android platform to other platforms like ios, windows, and tizen

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