January 8, 2016
TV Online Ed Technology Contributor Jacob Schandel
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Mobile technology is best known for push notifications, where your device can send you alerts from services, from text messages to e-mails.  They can also be amazing for reminders.  Did you know, however, there are a plethora of apps that can replace* your planner?  Let's dive in to a few of the most popular options.

myHomework

Personally, my favorite planner app across the board is myHomework.  This app is an amazing tool for students who want to go from the paper planner to a digital alternative.  This app's best feature is its cross-platform unification.  The apps have similar styles across platforms, making them easy for a newcomer to pick up and use.  Simply type in your classes (only one time, and it is even optional to do that), then add your assignments.  Once you are done with an assignment, simply check it off as complete!  This app is available at www.myhomeworkapp.com, the App Store, Google Play, the Windows Store, and the Chrome Web Store.

My Study Life

My Study Life is another solid planner option, with a few caveats.  While in my testing, the app looked to be promising in its design and usefulness, it was obvious the app was designed outside of the United States (for example, the app allowed for "holidays" to be programmed in, something an American student would know better as a break or vacation).  To someone new to a planner app, this sort of thing can be very confusing.  In addition, this app requires for a subject to be tacked on to all assignments, which can be silly and unnecessary if you want to use your planner app to remember something like a form.  That being said, the app also shows promise for those who can live with these caveats.  This app is available at www.mystudylife.com, on the App Store, Google Play, the Windows Store, and the Chrome Web Store.

Google Classroom, Google Calendar, and ProgressBook

Perhaps you can work with what you already have as well, if you would rather.  Earlier in the school year, we tracked down everything you needed to know in order to have a good experience on Google Classroom.  If your teacher uses it, it can be a good planner app, but only if they put assignments up on their Classroom page.  If they don't put in an assignment themselves, you can't use Classroom to add it yourself, and you cannot add it to your calendar for that class in Classroom.  However, you can make a second Calendar in Google Calendar to add an assignment manually (or add it to your default Calendar, of course).  You can use your device's default calendar app for this, download Google Calendar from the App Store and Google Play, or use the app Sunrise Calendar from Microsoft, one of the best all-around calendar apps that can connect to Google, available on the App Store, Google Play, the Mac App Store, and at www.sunrise.am.  Also, some teachers may use ProgressBook for posting assignments.  Assuming you can live without push notifications and live with using a website to view assignments, this is also an amazing option.  (Note: there is NO official app for ProgressBook on any app store at this time.  Please do NOT trust any ProgressBook apps you see if you are on your device's app store, as they are definitely not legitimate.)

The Asterisk

You probably noticed I put an asterisk (*) by the word replace at the beginning of this article.  That deserves an explanation.  By using one of these apps, that does not mean completely lose your planner, because it has some very important information in it like bell schedules and your student handbook.  If anything, store your planner in your locker or some other safe place so you still have it.  One day, hopefully, this won't be a concern.  Either way, a planner app is one of the best organization tools a student can have!