By Megan Jicha

At times, the life of a college student is hectic and stressful but Bryan Healey has designed a “Student Manager” to help with the daily grind.

The junior computer science major’s programs help with note taking and studying, in addition to keeping track of events on a built-in calendar.

Healey’s classes were the inspiration for his program.

“Last January, I was taking a networking communications class in which we took about five to 10 pages of notes a day,” he said. “Considering my penmanship is bad when I take my time to write, it’s almost completely illegible when I am rushing. This was when I decided to create a small program for myself that I could simply take notes on.”

This program is different from other word processing software because not only is it easier to organize information but it also lets users store notes on a server, he said. This allows them access from other computers without a disk.

After using it for a while, he slowly added more tools he thought would be useful, like a calendar and various study methods, including one that takes notes and turns them into quizzes.

Soon, friends and classmates inquired about the program and asked if there was a way they too could use it, he said.

Healey made it available to his friends and soon after they started using it they began telling how great they thought the program was, he said.

This made Healey realize he could turn this into a program numerous students could use, not just his friends and classmates.

Bryan decided to update the program by keeping the same core but modifying the codes that made up the program.

After 11 months, the Student Manager program was completed and launched for the public on Nov. 25. There are already about 280 users, he said.

Currently, Healey is depending on word of mouth to get the program out. He put out a Google ad earlier but he said it wasn’t worth it at the moment. Once it gains more popularity, Healey said he may try a Google ad again.

The Student Manager program has two versions. One is free and one costs $1 per month, $6 for six months, and $9.99 per year after that.

Users of the full version are able to take notes and sketches for their classes and then study them by taking fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice or true or false quizzes based on the notes. The study material is automatically created from the notes.

Other study tools include interactive flash cards, printable term lists and flash cards and a scientific calculator.

The full version also allows users to keep an online journal, organize events on a calendar, catalogue contacts, upload existing files and create an alert system that can notify users about important information either via e-mail or text messaging.

They can also connect to other members of the Student Manager program. After one becomes a ‘friend’ of another user, one is able to send them messages or notes they have stored under their classes.

The free version of Student Manager is missing some of the features due to cost-related reasons, like alerts, publication tools and some of the study tools.

“I would use the free version of the program to see if I like it but I don’t think I’d pay for the full version when I could do the same things on other Web sites for free,” sophomore physical therapy major Mark Shulman said.

However, Tony Gagliardi, a freshman undecided major, would happily give up $1 per month to go toward Student Manager.

“I think it would help keep me organized. I usually am distracted by the computer when I am studying paper notes, so having notes, quizzes and flash cards on the computer would be helpful,” Gagliardi said. “Paying such a small price would be worth it.”

Healey said he wants to continue to update and improve his program. He hopes to create an offline version that will synchronize with the online version.

Additionally, he wants to create a mobile version that will allow users to take notes on Wireless Application Protocol enabled mobile phone. He also plans to add more security programs to the site to heighten the security of every user’s stored information.

“I hope all the tools of the Student Manager program combined can make students’ lives less stressful and tasks easier to complete,” Healey said.

Information can be found at www.student-manager.com.