Facebook has become a major distraction for university students around the world. There is just so much happening at any one time that all thoughts of assignments and study get thrown out the window. This has happened to me on many occasions. But there are some applications you can use to help increase your productivity, and get more things done in the long run. Instead of writing messages to friends, turning people into vampires, and throwing food at others, these Facebook apps are some of the best on the web. For educational purposes that is:

1. Class Notes - If you happen to miss a lecture, then the class notes application may save you a lot of time and effort. This is basically a directory of photos of class notes, lecture notes, and anything else that was displayed at your courses. So, you just have to hope that someone has uploaded the information you are missing, but with over 1700 users that may be very likely.
2. Cheap Textbooks - All students wish they could spend less money on textbooks, and with the ever increasing cost and size of textbooks, a way to reduce this cost will become very popular. In comes Cheap Textbooks. Simply type in the title of your book and you will be shown the compared costs between over 30 online bookstore. This could save several hundred dollars a semester. And who said Facebook was a distraction!
3. Hey Math - Throughout the world most people consider maths to be their most hated and hardest subject. It can be so complicated that you are completely lost, but it can also be logical and rational. With the Hey Math widget you can finally start to understand some of the most difficult mathematical concepts. Hey Math is a library of mini movies that “visually explain hundreds of difficult maths concepts.”
4. Zoho - Zoho Online Office allows you to collect all of your documents, spreadsheets and presentations in one place online. From here you can share them with friends without needing an offline copy. With this app you will never again be restricted by the difficulty of emailing your work around. I think I will keep an offline backup as well though… just in case.
5. Ask Questions, Get Answers - If you are having difficulty with any of your uni work, then using this application, simply type in your question and sit back and relax as you wait for any answer. Basically, Ask Questions, Get Answers allows you to post questions and answers to anyone in the Facebook community. A great time saver, but only if there is someone who knows the answer.
6. Easy Bibliography Generator - Have you ever been concerned with which format of bibliography and references to do? There are dozens of different styles that could be used, and are needed depending on the scenario. Thankfully, this Easy Bibliography Generator can format your references into MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian. This can be a time saver, but only if the format you need is there, otherwise you are on your own!
7. Notely - Notely is possibly one of the best student based online tools available, and it is now on Facebook. This system is a virtual homepage for any university student. It allows you to post to-do lists and shows which ones need to be done first. You can upload notes, write notes, set up a calendar, and pretty much anything else that you have ever wanted in one place. With this single application you can transform Facebook from a distraction into a study hub!
8. Docs - Simply put, Docs is a library of uploaded schoolwork. There are over 50,000 documents available from lecture notes, to problem questions and everything in between. Even though they claim to try and deal with plagerism, I have no doubt that there would be a significant quantity of that going on within this app, yet with nearly 10,000 users I’m certain that there is a lot of useful information available.
9. Scholarium - Scholarium is a combination of several other applications into the one system. You can view your friends timetables, rate your professors/lecturers, and find classmates with who you share courses. This could be very powerful, but it is still quite new and has yet to gain much momentum.
10. To Do List - A simple, and yet powerful tool for any student. You can add to your To Do list, see which ones are approaching, and cross them off when completely. While this is a great start for any student, I do not see why there needs to be a facebook application for it. Surely it can be done much easier just with a pen and a piece of paper.

As you can see there are dozens of great applications to turn your facebook profile into a machine of productivity and achievement. The only problem is that these to could become distractions. At least you now have an excuse for spending mass amounts of time there!

It is true that there are dozens, if not hundreds of distracting applications on facebook that can make you forget about assignments, ignore exams, and skip classes. I know this from experience… a lot of experience! Actually, it seems like I spend a lot more time on there than I should, and the problems are these three applications:

1. Roshambull - A massive online Paper, Scissors, Rock competition with over 100,000 players. You can bet on each game, and eventually build up your credits. The main part of the game is to increase your rankings by beating your friends, as well as dozens of random players. I am currently the number #1 in my university, and in the top 500 in the world.
2. Vampires - Build your vampire by attacking other vampires, and increasing your vampire army. This can get very addictive, especially if you start to get into the higher levels. This app also has over 150,000 vampires, so you are never short of an opponent.
3. Pirates vs Ninjas - Who would win, a pirate or a ninja? This is one of the lifelong questions that everyone will ask themselves from time to time. I am a ninja man myself, but pirates are not far behind.

So, in conclusion. If you want to increase your grades, add the first 10 applications, and stay away from the last 3 applications. This is one of the major battles that any student will face, but you must stay strong, and focus on your studies. Stay motivated and determined!

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This is another part of The Student Productivity Week. For the full list of articles see the overview, or at Scholastici.us.

Textbooks. No matter what way you look at them, they are a pain. They are heavy, expensive, and hard to understand. Everyday I see people struggling around their universities piled under a load of huge books.

This does not have to be anymore, thanks to the internet.

There are now a large collection of books available directly over the internet – no heavy lifting, no large debts. Simple!

The hardest part is to find these places, but look no further. Here is a list of the most important, easiest to access, and in general the best sites on the web. Here are Books on the Web:

Classics in the History of Psychology – Containing over 25 full books, and hundreds of articles, if you are a psych student you will never be lost again. For example, say you are looking for information about Sigmund Freud. Simply type in his name, and there you have it:
Psychopathology of Everyday Life, The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis, The Interpretation of Dreams, and many more. All in full text for you to read instantly.

The Online Books Page – This is a directory of places you can download texts from. For example, type in Jane Austen, and there are dozens of places from which you can view the full works of Jane Austen. There is just so much information available at a click of the mouse.

eBrary.com – With more than 20,000 books, eBrary is virtually the perfect online book source. Unfortuantly, it does have a $5 sign up fee, but surely that is worth the price. Rather than purchasing textbooks, there can be a major saving for this online library. For my own sake I typed in the keyword ‘Thermodynamics’ and there were over 1500 results!

Google Books – Google had the bright idea of trying to insert every single book ever written onto the internet, unfortuantly they have not quite met my expectations. You are only allowed to view a view select pages of any one book, before being forced to buy it to see the rest. There are only a select few whose copyrights have expired, and you are allowed to download for free.

Project Gutenberg – Any book thats copyright has expired is available for free download from Project Guenberg. Some of the most popular books of all time are available here, as well as hundreds of others. With more than 20,000 free books, it is no surprise that some of them include Pride and Prejudice, Ulysses, Huckleberry Finnk, and The Iliad!

Hopefully this list will allow you to save several hundreds of dollars every year, especially if you are studying English Literature or something similar. Forget about lugging huge books to every class when there is such an easy and cost effective method available.

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For the past few weeks Gideon Addington and I have been working hard to produce a week of the best posts about Student Productivity. Everything from textbooks, to resources, and online applications will be covered in detail with one post a day alternating on our blogs. Stay tuned for a lot of great tips in the coming week as we delve into the future of university student’s ideas about productivity, procrastination and time management… as well as some great facebook time-savers.

Day One:

Beyond Wikipedia - 20 References You Can’t Do Without

Day Two:

Books on the Web

Day Three:

The Full System - Note Taking, Scheduling, and Studying

Day Four:

The 10 Best Facebook Apps for Students and 3 to Avoid

Day Five:

6 Facebook Apps for Students (and everyone else!)

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