This is an app useable on all mobiles, tablets and desktops that helps children with their after-school work and social activities, including:
A mental arithmetic quiz called Count Abacus
Lists of printable random times tables-questions called Times-Tabler
Pages for submitting or viewing Book Reviews in a standard format
A quiz with questions of graded difficulty called General Knowledge, and a facility to set questions
A Messaging Service with an ability to follow certain other users so that their messages appear as a live feed on the user's home page
Finally, there is a scoring system where successes in quizzes or contributions to the site are rewarded with Stuff Stat points, which in turn go towards the awarding of virtual prizes.
This app has a different sign up model from mainstream apps such as Twitter. The aim is not to accumulate as many followers as possible but to have a convenient means of supervised communication around after school tasks with a few friends without needing a mobile phone or email account. Sign-up requires an activation key code that is supplied offline by the Admin. The parent or guardian helps the child submit a unique user name and a chosen password, and then the parent submits their This is done under supervision of the parent who submits their email address.
An email is sent to the parent's or guardian's email address with an activation link. Then the child is signed up and can subsequently log in using their name and password. Passwords can subsequently be changed using the same email address.
All messages are visible to all users by selecting the users tab and the Admin can remove a user at his discretion. This and the requirement for an activation code provided personally offline, should make the site very secure for children. Activation requires submitting a working email address and responding to it (the address can be the same for different users, e.g. siblings).
If the user is not logged in, this brings up the sign-up page for creating a new user account. To log in to an existing account, click 'Log in' to the right of the top menu bar.
If the user is logged in, the Home page shows a live feed of recent messages from the user and any followed users, and a form to send a new message. If desired, the user can upload a picture with the message. To the top left of the screen is the user's name and a number in brackets which is the user's Stuff Stat. This is a number that represents the total score of answered questions and contributions to Home-Time Stuff. To get more detailed information on this, click View Profile to bring up the user's own page. Also shown are the numbers of followers the user currently has, and the number of other users the user is following. To see lists of these users and follow or unfollow them, click the 'following' or 'followers' links.
When a user logs in, this brings up their User page. This gives details of their overall Stuff Stat score and their scores in individual quizzes. The number of awarded prizes is also shown. Click on the 'prizes' link to see a list of the prizes the user has won. A user can also view their user page by clicking on the 'View Profile' button under their name on the Home page or on other pages, or by clicking 'Profile' under 'Account' in the menu at the top of all pages.
When logged in a user may also view the User page of other users. A list of all other users is brought up by clicking 'Users' on the top menu of any page, while a list of followers or followed users is brought up by clicking the 'followers' or 'following' links on the Home page. When viewing the list, click on a user to bring up their User page, which shows their stats, their prizes and a list of their previous sent messages. When viewing a User page that is not the user's own User page, there is a button above their message list to follow or unfollow that user.
This page can be found under the 'Stuff to Do' menu at the top Home-Time Stuff web pages. The user first selects one or more types of sum from the drop-down list (select multiple sum types by ctrl-clicking). Questions are asked one at a time. Press enter or click 'Check answer' to find the answer, and then 'Another sum' for another sum of the same type(s), 'Change sums' to change the sum types, or 'Close Count Abacus' to close the session and return to the home page.
Count Abacus may be used without logging in, and the score for the session is shown in the top left of the screen. If the user is logged in, session points automatically increment the Stuff Stat score (one point per correct answer), and the user profile shows the overall stats for the user.
This page can be found under the 'Stuff to Do' menu at the top Home-Time Stuff web pages. The user first selects one or more times-tables from 1 to 12 from the drop-down list (select multiple table types by ctrl-clicking). Three blocks of 20 questions are generated. These can be answered online (press tab after entering each answer as a quick way to navigate to the next question), or printed ona single sheet. Within a block of 20, questions are not repeated, which a big advantage over simply generating random times tables in e.g. Excel! Press enter or click 'Check answers' to find all 60 answers, and then 'Another set' for another three blocks of 20 of the same tables, 'Change tables' to change the table types, or 'Close Times-Tabler' to close the session and return to the home page.
Times-Tabler may be used without logging in, and the score for the session is shown in the top left of the screen. The user is awarded 60 points if all questions are answered correctly, and nothing for anything less than perfection! If the user is logged in, session points automatically increment the Stuff Stat score, and the user profile shows the overall stats for the user.
This page can be found under the 'Stuff to Do' menu at the top of Home-Time Stuff web pages. The user first selects a difficulty from the radio button menu (easy, medium, hard or any for random difficulty). Random questions are set one at a time. The user types their answer in the box below. The app is smart in working out if the answer is correct; sometimes there might be multiple parts to a correct answer rather than a single word. Press enter or click 'Check answer' to find if the answer was correct and the preferred answer, and then 'Another Question' for another question of the same difficulty 'Change Question Difficulty' to reset the difficulty, or 'Close General Knowledge' to close the session and return to the home page.
General Knowledge may be used without logging in, and the score for the session is shown in the top left of the screen. The user is awarded a point for each correct answer. If the user is logged in, session points automatically increment the Stuff Stat score, and the user profile shows the overall stats for the user.
This page can be found under the 'Stuff to Do' menu at the top of Home-Time Stuff web pages. A list of all book reviews submitted by contributors to the site are listed in reverse date order (most recent first). There is a search function for finding a particular book review or reviews by title. Users who want to submit a book review or look at the reviews of a particular user need to log in.
This page is reached by logged in users clicking 'My Book Reviews' under the 'Stuff to Do' menu at the top of Home-Time Stuff pages. It allows the user to create a book review viewable by logged in and non logged in users as well as review, edit or delete their existing reviews. The user can also submit a picture if they wish. (Only the site administrator, Mr Admin, can edit or delete other users' book reviews.)
This page is reached by logged in users clicking 'My Created Prizes' under the 'Stuff to Do' menu at the top of Home-Time Stuff pages. It allows the user to create an imaginary prize that any other user may randomly receive when their reach certain landmark Stat scores (every 10 points up to 50 and every 50 points thereafter). Remember that the identity of the user creating the prize is made known to the receiving user! The user may edit or delete their existing prizes only if they have not yet been awarded to a user. (Only the site administrator, Mr Admin, can edit or delete other users' created prizes.)
This page is reached by logged in users clicking 'My Created Questions' under the 'Stuff to Do' menu at the top of Home-Time Stuff pages. It allows the user to create a question that any user may randomly receive when they try the General Knowledge quiz. When setting the question, the difficulty (easy, medium or hard) should be chosen and a sample answer should be provided together with up to three key words that should appear in the answer. For each keyword, there my be up to three optional answers, for example different terms that may mean the same thing. A picture can be included as part of the question, giving additional flexibility. Virtually any numerical or short answer test can therefore be set in this way and marked automatically. The user may edit or delete their existing questions. (Only the site administrator, Mr Admin, can edit or delete other users' created questions.)
The Stuff Stat is the number shown to the right of a user's name on the home page, the user page, or in the block of user information to the top left of other pages. A point is awarded for each sum or question correctly answered, for each follower of the user, and for each submitted book review, General Knowledge question or prize. When the score is below 50, a prize is awarded each time the score reaches a multiple of 10. Beyond 50, a prize is awarded each time the score reaches a multiple of 50. A user checks their prizes from their user page by clicking on the 'prizes' link. They see a list of prizes ordered by when they were awarded. If a user does not like a prize, they may remove it. However, they are not awarded another prize until they gain another 10 or 50 Stuff Stat points. There will therefore always be a disparity bwtween this user's Stuff Stat score and the number of prizes they have.
When logged in, a user may change their account settings under the 'Account' item on the top menu of any Home-Time Stuff page. Here the user can change their password as well as the email address associated with their account. The email address is important as it is the address to which instructions are sent for resetting the password if it has been forgotten. Users cannot change their user name as this is what uniquely identifies them in this app. They must instead sign up to create a new account and request that the site administrator delete their old user name account. Their stuff stat score will of course be reset to zero, and all their previous messages, questions, prizes and book reviews will be lost.
This is version 0.10 of the Home-Time Stuff application.