Keep track of project and lecture deadlines with Get Organized

Launch a web browser, click once in the Address or Location bar and go to the Get Organized website. When the site loads, click the Download for Windows button. At the next screen, click Download Now. If the File Download Security Warning dialogue box appears, click Save and choose a location for the downloaded file. Firefox users should select Save File to save the download to Firefox’s default download folder.

Now locate and double-click the downloaded file, which is a compressed zip file. When the window opens, double-click the installer file within. Take note of any Windows security warnings but click Run to allow the installation to start. Follow the installation wizard accepting all the default settings and the licence agreement and when done, click the Finish button. After a moment, the Get Organized application will launch. Scroll through the Getting Started screens by using the Next and Previous buttons to get an idea of what the program can do and then click the Close button to continue.

The first thing to do is set up an account for the student, so click the Edit User Details button on the right. At the next screen, enter as many details as possible – name, school or college, study subjects and so on. Get Organized is American program so some of the terminology may be a bit unfamiliar. We have used the ‘Major(s)’ field to enter the details of four A-level subjects, as well as typing in the name of our form tutor into the Advisor Details field. Click Close to confirm.

To define the start and end dates of the current term open the Term menu and choose Add. When the Terms and Courses dialogue box appears, type in a name for the term and then add the start and end dates. To include the details of more terms, click the Add button and then repeat the process. Next, tell Get Organized what courses you are going to be studying by clicking the Add Course to Term.

Type in the name of the first course and if it has been assigned a number, add that as well. If the school or college runs a web page to accompany the course, type that into the course website field. Type in the location of the course and then click the up/down arrows underneath to set the start and end times and finally, select the days of the week that the course is taught. Click the Add button to include more courses or click Instructors to move on.

Click the Instructor and Textbooks tabs and fill in the details about the tutors/teachers and the books being studied. Now click the Grading Scale tab: here you can add what the program calls ‘Type Details’ and then assign them a number out of 100 – this will be used to calculate performance. Here, for example, we have added ‘End of term exam’ and ‘Coursework’ as types and given them a weight of 50 and 25 respectively. Our final type, ‘Timed Essays’, will also get a weight of 25, bringing the total to 100. Click Close when you have finished.

It’s time to put some assignments in. Back at the main screen, the courses are listed in the left-hand panel. Right-click on one and choose Add Assignment from the pop-up menu. A new Assignment Details panel opens on the right of the screen: tap in the assignment’s name, due date, the course to which it relates, specific required text books and the type (in this example it’s Coursework). Use the Comments box for additional notes. New assignments appear in the main list.

Along with your assignments, it’s also possible to set up events. These aren’t necessarily associated with a specific course but can be related to it – we would recommend using them for tutorial groups, meetings, rehearsals, revision, private study and so on. At the main screen, click the Event menu and choose Add. Fill in the Event details using the little form in the right-hand column. Once finished, the event will be added to the main list.

We have added a few more events and assignments and clicked the Calendar View tab at the top to switch to a schedule view that shows what we are supposed to be doing. To mark an assignment as complete, click to tick the box next to it in the calendar. When you do, the associated form opens in the right-hand panel so a grade can be added, if appropriate. Use the radio buttons along the top to filter the display of items.

As grades are added to completed assignments, Get Organized is able to create a chart showing progress. To see it, click the Grades button on the button bar. Use the dropdown menus to choose different courses and terms and plot progress using a combination of the chart and the details in the columns underneath.