A Purdue University student is working on a smartphone application that he hopes will help promote literacy.

The Times of Munster reports 20-year-old Gary native John Franklin Jr. wanted to do something to help schools in his hometown.

The junior majoring in computer science hopes to design an app that allows teachers to upload classroom lessons that students or their parents can access with an Android smartphone.

Franklin says he got the idea to do an app while working at a fast-food restaurant when he noticed that most employees had cellphones but not computers.