TIME MANAGEMENT: BACK TO BASICS
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Time Management: It's the one thing that everyone always mentions when you sign up for courses -- particularly if you're taking courses while working full-time and/or trying to raise a family. You're aware of what that means, but how do you actually implement time management. Does time management simply mean that you'll need time on weekends to work on your coursework, and that no one should bother you from 9 pm until midnight?
Blocking off time for coursework is a big piece of the puzzle, of course, but it's not everything. Time management means working efficiently, and, if possible, accomplishing multiple tasks with a single effort -- making your effort take care of multiple obligations.
But how do you kill two birds with one stone in an online course? If anything, everything seems to take twice as long, and you feel you have to use twenty stones to kill a single bird.
This is where you can make huge strides. You might be surprised how many times you can, with planning, streamline your work and workflow.
1. Plan your virtual library research. Do research for more than one class at a time. Do you have more than one paper to research? Do you have to find articles for more than one class? If so, make sure you have both in mind as you go into the virtual library. Do as much research as possible. Save the research, including the articles, your notes, and your annotations, in clearly demarcated files.
2. Plan your discussion board research. Do you have to find websites or web-based articles to share in the discussion board area? If so, collect them at the same time. If you're planning to use google, keep in mind that there are other search engines, and that they'll help you narrow your search, and help you keep from getting too many unnecessary and distracting articles
3. Familiarize yourself with the databases. You can save a great deal of time if you use the best search engines for your tasks, and if you take the time to learn the protocols for their advanced searches. The advanced searches will help you pinpoint the articles you need, and save you time and frustration. It can be very annoying and distracting to have to sift through dozens of articles that almost but do not quite hit the mark.
4. Select a topic for your research project that interests you. If you select a topic that you find tedious, or does not interest you, you'll be very likely to dread working on it. What causes procrastination? A lot of procrastination can be traced back to inner resistance or cognitive dissonance. You're so busy expending mental energy to work through the fact you don't want to be doing what you're doing, that you've got nothing left for your project.
5. Use the friends, peers, study buddies -- but be careful! You can save a lot of time if you ask your fellow students what they did to complete a task or to finish a project. On the other hand, you can waste a lot of time if you get off topic. So, use peers and buddies in a true learning community sense. Don't use it in the way you'd use a social network.
6. Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo Traps. Ask the average student where they spend most of their time online, and you're likely to find many answers that revolve around FaceBook, MySpace, and other social networks. They're addicting -- it's a place where you receive positive affirmation -- over and over and over again. You can express yourself, you can interact with people, and you can have friends and social interact in which you completely control the terms and conditions of your friendship. What could be better than that? Nothing. It's great. And -- nothing wrong with it. But -- they devour time, and if you're not careful, before you know it, you'll be trying to squeeze in all your work in thirty minutes before you fall asleep at your desk or with your laptop perched on your leg as you sit in bed.
7. Games are rewards. They are not your education. Okay. This seems obvious. World of Warcraft must come after Algebra. Wii Fit happens when it is supposed to happen -- not at your best study times. The fact that games and social networks are so seductive starts to precipitate rather uncomfortable and, well, sad questions about the nature of online courses. Why aren't they more engaging? Why are so many of them tedious? Why don't they reinforce the behaviors you've come to know and love on the Internet and with your mobile devices (cell phone, BlackBerry, iPhone, etc.). The answer to that is that is simple. Have patience. The visionary course developers are starting to respond to real life needs of students, and market demand. They are starting to resist the mass-produced, cookie-cutter learning management system dominated courses, and are starting to incorporate learning strategies that are both interesting and effective. The courses of the future will have social networks and communities.
Time and My Tests:
How many times have you gone into a test feeling you knew the material, but felt completely at a loss when it came to how you were expected to actually do the test? Online courses have a protocol of their own, and it is vitally important that, if you have quizzes and timed writings / exams, etc. that you find out where the practice ones are located, and that you do them -- not once, not twice, but as many times as you need.
You can save time with test preparation if you make sure that you're replicating your test atmosphere as well. By putting yourself in a situation that replicates the experience of taking the test, and your conditions for the test, you'll be helping get control of anxiety as well.
You may not realize it, but time management is also stress management. Time management helps you maintain a sense of control, self-efficacy, autonomy, and self-direction. It's very good for you.
So, consider time management your friend. You'll be glad you did.