Purpose
Statement
The purpose of the Time Management Planner is twofold.
First, it serves to help the student focus on three things: time-wasters,
priorities, and goals. Second, it can act as a template for a student desiring
to incorporate a time-management device into his or her lifestyle. The student
can modify the Planner to suit his or her needs.
As indicated by the College Success Factor Index, time management is a
problematic area for most college students. The two courses I have chosen to
include for grant work this Fall are Small Group Discussion courses. In both
sections, time management was the most problematic area. Devices such as the
Planner and those that other grant team members have used and shared with the
team can let students know that there are mechanisms available to help with
this need.
Description
of Activity
The Planner has six
tasks. Five of the six tasks use parallel wording so that the student basically
follows the same format throughout. The sixth task is to write a short
paragraph. I will describe each task as follows:
Task #1- Time wasters: The student is asked to complete two columns.
In column 1, the student records five things that he/she feels waste
time during the day. In column 2, the student is asked to rank order
column one such that #1 is the easiest thing to eliminate as a time waster.
Task #2 - Priorities: The student follows the same format as above,
listing five priorities for the day in column 1, and rank ordering these
in column 2 such that #1 is the most important.
Task #3 - Non-school goals: Here, the student is asked to think about
the upcoming week, and list goals for that week in column 1. In column
2, the student, once again, is asked to rank order them such that
#1 is the most important goal to accomplish for the upcoming week.
Task #4 - School-related goals: Here, the student completes the same
procedure as above, for school-related goals.
Task #5 - Summarizing priorities and goals: Here, the student is asked
to list the items from column 1 in tasks 3, and 4 in column 1, and to
rank order this list in column 2 such that the first items on the list are
the most important.
Task #6 - Summary paragraph: In this last activity, the student is
asked to refer back to the time-wasters in column 2 of task #1. He or
she is asked to write a short paragraph describing how, by eliminating
a time-waster from the day, he or she could accomplish the first five
goals or priorities from column 2 in task #5.
Application
Ideally, an activity
such as the Time Management Planner could be done at the beginning of the
semester, during the time period preceding midterms, and/or during the time
period preceding final exams. Realistically, to do this activity in class does
require about 15 minutes for the student to complete the Planner, and at least
another 15 minutes of explanation (exhortation).
If used, it would be necessary for the instructor to explain the following to
students after indicating the importance of managing one's time:
(1) The Planner is an activity designed to get the student
thinking about time management.
(2) The Planner is an activity designed to get the student
thinking about his or her own lifestyle, priorities, and goals.
(3) The Planner can be modified as the persons wishes.
For example, some individuals may be able to rank
order items immediately, thus eliminating the need for
column 1. HOWEVER, it should be emphasized that
rank ordering is important, and that some time and
consideration should be given to the process.
(4) Importance of the various tasks:
(a) Task #1-- Time-wasters:
If one is to better manage one's time, the importance of deducing time-wasting
factors is critical. HOWEVER, some persons work full time, go to school, and
possibly have families, thus seeming to have no time-wasting activities.
In that case, it is important to emphasize the need for BLOCKING one's time
effectively in order to study, etc.
For these people, task #1 could be changed to listing five time slots free for
activities such as studying.
(b) Task #2--Prioritizing
It is important to settle in one's own mind
the importance of one's daily activities. By doing this,
the individual can better formulate realistic goals. For
example, if a student is a single, working parent, it could
be that providing for the family needs must take precedence
over school. In that case, family might be #1, job #2, and
school #3. In another student's case, perhaps he or
she is single, living at home, and only working part-time
for spending money. In that case, school could be #1, and
job #2 or #3.
(c) Task #3-- Non-school goals:
It is useful for the student to separate non-school-related
goals from school-related goals so that he or she might
realistically be able to complete several activities in the
upcoming week. For example, if a student only lists projects, tests, or the
like from school, he or she might
forget something important in his or her personal life
(an important birthday, sending in forms, taking care of
a business matter, etc.).
(d) Task #4 -- School-related goals:
Here, it is useful for the student to set goals regarding those
projects, studying, review sessions, etc.
(e) Task #5 -- Summarizing and rank ordering goals:
Here is where the student can actually prioritize all goals
for the upcoming week -- in order of importance to that
individual. Needless to say, this task, along with the next,
are the most important. The preceding tasks are part of
the thinking and development PROCESS.
(f) Task #6 -- Paragraph describing how to get the goals
accomplished:
This paragraph asks the student to refer back to the time-
wasters or time-blocking and in his or her own words,
describe how the most important goals can be accomplished in the upcoming week.
This is the
synthesis step and is the culmination of this PROCESS
ACTIVITY.
(5) Emphasize the importance of this activity as a PROCESS. It is
by calling attention to the need for time management, that it is
a process, and that the process can be learned and modified, that
students will realize that they can succeed at this.
Addendum to this explanation: I surveyed my two Small Groups sections after we
had spent about 30-45 minutes on this activity as to the following questions.
Here are the results:
Ques.: Do you think that discussing time management is useful?
Ans.: 71% (36 out of 51 surveyed) said "yes."
Ques.: Do you think that a device such as this Planner is useful?
Ans.: 51% (26 out of 51 surveyed) said "yes."
Ques.: Do you desire to work on the area of time management personally?
Ans.: 55% (28 out of 51 surveyed) said "yes."
Some students said they didn't think they would "stick to" a system
even if they tried it, one young lady said she just wasn't motivated, and several
students seemed generally apathetic. However, the general sense was that the
students did, indeed, appreciate the discussion and felt that emphasizing the
subject was helpful.
Related
Student Services
The communication
department is in the process of developing a business skills module on time
management which will probably be ready in January. At that time, I will bring
it to the team. I would think that the counseling department has experience in
discussing the subject with students.
this web page was created on 2/24/99 at
4:41:45 PM
and modified on 2/24/99 at 4:41:45 PM