2.9: Time Management in College

Learning Objectives

This is a unit for teaching time management to college students, including:

1. Introduction: Why manage time in college?
2. How to make master calendars (month at-a-glance)
3. How to make weekly routines
4. How to make daily to-do lists

Many college students are unprepared to manage their own time. In high school, teachers manage time for students - announcing deadlines, breaking long assignments into small chunks with repeated accountability milestones, etc. Also in high school teachers review and teach everything a student needs to know in class. Last but not least, many college students are needing to balance work and/or family with school demands.

Time management unit with lessons

Background: In Effective Learning (EL115) it was typical to spend a week (3 class hours plus homework) on time management. In College Preparatory Reading (RD80) it was typical to spend several class days on this and assign related homework. 

The goal in this unit was to teach students to use a trio of paper-based time management tools simultaneously during the term. See below for a summary, with a sample lesson plan and resources for each of these tools. 

Note

I gleaned and this material from other instructors at Lane Community College, testing out their resources and trying out a variety of textbooks. All thanks to others for sharing and educating me - all errors are mine. Essential Study Skills, by former Lane Community College faculty member Linda Wong, is a thorough teaching reference.

Why college students need to manage their time

1. Objective: Students identify the need to manage their time in college.

2. Scenarios: I have used and adapted student problem scenarios from that term’s reading and effective learning textbooks (copyright materials). You could create new (and better) ones. Textbook scenarios could be used as models for the format. I listed below the big ideas that you want the sample scenarios to set up for your whole class discussion. Divide the ideas among the stories in your sample for more realism.

3. Agenda:

• Put students in groups of three. 

• Give each trio a handout that has a story of a student having a time management problem. A sample of  three scenarios works well. Here are big ideas that you want students to learn from working with your three-problem sample:

  • In college students have to track their own deadlines and manage their time 

  • It’s stressful for most people to keep your deadlines in your head

  • It’s stressful and time-consuming to have to figure out what to do/when each day

  • Your time to focus on school can get lost as you take care of other obligations like work, family, friends, etc. unless you consciously protect it

  • You can study less if you study with no distractions, when you are alert 

  • You can study less if you study regularly - attending every class, doing the homework on time helps your brain absorb the material gradually by repetition

  • Maybe your schedule is unmanageable and by using time management tools you’ll see that in time to adjust by asking for support and/or dropping something

• Ask the trio to read the story silently or aloud to each other (S choice) and then discuss the problem and possible solutions.

• Wrap-up with whole class: Have trios share problems and conclusions. See list of big ideas, above, for emphasis and drawing out during whole class discussion.

4. Common myths:

• I got by in high school without planning (college is different, college instructors can tell you it is rare for students to succeed without some kind of system)

• I can study fine with distractions (yes, some people can, but the brain isn’t wired for this, see more on this in the Brain Rules site)

• I can cram effectively (for exams your brain needs long-term memory, which the brain can’t make in a cram session, see more on this in the Brain Rules site)

• Seeing my deadlines freaks me out (me too, but then if I don’t look and get a handle on this, I’m going to have several bigger freaks coming at me when I least expect it)

5. Extensions for teacher and students/Open Education Resource:  The brain is the tool you use to learn. If you know how the brain works, you know how to study efficiently (avoid stress and study for less time with better results) and how to support students’ learning. John Medina’s brain rules book and website is excellent. On the website there are short, relatively entertaining videos explaining how the brain works (scroll down to the list of links for the 12 rules). Also here is an interesting article from the Cornell University site for students with another way to think about  time management for people who are not list-making types.

Master schedule/monthly calendar lesson

1. Objective: Students prepare a master schedule for all of their courses and college deadlines.

2. Tool: A master schedule shows a month at a glance with all college deadlines, including assignments in all courses, scholarship or registration deadlines, etc. Here is a link to a blank tool form. 

The purposes of this tool: 

• See where deadlines overlap. 

• Prepare in advance for assignments that will take time to complete. 

• Decrease stress by using a calendar, instead of relying on memory, to keep track of deadlines.

3. Agenda:

• Give students 2 blank forms and a model of the form already filled out. 

• Review the instructions. 

• Demonstrate how to fill out the form 

• Have students start filling out the form for a few minutes with a partner in class 

• Have students complete the form at home 

• Have students bring completed form back to class

• Put students in pairs, have them review the other’s draft using these directions

• Have pairs share common problems and questions from the review

• Give students time to start making changes in class with partner support

• Have students update their forms at home

• Ask students to bring the forms to class every day - you can spot check as needed

• When you introduce a deadline for a few weeks, ask students to enter on master sched.

• After a few weeks, when you introduce a deadline, ask students what they need to do…

• Towards end of term, ask students to use master sched. to tell you deadlines coming up 

4. Common Errors: 

• Writing in pen instead of pencil - deadlines may change 

• Putting this somewhere you don't see it (try the front of a binder, the refrigerator, etc.).

• Neglecting to update this during the term as deadlines are announced and change

• Putting weekly routine entries here, such as when classes meet

5. Open Educational Resources: 

My favorite is the Dartmouth College time management site, especially the link to the Cornell University directions for the monthly calendar and weekly routine, also the videos (minus pictures of Dartmouth campus).

Weekly routine lesson:

1. Objective: Students prepare a weekly routine.

2. Tool: A weekly routine shows all academic, personal and work routines for each day of the week, including work, transportation, sleep, meals, exercise, and regular personal obligations like preparing meals, housework, errands, taking care of children or family, community/religious activities, group meetings and standing appointments, etc. 

Note that weekly routines often have to be updated during the term, for example, when a work schedule or a transportation arrangement changes. 

There are forms on the Dartmouth College site. Here is a link to a Lane version of a blank tool form and a model form. Here are samples from one student: 1,2,3,4, and a sample from another student. Here is a link to a Lane worksheet for calculating the amount of study time needed (see below). 

The purposes of this tool: 

• Take stock of what you are trying to do each day of the week and each week.

• See where demands on your time overlap. 

• Create sufficient study time (2 study hours for every hour of class each week/credit hour for classes that have homework, in other words, don’t count gym)

• Decrease stress by moving around the activities that are in your control.

• Decrease stress by making regular time for sleep, meals, exercise and fun.

• Increase the amount you learn by studying in small, regular chunks at times when you are likely that material best (max 50 mins. in a study block followed by a 10 min. break, no more than 3 blocks in a row without a bigger break, good time of day for you, just before a math or language class and just after a lecture class)

• Decrease stress by increasing the amount of time in your week when you can move from activity to activity on auto-pilot (saving your energy and attention for better things than figuring out what to do next).

3. Agenda: Same as for master schedule/monthly calendar, except use these directions for the peer review step.

4. Common Errors: 

• Writing in pen instead of pencil - it takes time and testing to develop a solid routine

• Putting this somewhere you don't see it (try the front of a binder, the refrigerator, etc.)

• Starting this in week one but neglecting to test it out and adjust it during the term - if your work or child care schedule changes, your routine will need to be adjusted

• Being unrealistic - you may need more support from family, friends, the college and your employer than you thought - ask and explore your options

• Skimping on time for sleep and exercise, which your brain needs in order to learn

5. Alternatives: 

One way students learn they need to manage time is by finding out how they spend their time without planning. Before you ask students to create a future routine, assign them to record how they spend their time on the blank form. They could also analyze this data, for example, by creating a pie chart comparing the time spent on school (class and study), work, family, free time, etc. Here is a student sample from Week 1, revisited by the same student with another sample in Week 10.  

Another way to support students in learning about how to create a good routine would be to have them analyze the student samples, using the links above, comparing the results to the purposes to see if the student has effective routines, and to see what is changing over time in the students’ life.

Another alternative is to have students explore phone-based systems, apps and online resources.

6. Extension: With a final project or final exam looming, you can review this technique and help students prepare by asking students to make special routines to plan for the weeks before the big deadline. Here is a link to directions.

7. Open Educational Resources: My favorite is the Dartmouth College time management site, especially the link there to the succinct Cornell University directions for the monthly calendar and weekly routine. The student videos are helpful, too, although the visuals are all about the Dartmouth campus, which could be off-putting.

Daily to do list lesson:

1. Objective: Students create a series of daily to do lists.

2. Tool: Daily to do lists show what you hope to accomplish tomorrow, with the things that must get done tomorrow at the top. 

The purposes of this tool: 

• Take stock of what you are trying to do tomorrow

• See what the demands on your time will be 

• Figure out which things must get done, and which ones can wait for another day

• Decrease stress by moving around the activities that are in your control

• Decrease stress by figuring out what to start so you can work on your list when you are fresh (instead of using that time to figure out what to do)

3. Common errors:

• making the list at the start of the day (overwhelming and usually derailing)

• putting too much on the list

• not taking time to put things in order (must do vs. in my dreams)

4. Agenda: Same as for master schedule/monthly calendar, except with different directions for the peer review step.