Time Management Scenario

Some commentators have suggested that students know collectively how to proceed in college so that the collective wisdom can help inform individuals who forget best practices. These educators suggest having students list qualities of good/effective students and teachers at the beginning of a course.

Along those lines, offer students a scenario like the following (based on an actual case) to see what wisdom surfaces.

Procedure: Ask students to reflect individually and then to join a pair or quad (or both in sequence) to pool their wisdom before reporting out to the class--from each group or asking for group recorders or members from the class to list up to 5 good ideas for advising the student in the scenario.

Scenario: The Overextended Student

One of my former students was studying to be a nurse. She was taking four classes, working overnight 12-hour-plus home nursing (Licensed Practical Nurse) shifts, and trying to care for her three teen-aged children. My course was an online course required in her curriculum. She had to pass my course or be dropped from the nursing program.

What would you advise this student to do about her schedule? Consider various forms of academic, psychological, or personal assistance available from teachers, counselors, her program head, family, and other forms of help you can think of.

Advanced Method: The best way to bring home each student's individual time constraints is not just an ice-breaker but a 2-part workshop. Give students a chart showing the hours of the day from 6 a.m. to midnight for 7 days (night-shift workers can vary the hours to leave out their sleep period). Ask students to keep track of their actual time use for one week. Soon after that time has passed, have the students bring in their completed week's time use chart and total their hours spent on classes, academic study outside of class time, work, family, leisure, and "miscellaneous" (e.g. grooming and eating).

Have students confer with each other to make recommendations about managing time. Note the traditional wisdom about spending two hours outside of class studying for each hour of scheduled class time (at least for students who want to pass their courses). Ask students to set as goals what GPA they want to achieve this semester, how much money they need to make from working, and who should still be on speaking terms with them among family and friends by the end of the semester.

Common recommendations that emerge from this exercise are--

	"Turn off the tv."
	Socialize ("hang out") with friends less.
	Get help from friends or family with child care, house keeping chores, and other family responsibilities.

Common recommendations that teachers often add include--

	Anticipate "crunch" times, e.g. during the middle and end of the semester when research papers are due on top of tests covering several chapters or units and spread out the paper preparation and review/study time across the semester.
	Have and be a "study buddy" who will supply good notes for classes missed, note make-up procedures (if any) for a missed quiz or assignment deadline.
	Alert teachers to possible problems ahead of time, e.g. you'll have to miss a class on school holidays because you have children in school. Such problems encourage faculty to be more flexible, to have standing make-up tasks for missed classes, to have more flexible grading practices, such as a make-up day for quizzes or tests, a due "week" instead of a due day, and other "safety net" features. (Not communicating problems to faculty in advance encourages their stereotypical thinking and gives the impression you are not motivated.)

For more ideas, talk to your colleagues who teach courses in reading, study skills, and possibly orientation or psychology.

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