Progess: Time Management Tip

I talked with colleagues the other day about ways they manage their time. Each of my colleagues had a slightly different approach, but the common theme was a real commitment to scheduling specific time for specific projects. For example, one said, "On Monday, I prep for class; on Tuesday, I write; on Wednesday, etc." The benefits were obvious: schedule a project and it's likely to be completed. Not exactly a new revelation, but for some of us who are less structured, the idea may be novel. As I continued investigating this, I read Julie Morgenstern's Time Management From the Inside Out while traveling. The ideas were great and seemed very do-able. I had the opportunity to try out one of the ideas last week after students submitted case study analyses. Following Julie's guidelines, I timed myself to see how long it took me to review a paper and provide feedback. I made sure to include all of the steps involved: download the document, review the document, add the rubric to the end of the document, type narrative comments, complete the rubric, and upload the document back to our course site. I allowed myself 40 minutes for each paper. I further divided the task by determining the number of papers I'd review each day. I planned to complete 3 - 4 reviews per day. By having this goal in mind, I could complete a review, move on to other projects, and later come back to another review. I also set a timer for myself using an on-line stopwatch. This kept me on track throughout the week. By the end of the week, I was completing the reviews in much less time than I had allocated. The feedback was substantial and focused on "big picture" issues (i.e., the overall analysis and conclusions). I kept track of some common areas that need attention, such as APA formatting, and will provide general comments to the entire class regarding these issues. I finished the reviews a day earlier than I had expected, which means students received timely feedback that will help them as they work on their next paper. The success of this effort is, of course, self-reinforcing! I feel great, the project wasn't nearly as daunting as it has felt in the past, and I have a much better sense of how to manage similar projects. Next up: scheduling different types of projects & adding them to my planner!