The beginning of the new semester offers students the chance to evaluate what works well and what does not where study habits are concerned. One area where students might see a need for improvement is in time management. Fortunately, Kathleen Laakso, associate dean of students, and Dan Schrader, director of new student programs, offer several tips as to how students may improve their own time management skills.
Recognize Individual Needs: For a student who struggles to manage their day, Schrader recommends that they become aware of some of their tendencies. Students should ask themselves things like how much sleep they need, what their prime times for learning are, if they are an introvert or an extrovert, and what energizes them when working. Students should then set a plan that plays to their strengths. Laakso advises students to remember that this plan should be about building time for all facets of who they are, including time to invest in friends and downtime.
Verbalize a List of Tasks: Students should not hesitate to talk about their schedules when they are feeling overwhelmed. Students may speak to any member of the academic intervention team or just a friend, but “telling someone else what you are doing through the day makes you realize where there are lapses,” Schrader says. Schrader also advises students to write out their schedules as an agenda, breaking it down by the week, day, and even hour in order to fully grasp what tasks need to be completed.
Utilize Time Efficiently: Students should also strive to use their time efficiently. This means placing an emphasis on working harder, not longer. For instance, research shows that it takes an hour and a half of studying at night to equal studying during daylight hours. Thus, in order to study more efficiently, students should take advantage of any free time they might have during the day over the free time they might have at night.
Power Hour: Laakso also advises students to work in 60 minute blocks of time, or power hours, in order to avoid experiencing burnout. During this hour, the student should first articulate a specific goal. Then after 50 minutes of working, the student should stop and do something physical. Upon returning, the student should do a 10-minute review. Read annotations and outlines. This tends to be a more manageable goal and helps to move information into the long term memory. “Research shows that the mind takes away from any given study session what you encounter first and last, and so it is better for the brain to chunk it into smaller pieces,” Laakso says.
Finally, Laakso recommends that students visit the academic support site on Moodle for tips from students and faculty, videos on learning strategies and note taking, and links to outside sources as well.