Lesson 2.2:
Time Management

Part 1

Time management is one of the most important skill sets that students need to succeed in online classes. Online classes have many advantages like flexibility and learning at your own pace, but without properly managing your calendar and time, it can be very easy to fall behind on your course work. 

Do you wish you had better time management skills? You’re not alone! Nationally, over 88% of college students say that they are trying to improve their time management skills. 

Improving your time management is like exercising a new muscle group—start implementing small changes on a consistent basis and you’ll see your growth over time. 

Proper management of your time can:

• Alleviate stress and anxiety! Procrastination and an imbalance in your time management can be a serious mental burden as tasks build up over time. 

• Improve your grades! 87% of students polled enjoyed improved grades when they focused on time management

• Have more free time! Yes, really. When you have good time management, you more efficiently budget your time, leaving more time for the things you love to do.

So, what’s the first step to improve your time management? It starts with a careful look at the time investment that you need to make in order to succeed in an online class.

Generally, you should plan to commit at least 3 hours per credit for an academic online course. Most college courses are 3-4 credits, so we’re talking a minimum of 9-12 hours per course. If you’re a full-time student, that means that you’re dedicating 40+ hours per week to your schoolwork. 

Part 2

You may be thinking to yourself that 9-12 hours per course sounds like a lot. However, between completing your reading for the week, watching live or recorded lectures, writing discussion posts and papers, and studying for tests, the hours truly add up. It also adds up because a successful online student will login to their learning management system almost every day, attend some office hours, and reach out to peers and their professor as needed. 

Now that you know what is required to successfully pass an online course, the next step is take an honest and thorough look at the responsibilities in your life (because we know you have many!) to see if you have enough time to commit to your learning.

We know this kind of time accounting can be hard, but doing this process before starting classes can save you a lot of grief in the future, such as paying and registering for courses, but not being able to pass them or needing to withdraw. 

So, let’s do a quick itemization of your time. Below, you will find a form that lists many of the tasks that you might find yourself doing in a day.

Take a second to fill out that first section “How many hours do you do?” with an honest accounting of how you spend your time now—how many hours do you spend on each column?

Next, remember how many hours do you need a week to successfully pass an online class? We’re talking about 9-12 hours per course. So, with this in mind, fill out the second column “How many hours should you do?” You may find yourself rerouting some hours spent on TikTok or traveling on the weekend and putting them toward studying.

Remember, there are 168 hours in a week, so if you prioritize doing well in school and staying healthy (by getting enough sleep, spending some time with friends, and exercising), you should be able to devote enough time to studying. 

You may have to make some tough decisions in order to achieve your academic goals. Don’t forget that these sacrifices to prioritize your academic goals won’t last forever and that YOU and YOUR FUTURE are worth it in the long term.

Let’s take a look at a potential student, Basha, and how she went through this time accounting process.

Basha is a 35-year-old student working toward her bachelor's degree in special education.

Basha:

• Cares for her 7- and 10-year-old children 6 hours per day. 

• Sleeps about 7 hours per day

• Spends 1.5 hour per day on personal care, bathing, and exercising

• Spends 2 hours per day on household chores, errands, and food preparation

• Takes three courses, so needs to reserve 36 hours per week for class time, lectures, studying, and working on assignments 

Let’s break down Basha’s daily and weekly obligations:

• Childcare: 6 hours/day, 42 hours/week

• Sleep: 7 hours/day, 49 hours/week

• Personal care, bathing, etc.: 1 hours/day, 7 hours/week

• Household chores: 2 hours/day, 14hours/week

• Three courses: 36 hours/week

• Total: 148 hours/week

Given that there are 168 hours in a week, Basha has another 20 hours in her week to do whatever she would like with—nearly three hours per day.

The next step is to apply this to your own situation!

• Fill out your own chart—list must-do tasks like childcare, work hours, and travel

• Add in your study time—that's 9-12 hours multiplied by the number of courses you’re taking

• Add in important items that aren’t critical—this can be items that you could easily reduce or alter such as intramural sports, board game nights with friends, going to the mall, etc. 

• Add up your weekly totals and see—do you have enough time in a week to meet your commitments?

Part 3

Now that you’ve accounted for your time, let’s go over some tricks and tips that will make your study hours more efficient and effective.

First, let’s acknowledge some universal truths that can make time management hard!

• When you have something on your plate that you HAVE to do, doing it can feel very unpleasant

• Time moves faster than you expect it to

• Assignments take longer than you expect them to

With that in mind, many of our tips rely on anticipating when your assignments are due, giving yourself extra time when you can, and avoiding procrastination. When it comes to motivating yourself to do schoolwork when you’d rather sleep, we’ll have tips on self-motivation and willpower in our next module.

So, without further ado, here are EIGHT proven tips to help you better manage your time:

1. Consolidate your syllabi. To better manage your time, you must anticipate and plan for busy weeks when many assignments are due. Here’s how you do it:

   • Take your paper calendar, or an online calendar, and assign a color to each of your courses. Then, write each course’s weekly meeting and due dates in your calendar, using that course’s color. Repeat this for all other courses that you’re taking. This way, one calendar holds all your assignments and you can see in advance when you have heavy weeks with multiple assignments due

2. Know Your Study Preferences. Knowing your studying preferences is one of the best ways to optimize your time. Many students are night owls and do their best work between 8pm-11pm. Others can only write papers first thing in the morning, where research indicates that motivation is highest. When putting aside time to study or write papers, consider:

   • At what time of the day do you feel most productive?

   • Where do you do your best work? The library? Your kitchen table?

   • With whom do you like to work? With a study group, or studying solo?

   • What are the conditions where you study best? With music, or without? 

3. Mix Up your Task Lists.  It can be overwhelming for any student when they look at a big pile of work that they have to finish. It’s often a recipe for procrastination. To combat this, mix up the task you take on by starting with the easier task to get a quick win, or starting with the hardest task to get it out of the way. Based on how you’re feeling, you can skip between easy and hard tasks in the same day. This ensures that you’re tackling your big projects while still getting smaller assignments out of the way. 

4. Use the Pomodoro Technique. Go to tomatotimers.com and do a Pomodoro—a 25-minute burst of uninterrupted work with a five-minute break afterwards. No notifications, conversations, or phone use is allowed during the 25-minute interval—only focused work. If you’re having trouble working during the Pomodoro, allow yourself to zone out a bit by looking out the window or around your environment—but NOT at your phone! Sooner or later, you’ll be ready to return to the assignment at hand

5. Make a 3-item to-do list. Make a to-do list that outlines your study goals for that day. List two things that you have to do, and one thing that would be nice if you could get it done. Make sure you get the two “have to do” items done, and put your best effort in to do the “nice to do” item to help your future self

6. Focus on Healthy Habits. Time management is a lot easier when you’re getting the sleep you need, healthy foods to nourish you, and time to move your body at least a few times a week. Oftentimes when we’re feeling burned out from too many responsibilities, taking a 20-minute walk can help you refresh much more than 20 minutes of TV. Keeping yourself healthy leads to less stress, which makes it easier to complete your work

7. Use an App! There are a variety of great apps that can help you manage your time. We recommend:

   • Todoist – make to-do lists on your phone

   • Trello – drag and drop assignments you completed into your “done” list

   • Cold Turkey – block distracting games, websites, and applications

   • Headspace – Use their ten free mediations to give your brain a rest and then resume work refreshed and focused

8. Talk it out. Juggling the multiple responsibilities of work, school, and your personal life is challenging. When you fall behind on something, forgive yourself first and remember that everything can be fixed as long as you haven’t waited until the last minute! Then, reach out to those who can help you, such as:

   • Your professor, so that you can inform them of the difficulties you’re encountering

   • Your friends and family, who can listen and support you, and help you strategize a solution for the problem that you’re facing.