Time Management

Word of the day: Acumen-quick, keen, or accurate knowledge or insight.

One of the most important success factors of online learning, and sanity in general, is time management. One of the first things I do a month before each semester is buy a student planner and a good pen (I have a thing for pens). I prefer buying the planners with the most space to write and the ones with a monthly calender before the start of each month.

Before school starts, I print out each of the syllabuses and write down major dates and assignments in the monthly calender sections. Every Sunday night after school starts, I set aside about thirty minutes to write out my study plan for the following week; this includes my assignments that are do and the amount of time that I will spend each day on each class.

In my effort to be more acumen, I will be trying a new time management strategy this year. I will be taking three classes the first eight weeks and two classes the second eight weeks. My plan for the first eight weeks is as follows (if the syllabus looks like previous ones):

-Monday: Reading and initial discussion post for Contemporary Global Problems

-Tuesday: Reading and initial discussion post for Research Methods

-Wednesday: Reading and initial discussion post for Making of the Christian Mind

-Thursday: All response posts for discussions, work on possible writing assignments/projects

-Friday: Writing assignments/projects

This is just a tentative schedule. I will most likely have to change it from time to time, but it is very important for my stress management to have a game plan. Many people prefer to do a little work in each class each day. There are several approaches that work well for different people. If you have a time management strategy that has worked well for you, please post a comment.