Your Time Management Skills-2

Time management is a skill that is refined over time. Each time faculty teach an online course, they will get better at finding shortcuts to reduce the amount of time they spend teaching while maintaining the same level of quality.

As faculty teach their course each semester, they should maintain a list of potential revisions that can help save time and streamline the course. Faculty may collect data from student evaluations, ideas gathered from the students, and observations about their own workload. This information can help them to revise the course each semester, creating a better learning experience for the students while maintaining their own sanity and ability to manage the online classroom.

Time Management and Organization

Effective time management and organization go hand in hand. If a faculty starts a course well organized, it is easier to quickly locate the information and resources they will need in order to facilitate it.

Prior to the start of the course, one strategy faculty can use is to decide how they want to organize their content, both on their computer and within the course management system. Developing a file system that works with their own mental organizational structures will help them to have things on hand as they are teaching their courses. For example, do they want to organize their files and resources by units, or by type of content? Using a system of nested folders on their computer can help make the content easy to locate.

They may also want to create folders for each course that they facilitate, and each assignment that students will be submitting to maintain well-organized records of what happens during the course. Faculty may also want to organize their readings, announcements, files, and templates so that they are all within one easy to access space. Recommend that they pick a strategy and a structure that will work for them and that they can easily remember and follow.

Clear organization does not end with their own content on their computer, but also with the content that is loaded for students into the course management system. This organization will not only help faculty to easily find content but will also help students to quickly find what they need to do for the course, thereby reducing the number of questions they ask. Recommend they choose a structure for the course, and be consistent. Will the content be organized by modules, weeks, or units? Remember to clearly name things so they are easy to locate, and try to minimize the number of mouse clicks it takes the students to reach the content.

Another way of getting organized is to create basic templates for recurring elements of the courses and teaching, including templates for the syllabus, for learning modules, for student feedback, and for announcements. These templates can be used across courses and within a course to more quickly create well-formatted and organized content. The templates should include different fields for all of the relevant information, along with notes the faculty include for themselves about what should go in each area.

Information Overload & Assignment Creep 

Electronic structures of information put so many potential resources at our fingertips that it becomes easy to overload our courses with rich content and related assignments.  Are your tempted to post every bit of content you encounter so that your course is truly comprehensive?  Consider being very strategic about readings and assignments by keeping your eyes on the ball: focus on what the students need to learn and work backward.  This approach will result in better time management as there is less grading and preparation needed. 

Design practices to aspire to:

1. Developing skills of observation and interrogation to identify when your course is too content-heavy, too light, or just right.  Focusing on the achievement of streamlined alignment of course activities and learning outcomes will help.

2. Evaluating (regularly) how many assignments are students doing and whether something you have included is a "like to have" or a "need to have" so that they leave the class more knowledgeable and competent in the field.

3. Utilizing backward design in assignment strategies for effective time management.