Time managementOverview : Time Eaters

Time Assessment

Time Planners

Planning:

Busy doing nothing?

“ Busy doing nothing,

nearly the whole day through,

trying to find lots of things not to do”Jimmy Van Heusen Johnny Burke, (1949) "Busy Doing Nothing [From a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]"

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court, 1949,

Motion Picture, Paramount Pictures, USA

Planning:

Busy doing nothing?

• What are your Chronophages?

• What activities could change?

• What habit could you change?

• Try listing your activities for each week

• Break it down by time spent (hours or

days)

• Then analyse – how effectively

was the time spent?Thinking Thinking

OnOn

KeepKeep

• When you go away, try analysing how you

work..

Planning:

Busy doing nothing?

DAY 1

Intended

Use of Time

Actual

Use of Time

Morning

Afternoon

Evening

Thinking Thinking

OnOn

KeepKeep

Planning:

Busy doing nothing?

http://www.open.ac.uk/skillsforstudy/planning-and-prioritising.php

Time ManagementMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

mo

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Planning: How much time

does study need?

• Enough time?

• Rethink your commitments?

• Time may vary each week

• Actively Prioritising ?

Prioritising

Add assignments,

any deadlines and

all the other things

you need or would

like to do.

importantDo this NOW!

Start it before it becomes urgent

Do it if you can

Enough time?

Commitments?

Actively prioritise

Notimportant

Originally adapted from Stephen Covey (1989) The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Planning: Prioritising

• Try using a time line

ESSAY EXAMSDISSERT

ATION

Planning: Prioritising• Post it planner

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

mo

rnin

ga

fte

rno

on

eve

nin

g

Planning

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

mo

rnin

ga

fte

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on

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This week I would like to achieve…

Break the task down.

Review your plan:

• Review how realistic your plan was.

• What worked well and what didn’t?

• What can you do differently?

• Don’t expect your plan to work

perfectly the first time.

• Don’t give up!

• Seek help or advice

if you need it.

MSc Time• MSc require time

• Why?

• Not just because of the amount of

research and writing

• But

• Not everything runs to plan!

• Because of the time required to process

information and make connections to

reach that higher level

Tools for Time Management

• Assess HONESTLY time usage

• Identify Eaters of Time

(Chronophage – John C Taylor)

• Implement change

• Use time planners

(sessional, weekly, daily, hourly)

• Keep reviewing your use of time

Resources

http://www.ed.ac.uk/s

chools-

departments/institute

-academic-

development/postgra

duate/taught

Resources

http://www.ed.ac.uk/

schools-

departments/institut

e-academic-

development/postgr

aduate/taught/learni

ng-resources

Resources

Link to blog http://iad4masters.wordpress.com/

Twitter: @iad4masters

Contact: iad.masters@ed.ac.uk

This work may be adapted from or based on

previous work produced by the

Institute for Academic Development

University of Edinburgh

Dr Frances Parry

Institute for Academic Development

University of Edinburgh

f.parry@ed.ac.uk

Main IAD PGT pages link: http://www.ed.ac.uk/iad/postgraduates

Link to blog http://iad4masters.wordpress.com/

Twitter: @iad4masters

Contact: iad.masters@ed.ac.uk

Forward Thinking

Dr Frances ParryInstitute for Academic DevelopmentUniversity of Edinburgh

Forward Thinking

Overview : Reflection Self Assessment

Effective Learning

“ Insanity: doing the same thing over and over

again and expecting different results”

Albert Einstein

Reflection: The Big Picture

Graduate

Attributeshttp://www.employability.ed.ac.uk/

GraduateAttributesFramework.ht

m

Employabilityhttp://www.employability.ed.ac.uk/St

udent/index.html

Wisdom

A wise woman once said…

Wisdom is the ability to be self aware and

to action changes within yourself.

A wise student…

• Takes responsibility

• Understands what learning is

• Transfers/adapts skills

• Develops good study habits

• Makes sound judgements about her

or his own learning

Students develop study wisdom by…

• Experiencing and experimenting

• Thinking

• Reflecting

• Hearing from and observing peers

• Articulating their experiences and insights

• Hearing from and observing experts

• Making informed choices

What is reflection?

Exploration / examination of ourselves and our

actions (often written but also spoken)

– considered

– rational, unemotional*

– in relation to theory / wider context / other

perspectives

Why do it?

– to develop understanding / learning / skills

– and give us a path by which to move forward*(even though it can deals with feelings, reactions and emotions)

The basics:

Experience

ReflectionAction

Contexts and purposes

• Episode / experience/ process

– Short/specific e.g. lectures you have taken,

procedures you have carried out

– Longer process e.g. project work, group work,

course work

– Critical incident - Positive or negative

• Our own development, e.g. skills, strengths,

challenges (though may be required for education or

work)

Borton’s (1970) cue questions:

What?

So what?

Now what?

(Cited in Jasper, 2003, p.99)

• What are the characteristics of an interested

and motivated learner?

• What are the characteristics of a non-motivated

learner?

• Which learner are you?

• When have you been really involved in learning

something and when have you found something

really difficult?

• What does the difference tell you about

yourself?

Your personal learning

experience

More structured e.g. Gibbs (1988)

Description

Feelings

Evaluation

Analysis

Conclusion

Action plan

(Cited in Jasper,

2003 .p.77 but, N.B.

she puts description

instead of analysis!)

Reflection Exercise

• Consider the last 3 months..

• When did you do well?

• How did you feel about the task?

• What did you do to achieve this

success?

• Fill in the reflective table – noting down

as much as you can about the

experience –

Are you self aware?

Tools for self reflection

• Identify: strengths or weaknesses

• Grades

• Feedback

• Peers

• Self review sheet

• Personal development and/or study skills books

• Personal folio

Are you self aware?

Tools for self reflection

http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/institute-academic-development/postgraduate/taught

Effective Learning

What is effective

learning?

Active or passive?

Passive Active

Re-reading your notes

Summarising your notes

Copying from the textbook

Planning answers to past questions

Making mind maps

Highlighting your notes

Copying out quotes

Recording key points36

Effective Learning

Effective Learning: So how do you Work?

• Passively or actively?

• What is working actively?

• How can you make your

study more effective?

Effective Learning: Organise & Structure

• Organising and structuring notes:

– Thinking about inter-relationships

– Relating what you are learning to

‘real-life’ situations.

– Organising material into a

meaningful structure.

Effective Learning: Visual cues

• Employ visual memory

• Write out formula

• Use diagrams

• Cover

• Check

• Draw and annotate

• Flow charts/diagrams

Effective Learning: All together now…

• PEER Work

There are different ways to work with peers…

• Study groups

• Share notes

• Present topics/subjects to each other

• Different perspective – perhaps sharing

notes

• Set each other exam or assignment questions

“What we found was that the students who did

not get ‘the point’, failed to do so simply because

they were not looking for it. The main difference

we found in the process of learning concerned

whether students focused on the text itself or on

what the text was about: the author’s intention,

the main point, the conclusion to be drawn.”

Marton and Saljo (1997) p43

Effective Learning: Critically

evaluate

Effective Learning: Critically

evaluate

• Look for similarities or differences.

• Looking points for and against an argument.

• Try to understand how formulae work.

• Critically evaluating what you are learning.

Using a framework

Case study A Case study B Case study C

Them

e 1

Them

e 2

Th

em

e 3

Using a framework: Compare and

contrastCase study A

differences

Similarities Case study B

differences

Them

e 1

Them

e 2

Th

em

e 3

Summary1. Take control by:• Reflecting• planning • prioritising• preparing

2. Work effectively

3. Review progress (prepare strategies)

Resources

http://www.ed.ac.uk/s

chools-

departments/institute

-academic-

development/postgra

duate/taught

Resources

http://www.ed.ac.uk/

schools-

departments/institut

e-academic-

development/postgr

aduate/taught/learni

ng-resources

Resources

Link to blog http://iad4masters.wordpress.com/

Twitter: @iad4masters

Contact: iad.masters@ed.ac.uk

This work may be adapted from or based on

previous work produced by the

Institute for Academic Development

University of Edinburgh

Dr Frances Parry

Institute for Academic Development

University of Edinburgh

f.parry@ed.ac.uk

Main IAD PGT pages link: http://www.ed.ac.uk/iad/postgraduates

Link to blog http://iad4masters.wordpress.com/

Twitter: @iad4masters

Contact: iad.masters@ed.ac.uk