Task Management

     Wow! Can't believe it is our last blog post already the semester flew by so fast. That being said I have learned a lot about not only myself but about my learning habits. I realized that I was an avid procrastinator who is unorganized. However, throughout the semester I have acquired many skills that have helped me grow as a leaner and I am confident will help me for the rest of my academic career.
    This week with task management I revisited a strategy that I had used in the past that really helped me with completing my homework assignments. Chucking the task, is something I will forever use. Since the first time I used it I was able to complete my homework assignments in a much more timely fashion. It allowed me to exactly map out when and what I was going to do and ensure an end time. One of my biggest problems with homework assignments is sitting down and completing the task. This strategy allows me to split up my assignments into manageable sections. This week I decided to use chunking the task for two of my courses PRL-206 and IST-195.
    For PRL-206 I have a huge paper coming up that requires me to interview a professional in the field. Therefore, this isn't a paper that can be done the night before let alone a week before it is due. That's why chunking the task was a great strategy to use. I was able to make a chart and literally list everything I had to do. In addition to this I made a target planner and channeled some of the things I used during my paper experiment in order to ensure success. In one column I wrote my goal and in the other column I broke down all the tasks I needed to accomplish. Although, the paper isn't due yet I have made a lot of progress and I am confident I will finish the paper and receive a good grade.
   The next course I used chunking the task in was IST-195. We received a project with a very short time to complete it. The assignment was to teach someone either older than 25 or younger than 17 to use a computer program of your choice. Then we must create a powerpoint presentation with 15-30 slides explaining the process. I knew that with my procrastination skills I wasn't going to complete this entire project in one sitting so I chunked the task and decided how I was going to complete the entire assignment. In addition, I knew I had to get it done by a specific time because I wasn't going to be around on the weekend to do it.

   Chunking the task has helped me with not only these two assignments but a lot throughout the semester. I plan on using this strategy for not only assignments throughout college but for things in life after I graduate.

Task Management

     Wow! Can't believe it is our last blog post already the semester flew by so fast. That being said I have learned a lot about not only myself but about my learning habits. I realized that I was an avid procrastinator who is unorganized. However, throughout the semester I have acquired many skills that have helped me grow as a leaner and I am confident will help me for the rest of my academic career.
    This week with task management I revisited a strategy that I had used in the past that really helped me with completing my homework assignments. Chucking the task, is something I will forever use. Since the first time I used it I was able to complete my homework assignments in a much more timely fashion. It allowed me to exactly map out when and what I was going to do and ensure an end time. One of my biggest problems with homework assignments is sitting down and completing the task. This strategy allows me to split up my assignments into manageable sections. This week I decided to use chunking the task for two of my courses PRL-206 and IST-195.
    For PRL-206 I have a huge paper coming up that requires me to interview a professional in the field. Therefore, this isn't a paper that can be done the night before let alone a week before it is due. That's why chunking the task was a great strategy to use. I was able to make a chart and literally list everything I had to do. In addition to this I made a target planner and channeled some of the things I used during my paper experiment in order to ensure success. In one column I wrote my goal and in the other column I broke down all the tasks I needed to accomplish. Although, the paper isn't due yet I have made a lot of progress and I am confident I will finish the paper and receive a good grade.
   The next course I used chunking the task in was IST-195. We received a project with a very short time to complete it. The assignment was to teach someone either older than 25 or younger than 17 to use a computer program of your choice. Then we must create a powerpoint presentation with 15-30 slides explaining the process. I knew that with my procrastination skills I wasn't going to complete this entire project in one sitting so I chunked the task and decided how I was going to complete the entire assignment. In addition, I knew I had to get it done by a specific time because I wasn't going to be around on the weekend to do it.

   Chunking the task has helped me with not only these two assignments but a lot throughout the semester. I plan on using this strategy for not only assignments throughout college but for things in life after I graduate.

Task Management

One of the hardest parts about schoolwork, is managing your tasks. I always find myself writing down every assignment I have, but never the steps to complete tasks individually. When given an assignment, I think one of the most important things you can do before starting is sit down and simply write out the steps to completion. This technique helps a lot because not only does it organize your assignment, but also it creates less stress because you can physically see each step written out neatly.

I did the Things-to-do strategy for my PSC 121 class. My priority is to study for my final exam, which is approaching soon. I then proceeded to list everything I needed to do in order to complete the task of studying for my final. Previously to making this chart, I did not really know what I was going to do or how I was going to study for this test, however, now that it is written out, all I have to do now is follow through and complete each “to-do.”

I also did was the Putting It All Together: Course Matrix strategy. I used this for my PHI 192 class. I found that this strategy would have been more helpful if I did it in the beginning of the course. Then I could have been able to see every detail right from the beginning. This strategy definitely helps to make you realize what you need to do and how you should study for certain courses. I would definitely recommend doing this technique for every course in the beginning of each semester.

L A M E

I am the type of Learner who needs things to be written out and organized. The Things-to-do strategy, which is the Action I took, definitely helped me visualize each step so I knew exactly what I needed to do. The Materials I used was a chart, for both Things-to-do and Putting It All Together: Course Matrix strategies. My Evaluation for both strategies is different. I definitely benefited from Things-to-do and would have benefitted from the other strategy, if I had completed it earlier in the semester.

Task Managment

In my opinion task management is one of the main reasons for success in college or any other academic setting. Being able to rightfully manage your time and tasks is crucial for many reasons. If you can manage your tasks properly your stress level will be lower and your grades will most likely be higher. Two strategies I implement for task management are sticky notes and making a study calendar.

Sticky notes are great because I am a visual learner. I know I have mentioned it before in a blog, but Apples sticky note app works wonders for me. It is right there on the screen every time I log on. Also you can change the colors so I make blue my daily reminders and the yellow ones for the rest of the week so I can stay on top of my tasks. The material I use it for range from school work, to phone calls, to even emails- whatever needs to get done I put on a sticky note.

Going along with theme of Apple applications, iCAL also is very helpful. Because I am a visual learner having the visual of a calendar with the specific tasks I need to accomplish (also with the times listed) is extremely beneficial to me. I used this for my psych class. This is because I have a very big test coming up, so I divided up the workload (as shown above). The study calendar has kept me on track and will hopefully lead to success on this exam.

Task management is underatedly one of the most important aspects of doing well in college. This is because it incorporates time management as well. As a student you have to be able to make time for all your tasks to be completed properly. CLS has taught me how to do this not only by techniques such as sticky notes and study calendars but also by: 10 minute vacation, and most importantly chunking the task. Learning these will not only be helpful for my time in college but for life in general.

Time management

     When I did the faculty interview project, I asked a same question to professors. It was what the most important thing in college life is. Surprisingly, professors said same answer, time management. First semester in college was the most difficult time to me. In college, no one controls my time. I have to coordinate schedule, attend classes, do assignments before due dates, do extra curriculums, and do everything by myself. It gives freedom to me; however, it gives responsibility, too. Now, I can understand why professors said that time management is the most important thing in college life. So, in this tech assignment, I am going to write about my time management strategies.

This is my scheduler that I bring all the time.
     First, I schedule realistic amounts of time for doing assignments. Of course, it is hard to estimate realistic amounts of time, however, it is a quite important strategy. It saves time a lot. At the beginning of the semester in each of my classes, I scheduled myself on a typical assignment to determine the actual amount of time required for assignments in that class, and then plan accordingly. As a VPA major student, I have lots of art project. Professors usually give a quarter of the semester for a huge project. So, it is so important to schedule realistic amounts of time for doing projects.

      Second, I use my prime-time hours. I realize that I usually forget something easier than others. So, I bring a scheduler all the time. In the scheduler, I write the most urgent assignment with a red pen. I also write the time of the day that I am most alert. These are my prime-time hours. I use those hours for doing the majority of my work. My concentration will be the best during that time. I pay particular attention to doing these hours. I feel comport in the evening as my prime-time hours. So, I use my prime-time hours for difficult assignments and huge projects.

      Third, I schedule short study breaks. When I do assignments for a long time, I feel stressful and difficult to concentrate. So, I schedule short breaks between my studying. In order to plan when to take breaks, I consider a logical stopping point in the topic or a reasonable time span for my work. I schedule a 15 minute study break for every 60 minutes of studying. It can be different depending on my studying/project and level of interest. Short study break is essential to me. It gives me time to think about the studying, get re-energized, and concentrate next studying.


     Every people have 24 hours in a day. However, it can be short, long, and reasonable time depending on how to use time. When I use my time without scheduling, I usually waste my time for needless things. When I use my time with the time management strategies, I can use my time wisely, do assignments with best conditions, and finish projects before the due dates. The time management strategies help me a lot to adjust in college life. I want to recommend these strategies to others.

I schedule short breaks that help me to concentrate next studying,

Use prime-time hours wisely for doing assignments.

task managment

I have used many task management strategies. Lots of strategies help me to focus better on studying. Among those task management strategies, I have continuously used 'Divide by Four'. Especially for Japanese class, which is my hardest class, this strategy has worked well. This strategy helps me to organize my work. I'm a student who was not used to do work by organizing. For an instance, when I wrote an essay, I just wrote the whole essay at once, without much thinking. This always causes bad results. After using 'Divide by Four', however, I can write an essay more efficiently. Also, it helps me to deter procrastination. I do not think of other things such as doing computer while I'm doing 'Divide by Four', because I have to do my work step by step. For this week, I use 'Divide by Four' for my Japanese essay. The picture below is my 'Divide by Four'.



There are four sections at 'Divide by Four', which are (1) prepare, (2) start, (3) continue and (4) finish. For the (1) prepare, I brainstorm all the ideas that I'm going to write on the essay. Then, I put those ideas and make into sentences for (2) start. For (3) continue, I put more information and make examples to make the sentences longer. For the last step, (4) finish, I write the whole essay with introduction, body and conclusion. I also reread the essay and correct the wrong parts. With this step, I can get much better grade on Japanese essay. I also find it easy to write an essay with this division than just write it. Since I'm a kinesthetic learner, I like to do something like this, which I can do actively. By dividing four sections, I do not feel boring while I'm doing it.

I often use 'Divide by Four' with 'Priority List', which is another task management strategy. I first do the 'Priority List', decide what I need to do first. Then, I do the 'Divide by Four'. For an instance, if I decide to do Japanese essay first, by 'Priority List', I use 'Divide by Four' to write an organized essay. I need to write down all the lists I need to do, and decide the priority thing I need to do. The priority ranking is often decided by the due dates of the task and the importance of the task. For this week, I also make the 'Priority List'. The picture below is my 'Priority List'.



I put down the three things that I need to complete in this week. Then, I put numbers. Number one is the most important thing to do, then the second, then the last one. Then, I draw number of stars, which indicate the importance of the task. After that, I put down the due dates. By doing this strategy, I do not need to remember all the things I need to complete. Before, I used to forget one of my homework. However, after doing this strategy, by looking at the note, I can know what I need to done. Also, I find out that my works are done faster with 'Priority List'. Before, I did the half of the Japanese essay and start to do other homework. This was not helpful and I could not focus well. However, after doing ‘Priority List’, I am able to complete work efficiently.

The two strategies I have been used, 'Divide by Four' and 'Priority List', help me to concentrate on studying and complete the work much better.

Stress Free Zone

Usually when I’m stressed I do not do anything productive. All I can do is be in a bad mood and have anxiety. However, this is not the way to deal with stress. Surprisingly, stress can make you organized and a fast worker. I used the 10-minute vacation and stress diagram techniques to help me deal with my stressful end of the semester assignments. The stress diagram helped me get out of my system everything that is stressing me out. By seeing on paper all of my assignments, and how much time I need to exert to each one, it takes a little bit of pressure off. It also helped me organize my time and realize what I need to focus on.

The 10-minute vacation helped me not procrastinate as much and simply get my paper done. Before I started the paper, I was stressed because I did not know how long it was going to take or when I’d catch a break. By taking a vacation, this stress does not exist because I knew that after I finished a paragraph I could take a break and relax.

L A M E

These strategies worked for me because I am the type of Learner that needs to write out a list of my assignments and earn rewards. The Action I took, with these needs in mind, was the 10-minute vacation and stress diagram. For the stress diagram, the Materials I used were graphic organizers. My Evaluation of these strategies is very positive. The techniques not only helped me eliminate my stress, but also helped me to procrastinate less.