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Time Management for Faculty
Time Management in the Online Environment
We'll now focus on using that program effectively to stay on top of day-to-day activities, even personal life stuff. Points we'll cover are:
My answer? You need to know this so that you can focus on the SANE in your schedule! Believe it or not, after following these simple suggestions you'll never miss another deadline, due date, start date, end date, birthday, anniversary, or favorite TV show! You'll also save time by being able to view posted schedules in the global addresses of the organization, and seem uber tech-savvy when you send out a meeting request for a time when multiple people are shown as free because you used the Auto-pick Next button on the meeting scheduler (saving more time by not having to go through and search the calendars for an available slot!).
And since time is of the essence, here's the skinny on how to do it all (details on how to use Auto-pick Next is discussed in the Outlook presentation):
If emails require a follow-up or research, you can do a few things to keep it straight in your schedule:
An example of using Outlook's calendar to keep everything straight:
Using Tasks as Reminders:
Tasks has a similar function as the calendar, but without the ability to block off time in your schedule. For example, I've used Tasks as a reminder for groceries, shopping lists, or as a general reminder for things to pack on a trip.
Moving Emails to Calendar or Tasks Folders for a more detailed reminder:
Everyone gets an email at one point asking for something to be done, or requesting information, etc. during a time when there is no time to do it.
So what do you do? You make a time! Now that your calendar software is expertly updated with details of meetings, etc. and color coded for quick reference, you're good to go! To find time to answer that email, choose File, then Move to Folder. From there, depending on how much will need to be done to satisfy the email request, you can put it into the Calendar or into Tasks.
If moving to calendar, pay attention to the information presented in the upper area of the meeting request. If it's a conflicting appointment, you will want to double-check to make sure you're not overlapping times.
- Check your Dropbox frequently to ensure that you are receiving student communications. Select View All to see all Dropboxes and their contents.
- When answering communications in the Dropbox, be sure to work from the oldest to the newest (from the bottom up) to ensure that you are responding to students in a timely manner
- When grading attachments in the Dropbox, if you don’t have time to sit in front of the computer, or you prefer not to sit in front of the computer, print out the student attachments and bring them with you. Make marks on the printed versions, and then when you are logged in again, enter your comments and grades.
- You can also print out discussions by clicking Expand All, then right clicking and selecting Print.
- Make sure you have returned assignments to students from the Dropbox by clicking the assignment heading in Gradebook. If there are still checkboxes next to the assignment in the Return column, that assignment has not been returned and the student will not see their grade.
- Use the Dropbox to receive communications from and send communications to students, this will guarantee that the student has received your message. Also make an announcement for students to check their Dropboxes.
- Use the Discussion board to post responses to student discussion. If you prefer to be an observer, communicate that to the students up front, but let them know you will be reading their comments.
- By checking your Dropbox a few times a day instead of once a day, you will be able to keep abreast of assignments coming in and stay ahead of your work.
- Make necessary changes to your course content BEFORE the start of the session, that way all you will need to do is interact with the students when class starts.
- Use Microsoft Outlook or similar software with a Calendar function that allows you to schedule appointments and reminders. Refer to the Outlook presentation in Doc Sharing at the Faculty Lounge site for more information on the basics of Outlook.
We'll now focus on using that program effectively to stay on top of day-to-day activities, even personal life stuff. Points we'll cover are:
- Using Follow-up flags on emails and setting due dates for the follow-up
- Using the calendar as your own personal assistant
- Creating tasks as reminders
- Moving emails to the calendar or tasks folder in Outlook to set up reminders.
My answer? You need to know this so that you can focus on the SANE in your schedule! Believe it or not, after following these simple suggestions you'll never miss another deadline, due date, start date, end date, birthday, anniversary, or favorite TV show! You'll also save time by being able to view posted schedules in the global addresses of the organization, and seem uber tech-savvy when you send out a meeting request for a time when multiple people are shown as free because you used the Auto-pick Next button on the meeting scheduler (saving more time by not having to go through and search the calendars for an available slot!).
And since time is of the essence, here's the skinny on how to do it all (details on how to use Auto-pick Next is discussed in the Outlook presentation):
If emails require a follow-up or research, you can do a few things to keep it straight in your schedule:
- move them to the Calendar and set them up as if they were an appointment, showing the time as free or busy, depending on how much work is required for the email response
- you can also move the email to Tasks, and set a reminder
- set a flag, with reminder and base the priority by flag color (I use red for close deadlines, orange for a close deadline with less work involved, yellow for a close deadline with little to no work involved before the due date, and green, blue, and purple for emails that I want to check into but that are not pressing).
An example of using Outlook's calendar to keep everything straight:
- Schedule appointments in your calendar for due dates, and weekly start and end dates. If your course week starts on Tuesdays, for example, schedule an appoinment marked as free with the subject Week 1 starts, and so on. If your course is ending on say, April 30th, set a reminder for the beginning of the week with email text to send to your class informing everyone of the approaching deadline. You can copy and paste the text you originally wrote in your meeting reminder to an email and announcement to your class.
- Schedule an hour or two appointment marked as Important and busy at least two weeks prior to the start of the session. In the meeting text field, write down details about what needs to be updated in your course. During the time you have scheduled, go through your course and make changes to due dates, syllabus, gradebook, and gradebook review dates.
- If you aren't sure how to do something in your course, there's probably a tutorial in the Faculty Lounge already. Check the Lounge and Doc Sharing, be sure to download a copy of the presentation so you can write notes down, and if you have any questions, set aside some time well in advance to chat with me, that way you'll have some free time before class starts to relax. :)
- Set up appointments in Outlook's calendar to keep track of your daily activities. If something happens on a schedule, you can set a recurring appointment with no end date, or specify an end date. For example, friends' birthdays. You can set the appointment up to show your time as free, color code the event to purple (for birthday), and set a reminder for a time of your preference, with a recurrence of annually. If you need to get a gift for your friend, I would recommend setting a reminder for a day ahead. :)
- Block off your calendar to show your availability, using the busy, free, and tentative settings as well as color coding to easily get a quick look of what's an actual appointment, and what's been blocked off for grading papers, etc. When setting up appointments, be sure to block off extra time if travel will be required, or if you need to prepare for the meeting, that way you can better gauge how much time will be needed for each appointment on your calendar.
- When possible: OVERBOOK YOUR TIME! No, I don't mean schedule appointments and meetings on top of one another, I mean schedule buffer times between meetings! This will prove to be a lifesaver in a busy schedule! So if you have a meeting say, at 10am, book another appointment slot for fifteen minutes before and fifteen minutes after, and that way you won't feel rushed going into the next meeting or event. This buffer timezone will also help if your meetings run long, or if you have other things you will need to work on but can't seem to find the time-- now you'll have that extra time budget you always wanted!
- Schedule a To-Do List for 8am every day, recurring weekdays, no end date. Color code it as Important. Update the Series every day, keeping what needs to be done toward the top in bold letters, and what's completed kept at the bottom of the meeting text field with the word DONE in bold. Look at this list every day when the reminder pops up, and it will keep your day in perspective. You'll see how much you've accomplished, and be able to address the more pressing issues by scheduling appointments for the to-do items throughout your day. At the end of the day, move accomplished tasks to the bottom of the meeting field, save & close. :) You can also set up a to-do list through Tasks, as well.
Using Tasks as Reminders:
Tasks has a similar function as the calendar, but without the ability to block off time in your schedule. For example, I've used Tasks as a reminder for groceries, shopping lists, or as a general reminder for things to pack on a trip.
Moving Emails to Calendar or Tasks Folders for a more detailed reminder:
Everyone gets an email at one point asking for something to be done, or requesting information, etc. during a time when there is no time to do it.
So what do you do? You make a time! Now that your calendar software is expertly updated with details of meetings, etc. and color coded for quick reference, you're good to go! To find time to answer that email, choose File, then Move to Folder. From there, depending on how much will need to be done to satisfy the email request, you can put it into the Calendar or into Tasks.
If moving to calendar, pay attention to the information presented in the upper area of the meeting request. If it's a conflicting appointment, you will want to double-check to make sure you're not overlapping times.
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Latest page update: made by Xirconnia
, May 4 2007, 9:38 AM EDT
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