Time Management: Online Student (ANSWERED)

QUESTION

Purpose

The purpose of this discussion is for learners to examine their own time management to promote success as an online student.

Course Outcomes

This discussion enables the student to meet the following course outcome:

CO 4: Apply concepts of ethics and professionalism to nursing practice, nursing roles, and academic development. (POs 5, 6)

Directions

Discussions are designed to promote dialogue between faculty and students, and students and their peers. In discussions students:
- Demonstrate understanding of concepts for the week
- Integrate outside scholarly sources when required
- Engage in meaningful dialogue with classmates and/or instructor
- Express opinions clearly and logically, in a professional manner
Use the rubric on this page as you compose your answers.
Best Practices include:
- Participation early in the week is encouraged to stimulate meaningful discussion among classmates and instructor.
- Enter the discussion often during the week to read and learn from posts.
- Select different classmates for your reply each week.

Discussion

Now that you’ve completed the time management tool in the Week 1 Lesson, address these items in your answer:

Describe how you spend most of your time. Is this what you expected? Why or why not?
How will you rearrange these items to dedicate enough time to your schoolwork?
What changes do you want to make? What professional resources are available to help with those changes?

ANSWER

Time Management

I spend most of my time in sports and leisure activities when I am not in class. When I get home from school and during weekends, I usually visit nearby playgrounds to play baseball or football with my friends. When nobody is around for me to play with, I play video games such as Fifa, Paladins, and GTA. I may spend up to 3 to 4 hours playing games in a day. I usually turn to social media to pass the time when I have nothing else to do. I typically use social media on my smartphone when my instructors are not around, during the extra time during breaks, in the mornings, and before I retire to sleep. I also spend 6 to 7 hours on most Fridays partying with my friends. I would estimate my time attending classes and studying to be 5 to 6 hours out of 24 hours. I did not expect to spend time as such when I joined college to study nursing. I understand that nurses should dedicate most of their time protecting the well-being of their patients and that they should adopt the desire to do so right from their college training. I usually find it hard to leave fun activities and concentrate solely on my studies.

As a nursing student, I should create enough time for studies and spare some time for leisure activities to unwind and attend to my social needs, including my family and friends. I will need to set goals and identify time-wasters. I will have to limit my time on social media, leisure and sports, and partying to create more time for meaningful activities like attending classes, revising, reading ahead, and being in close contact with my instructors or classmates for discussions. I will start the day on weekdays by preparing and attending all classes from 8 am to 5 pm. I will go to the library or hold discussions during free periods. I will engage in leisure activities and sports from 5 pm to 6 pm. From 6 pm to 8 or 9 pm, I will be spending time with my family and pets. I will then study from 9 pm to 11 pm before I sleep. During the weekends, I will dedicate morning hours to studying and afternoon to leisure activities or visiting family and friends to relax and unwind.

I will create a to-do list to plan to make the changes successful. In creating the to-do list, I will need to consider the priorities of the tasks that need to be completed. I would also consider my mood for me to be more productive. For instance, I would be more productive when I write an assignment when I feel creative or more productive when studying for an exam when I feel focused. I will also avoid procrastination by tackling small tasks to reduce the workload and motivate myself. Multitasking drops the performance of an individual, and, as such, I will avoid it by doing only one thing at a time. I will turn off common distractions such as social media, email, electronics, and unnecessary personal phone calls when I am concentrating on work. I will not switch between tasks until the current one is complete (Purdue University Global, 2022). Determining to accomplish the changes will help me establish a routine and make it progressively more manageable for me to follow through.

A wide range of professional resources that aid time management is available. Pomodairo, based on the Pomodoro technique, encourages one to work in efficient 25-minute bursts that are very intense. It allows the user to observe trends and track productivity. SelfControl enables the user to block and track any distractions from the phone for a customized period. Google Calendar has more significant benefits than only preventing distractions. It simplifies the creation of to-do lists and provides the option of creating complex to-do lists for even better time management. One can manage time by month, week, day, or hour. It helps create multiple color-coded calendars for easy visibility when integrated into one calendar. It is easier to track school work deadlines with Google Calendar. It can also be integrated with Gmail for the user to get task reminders through email at customized intervals (Southern Nazarene University, 2020).

References

Purdue Global University. (2018, April 19). Mastering time management for college students. https://www.purdueglobal.edu/blog/student-life/time-management-busy-college-students/

Southern Nazarene University. (2020). Five FREE Time Management Tools for Adult Students. https://degrees.snu.edu/blog/five-free-time-management-tools-for-adult-students