Follow the instructions through these sheets to make a plan for the remainder of your coursework

Note: This spreadsheet will take some time to construct. But, it will help you accomplish your work with less stress and more clarity
What you’ll need: Have each of your class syllabi and LMS pages open. Consult any assignment deadline sheet already provided to you

Step 1: Capture and Prioritize

1. Make a list of all outstanding assignments across your classes, along with their due dates, and how many points they are worth.
2. Use the provided priority key to label each assignment based on how many points it is worth for your overall grade.
3. Estimate how much time each task will take – to be safe, overestimate how much time you think it might take so you have a more realistic time plan overall.
4. (optional) List the things you’ll need to finish the task (for example, links to assignment instructions, any related examples or rubrics, research/reading/notes pertaining to the assignment
5. Proceed to the Hourly Calendar tab Note: You can use the color coding described in the Progress Key to use this sheet as your active to-do list.

Step 2: Make a Time Plan

1. Fill in all the times you’ll need to be working, sleeping, in class, or otherwise occupied (include meals and self care too!)
2. Consider the difficulty of the task and when you’re most focused over the course of the day when deciding your schedule
3. Starting with the A tasks, based on due date, label times you’ll work on each task on the Calendar

Step 3: Accountability

1. Identify roadblocks that may prevent you from following your schedule
2. Plan ways to hold yourself accountable to the plan you’ve created Some ideas included in the Accountability Plan sheet

With the addition of the last step, students also develop reflective skills, working to understand what usually holds them back from completing their work, and finding solutions to hold themselves accountable (ADHD books will tell you just how important accountability can be to getting things done).

I was curious how useful students would find this, so I organized a class session with my freshman during the Fall 2020 semester (an online class on the topic of science communication) to go through this framework during our live class and captured their feedback. Students generally reported that the framework was easy to use and follow, and found the exercise helpful. At the end of the term, 10 of the 17 respondents to the end of term survey reported they had used this framework to plan and complete their assignments for the end of their semester.

I’m sharing this framework here for anyone to use! If you have questions about the structure, feel free to leave a comment, or find me on any of the socials @clubkaur.