Category: Time Management

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Improving Group Work – A Student Point Of View

Many of the college courses offered today include some type of group-work such as an assignment, project, presentation or some other type of paper or report. This includes both online courses and traditional face-to-face courses. Unfortunately, instructors [including myself] are often met with resistance from the students who don’t like working in groups and feel that their grade will be negatively impacted by group members who do not share the work.

We all know that there’s plenty of research that details the many benefits that come along with group-work. This is not just limited to developing teamwork skills but…active learning, improving communication skills and time-management skills. And as a result of the increased group work found in today’s office environments it’s important for students to have some prior experience with group work. Students will need to have a collaborative attitude and the ability to work with others at just about any place of employment.

Several years ago I was inspired by a presentation I saw at an EDUCAUSE conference that I attended. The theme of this presentation was getting to know your students through the use of direct conversation and/or task force that included members of the student body. 

After returning from the conference I made a point to start working closer with students and small groups myself to get a better sense of what they thought they needed to have from their instructors in order to have a more enjoyable small group experience within a course. Here are a few things that I learned:

**Communicate – clearly communicate the purpose of the group work being assigned. Specifically detail the benefits that relate to academics AND the professional workplace.

**Discuss –  hold a discussion about past group work to identify concerns. This is the moment when perceptions can be altered to learn new strategies for collaboration.

**Define – define the differences between cooperative learning and collaborative learning. This is a good time to put into place the best strategies for completing a project as a group.

**Time – set aside time and technology for group work. If you are facilitating a face-to-face course, you should consider using some class time to ensure participation. If you are facilitating an online course you should consider providing a technology [with training] to allow for easy collaboration. Google Hangouts is currently a popular option for many reasons. 

**Visit –  provide guidance and support by visiting each small group on a regular basis.

**Allow – students often ask to be allowed to evaluate each other. From my experience this has many benefits. One of the things that I have been impressed by is that of the accountability students have to each other. 

As educators we are expected to prepare the students for their professional lives in the workplace after they have graduated. Some of the top priorities mentioned by employers when seeking job candidates include the ability to work in groups, good communication skills and a good work ethic. Overall it’s important to teach students how to be better team players and how to deal with all of the things that come along with Group work and the group collaboration process.

– RG

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Time Management – Creating An Extra Hour In Your Day

One thing that we would agree on is that we could all use more time. No matter what we do it seems as if there just is not enough time to deal with work, family and individual tasks to keep our lives rolling along. If you could create an extra hour in your day what would you do with it? From what I have seen and read lately here are a few things that productive individuals do to squeeze more time out of already full days.

  • Get it done – whether you run your own small business or work for a large corporation most things you do don’t have to be perfect. Unless you’re a surgeon and are dealing with Life and death situations…just get over it already and get it out there – get it done.
  • End of day list – the one thing that efficient individuals due at the end of each day is to organize the tasks that need to be completed the next day and write them down. Make a list of the day so that you may begin first thing the next morning.
  • Block the Internet – many of us now work in environments where we have easy access to the Internet via a workstation or some handheld device that has easy access to the Internet. It’s all too easy to slide over To Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or a variety of other news sources. Each time you slide over to one of these websites you can almost count-on a loss of 30 minutes. Personally I have discovered the Chrome browser –  the StayFocused extension. While not a perfect solution it does remind me to be aware of my time.
  • Automation – take a hard look at the processes you do over and over again each day. Are you still doing these things by hand or with some outdated software? You might be able to do them faster and better with some cloud-based option. Google Drive comes to mind as an example of a cloud-based tool that helps me create efficiencies on a daily basis.
  • Delegation – of course we can do things ourselves and can probably do these things better and faster. However, that may not be the best use of our time. If we are in a management position or running our own business we might better use our time on time-saving activities or income-producing activities. The bottom line is just delegate.
  • The answer is no – the simple way to keep something off your to do list is not to put it there to begin with. Before you take on a difficult or time-consuming activity just simply ask yourself “what impact will this have on my time?”
  • No multitasking – set aside time to focus on just one thing and see it through to completion. Many individuals might be great multitaskers but actually doing too many things can be counterproductive…and this only lengthens your to do list.

Have fun – stay focused.

-RG

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Getting Things Done

Getting things done – for many individuals the hardest part of getting organized is simply deciding what’s the most important or what’s the highest priority. Individuals are often paralyzed by the fact that they simply don’t know where to start on a project. Here’s a short list of things to help you get organized and get things done:

  • If something takes less than five minutes, just do it now. Your to-do list won’t become cluttered with small items that can add up to big chunks of time or provide an excuse to do it later.
  • When you take the time to make a note to make that phone call later be sure to add the number or other information that you’ll need. This will make it easier to make calls when you find that you have a few minutes during the day, now the information will be right at your fingertips.
  • Group smaller items like phone calls and purchases you need to make. You’ll be able to prioritize them easily and then decide which you can accomplish with the time that you have right now.
  • Always capture the to-dos as they occur to you. Use your device to record a quick message or ask the device to set a reminder for you.

-RG

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Communication With Colleagues

From what I have experienced having been in different leadership positions along the way I always felt as if motivating the team is one of the most important tasks that I was faced with. From what I have read, those that study leadership and write on the subject are quick to point out that this is also the case for several reasons: boost in production, morale in the workplace and reduced turnover are all benefits of motivation.

Probably the most overlooked way to motivate a team is through communication. And effective communication can empower an entire team as it gives them an increased sense of belonging and responsibility. Employee motivation improves as employees feel more comfortable with their working relationships. Here are a few strategies to improve communication and motivate others to become better.

Schedule – schedule weekly meetings for no other reason than to simply open up the lines of communication. At the most basic level it gives the team the sense that as a leader you care about their opinions and will also value their feedback. The priority here is to open the floor to any questions, comments or concerns.

Loop – consistent and effective communication with your team will not only empower and encourage them to make their own decisions but will also build trust and loyalty. Just be honest and straightforward and don’t try to spin the truth.

Clear directions – many leaders find it difficult to set clear directions and then stand-by those directions. Communication needs to reinforce and provide a strategy with what you’re attempting to do. The best communicators in the workplace find ways to communicate to keep employees on course and make sure that the objectives are being carried out.

Feedback – the majority of leaders fail to give constructive feedback to their teams simply because they fear how the employees will react. To help resolve this, the leader should provide frequent feedback so the small issues don’t grow into much larger ones. From my own experience I have found it helpful when a leader would simply ask “how often would you like to receive feedback?”. In general most employees would say monthly or weekly…very few would respond by saying annually. Nobody wants to be surprised during their annual review.

Personal – share stories of your own personal failures and successes. This is a great way to lift the spirits of anybody on the team that might be in the need of a boost. You will also build a heightened sense of community by doing so.

Interest – if a team member approaches you as the team leader and shares a particular concern…ask what you can do to help address the issue. Ask if they have a solution in mind. This is a great way to show commitment to solving the problems of the employees and helps them feel like a valued member of the team.

Encourage – schedule time to meet with the team and encourage them to brainstorm and offer their input. Everyone should be available to generate ideas and participate in this discussion. Generally, employees want to help solve problems and give them a chance to feel that they’re being heard.

Open – early on in my career a team I was assigned to would encourage open lines of communication to prevent low morale and this prevented any type of toxic work environment. This particular leader always let the employees know that there are open lines of communication and as a result everyone was comfortable and brought forward problems and issues.

Kindness – leaders should never belittle, threaten or embarrass an employee in front of anyone. Rather they should only offer improvement opportunities. It’s just common sense that when an employee feels under attack and caught off guard their motivation is going to suffer. On the flip-side when employees are rewarded or provided an opportunity to grow you can bet they are going to feel empowered!

-RG

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Life: Make Time For It

Perhaps you’re like me…I’ve often thought that the long hours that small business hours put into their work was proof of the passion that they have for what they do. Recently I read an article in which a survey was conducted of self identified entrepreneurs. The results of the study show that nearly one in five entrepreneurs worked more than 60 hours a week, only one percent of those actually wanted to work that much. Many of those surveyed indicated that they were dreaming of a time when they could cut back and spend more of their time with family, leisure, travel and healthy activities. The authors of this article also shared three things that all entrepreneurs should do if longing for a better lifestyle. [these three things might apply to all working individuals].

Recovery time – it’s not just the amount of sleep that you get. This has to do with planning your days and taking time to organize and reflect about what you’re doing. Things to consider here include planning, prayer, meditation and just quiet time in general. Experts in this area encourage folks to schedule 50 minute meetings as opposed to one hour meetings during their days.

Give up being perfect – everything doesn’t have to be “right” or “perfect” in such a way that you are the only one that can perform…whatever the task at hand might be. Unless you’re a highly trained surgeon and the results of your work are a matter of life and death consider delegating tasks to others. The benefits of this practice are numerous.

What matters – simply decide what matters to you. We must come to the realization that we are not owned by our businesses or our employers. We own our time and that’s the most valuable thing. Breaking away from the daily to-do list can be difficult. Leadership and career coaching consultants recommend taking an extended lunch to talk to a longtime friend and agree not to check smart phones through the whole meal as a good way to get started. Make a goal of getting some exercise daily. A 30 minute walk is a great way to help bring balance to work and life responsibilities that we are faced with.

-RG

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Good Work Habits: Do They Exist?

Recently I’ve had conversations with several colleagues regarding the idea of good work habits and what exactly that means for an organization. This of course prompted us to reflect on both good and not-so-good work habits that we’ve experienced in the past. Some of the habits we discussed included personal-presentation, organization, productivity, work quality, initiative, consistency and follow up. 

Employees today seem to think that these basic work habits are considered as matters of personal choice and do not always see concrete business reasons for certain requirements or preferences of their managers or supervisors. Oftentimes managers and supervisors will have strong preferences or requirements without having any true business reason, that is their prerogative. At the end of the day EMPLOYERS you are paying the EMPLOYEES…it’s not the other way around. 

In general they are very good reasons for following well-established best practices when it comes to good work habits. Things to consider:

  • If employees are not well or not healthy – there is an increased cost in terms of absenteeism and increased healthcare costs. This also has a negative impact on performance and morale.
  • Unfortunately when employees do not attend to their personal-presentation [grooming] this has a negative impression on those with whom they interact…both internal to the organization and most importantly customers.
  • When employees arrive to work late, take long breaks, leave early for missed deadlines they are adding less value to the organization and oftentimes are keeping others waiting. This too has a negative impact on how the organization is viewed.
  • Employees that don’t take notes, use checklists or have some sense of organization will often lose important details and just lose track of what they are doing. All of this makes it harder for others to collaborate with them.
  • If employees aren’t paying attention to the details they are going to make more mistakes…again diminishing the quality of work and requiring work to be redone.
  • Projects that are left unfinished are almost always the result of employees that cannot be counted on to follow up and then become a distraction as others will have to constantly remind them to keep moving forward.
  • Many problems that go unsolved are the direct result of opportunities that are missed or when employees simply do not take the initiative.

We all agreed that these are very solid business reasons for managers and supervisors to enforce basic work habits on their employees. However not all of them apply to all people in all jobs. As a manager or supervisor you should always ask yourself: what is the business reason for making this a requirement?

-RG

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Top 5 List: Simplify Course Revisions

Top 5 List

It is difficult to see beyond your first course offering when building a new online course or moving an existing face-to-face course online. And if you want there to be a second offering of your course, you’ll want to focus your energies on making the first offering a success. But don’t ignore the fact that you will want to make revisions to the course based on your experience and feedback. Designing online courses always takes much longer than expected and planning for future revisions seems like something that can be dealt with…well, in the future. Here is a Top 5 list of things to consider while building your course to simplify revisions.

One Source Information – if you have important information like assignment directions, discussion group expectations or details about online quizzes, place those items in ONE place and simply link back to it from all of the different locations where students may need to access it. As you move through the course you can remind students [and the other members of your instructional team] where the information is located. This will help minimize confusion in the course and allow for easy updating…as updates will only need to be made in ONE location. 

Another way to use this strategy is with the deliverable due dates in the course. Placing all of the due dates in ONE document/location will eliminate any conflicting information that could lead to a less than pleasant experience for the students…and the instructional team. Google Drive [documents] is a great solution.

Avoid Dates and Times – the goal here is to try to get as much mileage as possible out of your content. Avoid any mentions of dates, times, the weather, the season, the BIG championship game that just took place. Create a course schedule/calendar to refer students to. Consider a simple one-pager that allows for easy revisions. As you make revisions you need not worry about catching all of the places where dates were entered because that will all be contained in ONE location. Revisions can then be made lesson-by-lesson.

Compartmentalize Current Events – group discussions are usually a focal point of online courses and if current events are being discussed consider placing them in their own unique lesson rather than weaving them throughout the course. If your lectures are wrapped around a major current event like an election year you will want to create separate throw-away lectures that can be easily replaced after the event has taken place.

Place Content Into Modules – there are many reasons to place your content into smaller bite-size modules for the students. For example, taking that 30-minute lecture and creating six 5-minute lectures to help students maintain focus while watching and tracking their progress should they get interrupted. The benefit for faculty and the instructional team here is that this strategy makes locating areas to update much easier. Updating just one module might make more sense than trying to re-record an entire longer lecture.

Leverage Your Tools – many Learning Management Systems will have a feature that allows for a copy of your course to be moved from one session to the next. In those, cases you should consider creating a *master* copy of your course. A master copy of your course can be kept behind the scenes and never rolled out to students allowing you to constantly update as you move through your course. As the beginning of each session approaches you can copy out a fresh [pure] offering of your course and know that students will be getting the most up-to-date version. It takes discipline and organization to maintain a master shell with any success….and a talented instructional designer.

With every new semester or new session there will be some required work to get your online course ready to go again for the next wave of students. If you are working alone or with a team of other professionals using an external tool to help track the changes that should be considered will be the key to your success and the team you are working with. Consider a tool that allows for maximum collaboration.

-RG

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Top 5 List: Building Community In Your Online Courses

Top 5 List

Online education has allowed users to advance their education and develop new skills from any location. The trouble is that users can still feel isolated and this goes for the facilitator as well. With all of the benefits that come with online education the challenge of creating an online community is still a challenge. One strategy is to simply create more connections between the user and the facilitator. Here is a Top 5 list of things to try to help increase connections between the user and the facilitator.

Discussion Forums – get creative when using discussion forums. For too long online education has used the old *post-once AND reply-twice* approach to discussions. While this may be a quick way to meet a quantitative measure….it really does not do much for creating and encouraging a quality discussion. One suggestion is to create groups of 7-8 students and ask that they first create a Group Charter for their group before jumping right into the coursework. The group creates their own rules and work expectations while getting to know each other.

Encourage Real-Time Connections – connections can be limited student:student and student:faculty when only asynchronous options are considered. Providing an opportunity for synchronous communications will start the momentum of the back-and-forth discussions that will help proactively clear-up any miscommunications. Increasing the opportunities for synchronous communications can help build a greater sense of community in online courses.  There are many different opportunities for this type of communication including virtual office hours, small group meetings [6-8 students], large group meetings [24-28 students] and small study groups [2-4 students]. Google Hangouts is one good option to offer students to get the communication started.

Use a Variety of Tools – there are many tools available that can be used to increase student interaction and get them engaged in their courses. Many institutions are looking to private social networks that allow for student connections to take place from course-to-course as students move through a degree program.  However, if the need is for just ONE course, Skype and Google Hangouts have proven to be effective tools to go above and beyond the pre-programmed messages such as lesson tours, presentations/lectures and announcements.

Develop a Plan – developing a plan around the activities and the tools selected for the course will lead to a successful experience in your course. The tools will only be as effective as they way they are presented and implemented. Consideration must be given to answering the question…how will this tool increase connections and support the outcomes/objectives of the course.

Interact with Non-Task Activities – consider using interactions that are not related to a specific task as a way to make connections. Find a way to connect with students or facilitate students connecting with each other in ways that are not directly related to learning. Connections made this way can foster a supportive learning community. Many LMS offer some functionality that will allow for this type of social networking. If for some reason the LMS doesn’t offer this functionality you may have to create your own private Facebook page or use a tool like Slack. Simply asking your students to come up with a suggestion to enhance networking might be a good option. Chances are good they may already be using a tool that could be shared.

-RG

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Make It Happen – Creating Opportunities

Would it be fair to say that things are rapidly changing around us? Yes, of course. Careers, jobs and businesses in general are coming and going at a rate like we’ve never seen. We all need to be open and aware of ways to make changes to stay relevant while continuing to serve our customers. If we fully intend to take advantage of growth with new technologies we might need a few tips to help discover opportunities as we move forward. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you are looking for new opportunities:

Networking – over the course of time networking remains to be a constant need to do business. In order to identify and take advantage of the new opportunities we need to seek out people who have insights and contacts within our own industry. Some ways to continue or begin networking would include participating in trade association gatherings, communities of learning and practice within your field, and also subscribing to a variety of social media sites and groups. Find a way to select and participate in a group and make yourself an asset. Doing so will create opportunity.

Regulations – when trying to get out in front of an opportunity think about what needs to come about as a result of new laws or regulations regarding technologies. As new laws and regulations are created there will be a need for consultants and trainers who are knowledgeable in those areas resulting in the need for new products and/or services.

Capitalize – capitalizing on new technology that disrupts the existing ways of making, sharing and distributing things creates opportunities. For instance, if you wanted to take advantage of a new technology like 3-D printing and create an opportunity….ask yourself are there ways in which you could use this to provide a service? Or fulfill a need?

Tracking – tracking social trends and demographic information could lead to serving very specific ethnic markets, an age group or regional interests. A good question to ask yourself would be is there a need to address based on a certain type of tourism in your area?

Problems – be aware of and notice problems that people frequently comment and complain about. This could be related to a product or service that is no longer on the market and is in need of replacement. As products and services are removed from the market there’s often still a need and there will be an opportunity for others who can step in to fill that gap.

– RG

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Top 5 List: Be Present In Your Online Course

Top 5 List

Having worked as an adjunct instructor [part-time faculty member] since the late 90s I’ve noticed and have heard of many instructors that seem to disappear while teaching their online course. I’ve always found this to be a little upsetting since this is the number one thing that we must do when teaching an online course. 

Of course there are varying degrees of faculty engagement. On the one hand there is the instructor that provides no communication, no feedback, and no encouragement to students. On the other hand is the instructor who provides feedback that is not constructive or provides feedback…but it’s too late for students to use to improve the assignments that follow.

Here are a few things that can be done to help remain present in your online course and be available to students:

  1. Dedicate certain times to go to class – I’ve always suggested to my own students that they dedicate certain times of the day to attend an online course. As instructors we should do the same. This dedicated time can be used to grade, respond to emails and provide general announcements that will help keep students focused.
  1. Personalize the course by being present – when working with new faculty I always suggest that they include a welcome video at the beginning of the course as well as the beginning of each lesson, module or unit. And when needed I recommend that new faculty create an assignment-specific video for those assignments that may trip students up or include detailed directions. Taking this approach not only helps to engage the students and personalize the content but it also helps the faculty to feel more vested in their course. 
  1. Be creative when engaging students – learning to teach online is not something we can learn overnight. Some faculty that I have worked with will write personalized emails to a few students every week with some positive information about the tasks performed during the previous week. Another faculty person that I’ve met along the way uses screencasting to review and provide feedback for writing assignments. They can quickly share that message with students via link to the video. This is all done in an effort to make the students feel that you are present and interested in their success.
  1. Use discussion boards – using discussion boards often is a wise move for all faculty. This helps keep the course on point so this can quickly hear off on a tangent and steer away from the content. This also lets students know that you’re interested and care about what they’re saying, as they will be looking forward to your responses. Responses can be praise, critiques or just simply calling for more critical thinking. 
  1. Online does not mean off-line – because the content assignments and assessments are all done online this does not mean that faculty should not be available and off-line. Students will not be successful if the faculty are not involved with the learning experience and provide the depth, breadth and overall richness of a valuable learning experience. All faculty should be available for scheduled office hours at least once a week when students can reach out via phone or video chat session.

-RG