Organizational Tips

So, I've discovered some organizational tips for my first semester of online university here at Regent. I didn't want to be the only one who benefited from my little tips... so here they are:

1. Keep a calendar.

You will need to keep ONE calendar with all of your personal, work and school appointments. The purpose of the calendar will be to remind you of upcoming assignments. Chances are, if you have several different calendars you will not look at the one that is telling you that you have an upcoming assignment.

2. Use highlighters on the calendar.

On the ONE universal calendar seperate the categories by using a highlighter. For example, I use a blue highlighter for everything related to Regent. Everything related to my job is highlighted in orange. Everything related to my personal life is highlighted in pink.

3. Have a place for monthly and weekly(or daily) views of your calendar.

Write brief descriptions on the monthly view of your calendar and go into detail on your weekly or daily views of you calendar.

4. Prioritize your assignments.

Often we receive a list of assignments such as:

• Read text chapter 1



• write paper 1



• text discussions



• complete a brief bio



• read announcements

All of these assigments needed to be completed, but by when. You need to prioritize. You can do that several ways depending on the assignments. YOu can prioritize by due date, length of time to complete, or importance. Note: If you are a procrastinator try to avoid doing the little easy tasks first. Many times you will find you spent your time on tiny tasks, and writing a long paper in a couple of hours before it's due. I'd recommend the book "Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time" by Brian S. Tracy. It's a quick read and will give you lots of food for thought!

5. Use what's best for you.

If you need to keep track of things via paper, please do so. If you function better using tools like Microsoft Outlook (Calendar function) or a Organizational program... use those! These can be great resources. I currently use Blackboard Backpack 3.0. I can download assignments from blackboard onto my desktop, in case I am not near an internet connection and I can also use the calendar function.

So far, that's all I have for the organizational tips right now.

I know, why don't you tell me some of the tips you have come up with for back to school....

Thanks,

Tarisha A. Mickel
Professional Communication Student
Regent University; Online