It's back to school time! I've been in class for a week now and I do have to say - it's crazy, for a few reasons:
1. I'm taking six courses this semester - four online and two on-campus.
2. I'm working full time.
3. I messed up my planner by writing the wrong homework due on the wrong days and in the wrong color for the course (yes - my planner is color-coordinated; more on that later).
There are tons of students in a similar work situation. One of my teammates in the finance class I'm taking works THREE part time jobs. Three! Can you imagine? What a scheduling nightmare. I'm happy I have a set schedule that I can work around.
One of my online courses had a discussion requirement for tips and tricks to succeed this semester, and I'd like to share my tip with you. I originally ran across the foundation idea on a website whilst browsing Pinterest, so credit goes to Dani at Organized Charm for the original idea. I did not plan on using this method until I had scribbled my planner into a mess that could not be saved - and I was told I was crazy for trying to buy a new planner when I had a perfectly good one for the rest of 2015.
Here is what is saving my planner snafu and sanity: the Excel document.
No, seriously. You heard me right. Excel is here to save the day!
1. I'm taking six courses this semester - four online and two on-campus.
2. I'm working full time.
3. I messed up my planner by writing the wrong homework due on the wrong days and in the wrong color for the course (yes - my planner is color-coordinated; more on that later).
There are tons of students in a similar work situation. One of my teammates in the finance class I'm taking works THREE part time jobs. Three! Can you imagine? What a scheduling nightmare. I'm happy I have a set schedule that I can work around.
One of my online courses had a discussion requirement for tips and tricks to succeed this semester, and I'd like to share my tip with you. I originally ran across the foundation idea on a website whilst browsing Pinterest, so credit goes to Dani at Organized Charm for the original idea. I did not plan on using this method until I had scribbled my planner into a mess that could not be saved - and I was told I was crazy for trying to buy a new planner when I had a perfectly good one for the rest of 2015.
Here is what is saving my planner snafu and sanity: the Excel document.
No, seriously. You heard me right. Excel is here to save the day!
Here's what I did:
1. Take all syllabi and start loading in the assignments and due dates. Be sure to write the course, due date, and description of the assignment.
2. Do one course at a time, then color code the course (I matched it to my planner color coding scheme).
3. After all courses are done, highlight all the data and go to Data -> Sort -> Sort by "DUE DATE" -> Lowest to Highest. This will put ALL your assignments in order of due date, regardless of the course.
I also added a START DATE and DAY column. I like to be able to schedule when I will have time to work on an assignment, especially since my weekends in September are pretty booked up. This is also useful for projects - have a START DATE earlier than you might with a regular assignment, and it will help you start to work on it. The DAY column is useful because I don't always know which date corresponds to which day in a few weeks from now.
To format your DAY column, set the cells equal to the DUE DATE column. Then, select the whole DAY column and right-click, then choose format cells. Go to the Custom option and type dddd in the text box. This should "translate" the date into the day of the week.
I hope this helps everyone out there who has a lot on their plate! It has helped me to stay on track immensely.
What do you do to keep yourself on-track with assignments?
1. Take all syllabi and start loading in the assignments and due dates. Be sure to write the course, due date, and description of the assignment.
2. Do one course at a time, then color code the course (I matched it to my planner color coding scheme).
3. After all courses are done, highlight all the data and go to Data -> Sort -> Sort by "DUE DATE" -> Lowest to Highest. This will put ALL your assignments in order of due date, regardless of the course.
I also added a START DATE and DAY column. I like to be able to schedule when I will have time to work on an assignment, especially since my weekends in September are pretty booked up. This is also useful for projects - have a START DATE earlier than you might with a regular assignment, and it will help you start to work on it. The DAY column is useful because I don't always know which date corresponds to which day in a few weeks from now.
To format your DAY column, set the cells equal to the DUE DATE column. Then, select the whole DAY column and right-click, then choose format cells. Go to the Custom option and type dddd in the text box. This should "translate" the date into the day of the week.
I hope this helps everyone out there who has a lot on their plate! It has helped me to stay on track immensely.
What do you do to keep yourself on-track with assignments?